Enregistrement public à l’Olympia 1964

This made for a nice change today. I don't often listen to this kind of music but I guess I should more. I speak a little French but really just enough to pick out a word or phrase here and there so the meaning is pretty still all lost on me. But sometimes that's ok and I feel like this is an album that you don't have to understand to appreciate. It's hard to categorize - is it showtunes? Crooning? Singer songwriter? Vocal jazz? Maybe a mix of all of that. Although I may not listen to this style often, I really enjoyed this one today and could see it being in a regular rotation when I'm in the mood. 4/5

A live French singer-songwriter album. Interesting. Jacques Brel has a wonderful, passionate voice, and it’s fairly short, thankfully. I do not understand anything he is saying, but that is fine, because his fantastic voice travels through the language barrier, especially on the dramatic, incredible opener “Amsterdam.” Following that, it sinks to a spot just above mediocrity, which it hovers at for the albums’s remaining time. There are no highlights other than that song. It’s pretty good though, and that song is fucking insane.
7.2/10

So Jacques Brel is known as a “master of the modern chanson”. A chanson is a lyrically driven French song. So this may be a great album of chanson but if you don’t know French (me) it kind of just sounds like a guy reading poetry while a band plays next door. Most of the album the music is almost nonexistent, when the instruments are more forward in the mix the songs aren’t bad, but when it’s mostly a guy talk singing in French it’s not much fun to listen to. It’d be like listening the odyssey in Greek, it may be a classic tale but if you don’t understand the language it’s nothing but noise.

Never heard of this before, but it does nothing for me, just generic soundtrack music to me.

The world's first French rapper.

I wish I'd studied French because there aren't enough translations of Brel even with the the show Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris, the subsequent other covers and the Marc Almond album of his songs. And apparently most of those aren't necessarily all that accurate. I was really surprised when I learned that Seasons In The Sun is a Brel song. No wonder cos its sentimental nonsense is way wide of the typically grim and funny song he actually wrote.

Lost in translation

Man yells loudly in French over poorly recorded orchestra.

Interesante. Corto. No sé si será la mejor opción para escuchar a este músico. Y otro directo más en la lista. ¿Cuántos habrá?. No me he guardado ninguna canción.

Sounds like he's sucking grits through a garden hose.

2.0/5.0: Disappointing

this was fine but it feels very lyric focused, as someone else so eloquently put it, like a french leonard cohen. its hard to appreciate something like that in a language you dont speak so it didnt really work for me.

Cool listen, but ultimately not something I'd come back to.

Not for me. At least his singing is nice.

It's all French to me.

I’m at a 4.5 that I’ll bump up to a 5.

I’m learning that I really enjoy baroque French showmanship. Jacques Brel may be Belgian, but he sings the language with the precision of an opera tenor, and the natural timbre of his voice feels captivating by itself. The orchestra helps a bit too, as they practically provide a movie soundtrack as their backing tracks. I really love the dynamic of the accordion, flute, & percussion in particular, as they follow his voice in a way that makes him feel like a main character.

It’s that simple, really, and it’s a well done formula for 28 minutes. The only reason I’m at a 4.5 is because it is just a little bit same-y in a way that doesn’t give each track too much of a distinction past their lyrics, but between how much I liked his voice & the quality of those lyrics when translated (genuinely, you NEED to translate them to truly feel some of these tracks), it feels like a no-brainer to bump it up. If you’re inclined towards this same type of showmanship, ala Scott Walker (who covered SEVERAL Jacques Brel songs), then you’ll like this. If you’re not, you probably won’t. I’m just impressed by it, and I think it’s worth bumping up to a 5. Pretty good stuff overall.

Pardon my French, but what the fuck is this?? I speak a little of the language, but I'm hard pressed to see the relevance in this day and age of someone who appears to be like a French (well, Belgian) version of Dean Martin.

Strong voice, but the music is oh-so-boringly-outdated and I can't really comment on the songs as I can't translate fast enough to keep up.

Definitely don't see this as an essential listen unless you are very keen on the history of French contemporary music. In which case, fuck off back to your boulangerie, you poseur.

You don't need to understand French to appreciate the sweeping musicality of this album. Brel's powerful, passionate voice is accompanied by a backing orchestra in a live setting, and it made me feel like I was actually there listening to the show (it's that big-sounding). The music is so beautiful. Highlights for me included "Amsterdam" and "Le pat pays".

Would probbaly really love it if I knew what the lad was saying

waste of time. Same as 1000 other crooner albums of the era, BUT THIS ONE IS IN A DIFFERENT LANGUAGE, SO COOL, PUT IT ON THE LIST.

An unrecognized influence on David Bowie (who covered “Amsterdam” in English.) A uniquely grizzled and charismatic voice in chanson.