Enregistrement public à l’Olympia 1964

I am not a big fan of live albums but yet, I am happy that Jacques Brel was able to make his mark in a list such as this one. I think it is a short and interesting listen but I'd much rather hear the studio version in this case.

7/10 [SWAP]

I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS. AN ALBUM THAT'S NOT AMERICAN OR BRITISH??? NOT AN OUNCE OF ENGLISH?? GOD DO YOU TRULY EXIST?? DID YOU PITY ME? FOR HAVING TO LISTEN TO ALL THAT SAME BORING 60'S AND 70'S ROCK AND FOLK AND DAMN I'M ACTUALLY GONNA CRY.

First of why is "chanson" a style? That just means song. What else can I expect from English speakers though? It's like saying Taylor Swift's style of music is song. French songs from that time are so interesting. My French teacher used to play this type of music for class all the time. How wasn't an Edith Piaf album included is beyond me, but hey there is at least a bit of French on here. I have to grab at any crumb of European diversity on here. A Romanian album is never gonna be on any list of this sort, so I have to celebrate what I can. I'm so fed up with that punk, punk rock, folk, grandpa rock. Why include an album that has two sentences on Wikipedia and the arist singing it has like 50k listeners. It's clear I'm not in need of listening to that before I die. Anyway great day, love this guy, though Stromae is my favourite Belgian singer by far.

It's a live album as well?? I've just noticed that. It's the best one I'd heard on this list. It's incredible. This guy truly is talented. More stuff like this should have been on this list, but I know that tomorrow when I wake up, another Bob Dylan album will hit me.

As always, it’s difficult for me, who is woefully monolingual, to rate a non-English album when lyrics are the focal point if the songs. Evidently, Brel was deeply influential in France and Belgium. Unfortunately, I don’t really understand why—just that he WAS. This album didn’t offend my ears, but it seemed behind the times for the 1960s, so, perhaps unfairly, I’m giving it a 2.

I give Brel and his devotees the benefit of the doubt I'm missing something about this music's aesthetic quality or historical significance because I'm not a French adult in 1964 whose never heard rock n roll before. He doesn't seem like an explosively powerful performer or have a magnetic singing voice. The songwriting and instrumentation are pretty traditional. When I heard "Le plat pays," though, I did pause at its weird beauty; I feel there's SOMETHING here on this album I'm not understanding (besides the French lyrics). I think he's handsome and has a cool demeanor, so maybe I'm actually over-enchanted despite not loving most of these songs. I dunno, I'd like to think I would have been listening to jazz or Varese or something if I were a continental European in 1964.

I'm sure someone likes this

This album has Screamin' Jay Hawkins Energy, mixed with Leonard Cohen. I don't think I'd listen to it again, but I enjoyed it for the novelness of it.

OK, I feel awful giving this a bad score, because I'm sure it's all my fault. The thing he's doing with his throat sounds like the sound you make when you're pretending to speak underwater. I've been to France plenty of times, I'm aware there is a guttural aspect to the language, but for some reason, this guy bugs me.

Other than that, it's pop music, which in this case is fine, I guess? But I'm not sure *why* this album must be listened to before death.

So overall, I'm not sure it's bad, but I hated it and it was hard for me to listen to half an hour of guttural throat noises, so 2 stars it is.

It's great to hear the first interesting live performance in awhile! He seems super charismatic and entertaining. Great to see the origin of a lot of Scott Walkers songs. Some songs got my attention less but Tango Funebre was awesome. 3.5/5 -> 4/5

No another live album! He clearly tries, but the recording quality is pretty trash. I don't know enough french to appreciate the lyricism.

Very French. Not sure if all french singers were this dramatic, but boy does this guy take his performance seriously.

It's really hard for me to judge the importance and influence of something like this, but I loved getting something different from the british and american albums.

Never again

Classic French sound. I don't speak French, so I have no idea what he is saying, but his voice is OK. The live recording is not great, compared to others from this era. It sounded tinny to my ear. Still fun to hear something that I had never heard before.

Honestly I didn’t have high hopes going into this one but I actually really enjoyed it. Loved the vocals throughout. I might be nitpicking but what’s probably gonna stop it from getting top marks is it’s a bit too short. I was proper into it and then before it even hit the half hour mark it was done.

Top Track - Amaterdam

Apparently a lot of the praise for this derives from the lyrics. But I'm not French, nor do I speak French, so I'm a bit buggered in that department. Therefore I can only rate the music rather than what he says, which I tend to favour anyway.

I don't like his voice, the music is overly theatrical at some points and boring at others, I don't like how he's looking at me on the cover. Very generous 2, probably the most generous 2 I've given. It wasn't exactly unbearable to listen to, and I did enjoy the first song somewhat. It also is a quick listen, doesn't overstay it's welcome.

Erittäin väkevä laulumusiikkilevy. Brel antaa tunteiden värittää ääntään jopa särkymisen rajalle. 4/5

Bro PLEASE clear your throat bro please

divota! gnusoća jezika (fr*ncuskoga) nimalo ne smeta, čak doprinosi nekoj žestini. teško nakon ovoga biti ravnodušan

Honestly ends up in the same spot as a lot of the bossa nova, salsa, etc. music I've gotten on this list. It's soundtrack/envionment music, and not listening music to me. Still pretty cool French music I'd expect to hear in a restaurant/French film, but yeah.

MORE CHANSON

J'ai un tour d'eiffel pantalons!