Although I somehow didn't get round to organising any kind of formal award ceremony in the closing months of last year, Woodkid's second album S16 was probably this blog's album of the year.
It's an album that somehow fitted perfectly with the strange year we had. For all the grandeur of the textures he plays with, there's fragile humanity at the centre of it. While apparently inhuman and gigantic forces surround us and bewilder us, rather than simply focusing on the large-scale drama and celebrating it, his focus remains on the human dimension throughout.
For all the industrial-scale mechanics of Goliath, with its epic orchestral and electronic flavours, it asks simple personal questions: Where are you going boy? How did you get so lost? Amidst the apparently overwhelming situation, with its depersonalising, uncertain and strange unfamiliarity, these questions remain pertinent and unanswered.
Meanwhile, the In your likeness video is set in the inhospitable and unfamiliar environment of an oil rig, lit as strangely as an alien space station in a Hollywood movie. But a song that focuses on one human voice, illuminating the darkness like a distress flare.
A lot of us have been moving towards personal reflection in a year that has seen us confronted by circumstances that are alien to us, frightening and beyond our control. A year where, for many of us, what once were optimistic horizons have become distant battlefields.
With his cover of Francis Cabrel's things are even more personal. The song by Cabrel from his 1994 Samedi soir sur la Terre is one of the songwriter's key works, a love song to his partner and to his child. With Woodkid's version, almost everything is stripped away, the focus is on voice on piano, and it's incredibly affecting.
If Cabrel was at the time thought to be one of the standard-bearers for the French chanson tradition, Woodkid has quietly established his own claim to the title.
With the release last week of an album of covers by Nolwenn Leroy focusing on the work of French singer-songwriters of the 1970s, I thought it was worth taking a look and a listen to some of the original versions of the songs she's re-made for the 21st century audience.
Much as I like Nolwenn, and appreciate her new versions of the songs, the originals of these songs have their own charm. Her album inspires a dive into some of the forgotten rivers of French music, where cheesy album covers and Greatest Hits compilations congregate, along with artists who haven't had much of a media profile for years or who are written off artistically as well past their peak. But there are some gems that are worth investigation.
If you want to explore further, it won't take much expense. You'll find vinyl or CDs by many of the acts she's covered in the cheap section of pretty much any record shop in France.
Je ne peux plus dire je t'aime originally appeared on Jacques Higelin's 1979 Caviar pour les autres... album. Higelin released two albums simultaneously, Champagne pour tout le monde now combined with its partner as a double album. A later version that saw Higelin duet with actor Isabelle Adjani was probably the definitive Higelin version of the song.
So far away from LA was a hit for Nicolas Peyrac in 1975 and helped establish his career. It featured on his debut album D'où venez-vous ? Peyrac continues to perform and release new music, and is also a successful author.
Diabolo menthe was written by Yves Simon for the soundtrack of the film of the same name by director Diane Kurys. According to legend, the song was written in the space of two hours before a concert. The film, set in the early 60s, tells the story of two young girls growing up in Paris during that time. The song was also recently covered by La Grande Sophie.
Suzanne is obviously a cover of the Leonard Cohen classic, but the French version was adapted by Graeme Allwright. Allwright, a singer songwriter with a long career, covered and adapted many of Cohen's songs. It initially appeared on his 1968 Le Jour De Clarté album, along with an adaptation of Cohen's Stranger Song.
Allwright's French version was covered by Francoise Hardy in 1968 on her Comment Te Dire Adieu album. The song was also covered Alain Bashung, appearing on his final album Bleu pétrole in 2008, the year before Bashung's death.
Virages was a hit for Yves Duteil in 1972. His first single, it would feature on his 1974 debut album L'Écritoire. Duteil would go on to write the song Prendre un Enfant, a song that has been widely covered in different languages by a number of artists.
Hollywood was originally by David McNeil and appeared on his 1974 album L'Assassinat. McNeil, the son of painter Marc Chagall, has had a long musical career from his 1972 self-titled debut to his 2014 album Un lézard en septembre and his songs have been performed by artists including Yves Montand, Jacques Dutronc and Renaud.
Petite fille de rêve was a 1974 single by Jean-michel Caradec. It featured on the album of the same name, following his Mords la vie debut the previous year. One of his best known songs, Ma Bretagne quand elle pleut was covered by Nolwenn Leroy on her 2010 Bretonne album. Caradec died aged 34 in a car accident in 1981.
Je t'aimais, je t'aime, je t'aimerai was a single in 1994, from Francis Cabrel's Samedi soir sur la Terre. It's one of his best known songs, with previous covers by France Gall amongs others. It's a spectacularly beautiful song. Cabrel recorded an album of Dylan covers in 2012. If Dylan covered this song in English, it would be regarded as a masterpiece.
On est comme on est is the title track of the 1981 debut album by Renaud Detressan. He went on to release three solo albums, before forming the band Soldat Louis in 1988. The band took traditional Breton and celtic music and combined it with rock, with considerable commercial success. From their 1988 Première Bordée album to their 2017 Quelques nouvelles du front, they have remained one of the most prominent names in contemporary Breton music.
la rua madureira came from Nino Ferrer's 1969 album Agata, his third album. Ferrer had been active since 1959 and already enjoyed considerable success in France and Italy. A version of this song by Cali appeared on a tribute album to Ferrer - On dirait Nino - that was released in 2005. Ferrer died in 1998, five years after the release of his final album.
Marions les roses features on the second album by the band Malicorne, and came out in 1975. Malicorne were a folk act who fitten in well with the more pastoral tendancies of then-contemporary progressive rock. Manstay of the band Gabriel Yacoub had previously played with Alan Stivell on his key Chemins de terre and À l'Olympia albums anb.d founded the band with his partner Marie Yacoub. The band enjoyed considerable success in the 70s, and Malicorne 2 sold over 100,000 copies.
Jolie Louise was originally by Daniel Lanois from his 1989 album Acadie. Lanois was by then well-known as a producer, having worked with U2 and Brian Eno, and having played a considerable role in re-inventing the music career of Bob Dylan through his work on his Oh Mercy album. Lanois' debut solo album saw him explore the cajun folk sounds of French America and did much to revive an international interest in this style of music.
Sacré Géranium by Dick Annegarn is unique in the collection, in that Nolwenn duets with the original artist. The song is the title track from Annegarn's 1974 debut album, although the album technically is just titled 'Dick Annegarn'. Annegarn has continued to record and perform, his most recent release being 2018's 12 villes, 12 chansons.
Francis Cabrel is marking the 40th anniversary of his career with the release of two previously unreleased songs, and the release of his back catalogue on streaming platforms.
Cabrel has always been a principled artist, and had for a long time refused the use of his music on online streaming platforms, and only this week confirmed his change of heart.
He announced his back catalogue would be available to listen via streaming on September 18, the 40th anniversary of the release of his debut album Les murs de poussière, a collection that featured his top five hit single Petite Marie.
Cabrel's gone on to release 13 studio albums and half a dozen live collections in his career so far, and written some iconic modern chanson works including Je l'aime a mourir and Je t'aimais, je t'aime et je t'aimerai. His most recent studio album was 2015's In extremis, a follow up to 2012's album of Dylan covers Vise le ciel.
Cabrel's initial decision to prevent the release of his material on streaming sites was down to a number of reasons, he told le Parisien, including the fact that he ragarded the sound quality as inferior to CD, that artists - particularly young artists - were not getting sufficient renumeration and that streaming was slowing the sales of albums.
But his opinion changed on seeing his own children's use of streaming as a means to consume music, and his own subscription to a streaming service saw him realise how practical it was. He could access new releases when they came out, he could download then as he would a newspaper, and appreciated how it could actually encourage those who loved music to buy a CD.
Two new previously unreleased songs have come out to mark the occasion, and a new album from Cabrel is expected some time next year.
A new single from Francis Cabrel, with the song Dur comme fer from his recent In Extremis album.
Cabrel has been active since the mid 1970s, one of France's biggest selling singers.
His previous album, Vise le ciel , was his French language interpretations of Bob Dylan songs, hsi most recent album of his own material was in 2007 with the Des roses et des orties collection
Dur comme fer is the opening track on In Extremis, the album reaching number one in France.
Partis pour rester was released as the first single from the collection.
Cabrel goes on tour from September until April next year, with seven sold-out shows at L'Olympia in Paris in November and three nights at the Palais des Sports in February.
A clip for the song Comme Blind Willie Mc Tell by Francis Cabrel, from his album of Dylan covers Vise le Ciel.
The original Dylan song was never officially released when it was recorded for his 1983 Infidels album, and it remained an out take until it surfaced on his Bootleg Collection vol 1-3 collection in 1991.
It surfaced on bootlegs before its official release, and the quality of the song was such that it was held up by collectors as an example of just how good Dylan's out takes could be, even in what many regarded as the later stage of his career.
The song is now regarded as among Dylan's finest work, Dylan himself performing it live after The Band began performing it and releasing it on their Jericho album in 1993.
Dylan himself said the song was never developed fully and never completed it.
Dylan's recording of the song, a low-key performance that featured him on Piano and Mark Knopfler on acoustic guitar, is one of those rare astonishing works
Despite the song being rooted in an American historical context, the French language version of the lyrics still sounds natural and authentic, with French historically being spoken in some Cajun communities in southern states.
Cabrel's version shows that an artist can still cover a Dylan song, make it his own and keep the magic intact.
With Shakira taking a classic French song to the top of the country's charts, I thought a mention of the song Je l'aime a Mourir was appropriate.
The song , originally by Francis Cabrel, featured on his 1979 second album Les Chemins de Traverse.
It was Cabrel's biggest hit, a commercial high point in a long career, and was number one for five weeks in 1979.
However, Shakira probably became more aware of the song though Spanish language versions of the song.
Cabrel recording one himself - under the title La Quiero a Morir in 1979 for his Spanish language album Algo más de Amor. A cover by Sergio Vargas in 1986 later became a big hit in Latin American countries.
Shakira's cover of the song, in French and Spanish, reached number one in the French charts and was there for several weeks. She performed her version of the song at the NRJ Music Awards.
Shakira became the first Colombian to be honored by France as a Chevalier de L’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in January.
While this blog covers French music both new and old, I enjoy the occasional link to a song that perhaps ties in to a particular day or occasion, so given St Valentine's day I thought this song appropriate.
Cabrel is a hugely talented singer-songwriter who has been releasing material since the late 70s. This song originally came out as a single in 1994 and on his Samedi soir sur la terre album, the album winning the Best Album award at the Victoires de la Musique that year, and the single winning the Trophée RFI/ Conseil de la Francophonie award.
Throughout his career he has been a socially aware performer, dealing with political issues such as immigration, exclusion, religion and has performed concerts for charity supporting children with HIV and Les Restaurants du cœur.
Cabrel's most recent release was the 2008 album Des roses et des orties.
Je t'aimais, je t'aime, je t'aimerai is a wonderful track, that is not only a very fine love song, but also a great lesson in the conjugation of the verb 'aimer' at no extra charge.
