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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
a wonderful collection of English versions of Brel songs, 7 Feb 2004
By A Customer
how many songwriters have had their songs covered by such a wide range of artists - from Dusty Springfield to Alex Harvey - to Westlife ! (happily, their version of 'seasons in the sun' is not included on this album)
This fantastic compilation shows what a great songwriter Jaques Brel was - it features some songs and artists that you might already know - Bowie's Amsterdam for instance, and also a great new artist called Paul Armfield doing a beautiful version of a more obscure song from the Brel songbook - 'Why should it be that a man gets bored'
a great album.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Inspiring tribute to 'le grand bluesman absent', 11 Oct 2004
Jacques Brel - Belgium's most famous child, was a supremely talented singer/songwriter, whose enormous influence is, sadly, only now posthumously getting the recognition it deserves. 'Next' is a collection of some of his most famous compositions, meticulously and lovingly translated into English, and performed by a diverse range of anglophone artistes. The highlights for me are Bowie's ascerbic and minimalist Amsterdam (a monophonic live recording, atmospherically very different to his studio version), Dusty Springfield's sensual rendition of 'If You Go Away' (Ne Me Quitte Pas) with soaring vocals and inspired minor chord changes, Divine Comedy's sympathetic 'Jackie', Anne Watts' Amsterdam, with her husky voice and those echoing bass piano notes conveying a very powerful if somewhat lugubrious image, Nina Simone's polished and evocative 'Desperate Ones' and, of course, the late great Alex Harvey's sensationally manic version of 'Next' (au Suivant). There are a few weaker moments - the Scott Walker and Jimmy Rogers songs are of only average quality and Terry Jacks' sugary sweet Seasons in the Sun owes very little to Brel's caustically bitter Le Moribund (The Dying Man). Furthermore, and strangely, there are a few notable omissions; I would have liked to see Bowie's famous rendition of 'My Death' (La Mort) and Ange's upbeat, rocking version of Ces Gens-La included in the collection. Also, the absence of any contributions by Mort Schuman, who did so much to bring Brel's music to the English-speaking world, is slightly disappointing. Enough nitpicking though! I listened to the album on my long drive into work this morning with a great smile on my face! This music makes you feel uplifted and the next moment moves you almost to tears. Throughout, I felt astonished at how well Brel's poetry translates to the anglo-saxon tongue. OK, so some of the fine imagery in Jackie hasn't quite made it across the Channel, but it comes very close. Alex Harvey belting out 'I swear on the wet head of my first case of gonorrhoea!' will be forever etched in my memory! If you don't know Brel's songs, buy this, then go and buy the originals. Great stuff!
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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Great songs, so-so translations, inconsistent performances., 20 Aug 2004
The above is not 100% true. "The Lovers" isn't a great song, though neither is it by Brel, and some of the performances, notably those by Scott Walker, are pretty good. But the overall effect is disappointing for a Brel fan. Surely there is better stuff out there. Why choose the lacklustre performace of "Jackie" by The Divine Comedy in preference to the much better one by Scott Walker, for example? And why repeat three of the songs (three of the best, but also three of the bleakest) when there is so much more that could have ben included, such as the excellent English translations of "La Colombe" and "Sons Of". Worst of all was the murdering of one of Brel's best songs, "Quand on n'a que l'Amour". "If we only have Lurve" by Dionne Warwick sets new standards of mediocrity. Oh dear! And why Terry Jacks? (That's one question the existentialists never could answer.) "Seasons in the Sun" - the words and the style - must be the most faithless of all the translations here. I guess the idea was to demonstrate the varied ways in which Brel songs have been interpreted by a variety of performers, and I suppose you could say that this has been achieved, but at what cost? A collection like this could have been much better. Having said that, there were some high points. The performances by Dusty Springfield, Scott Walker and Marc Almond are all creditable, and both performances of "Next" were revelations, both different yet both faithful in spirit to the original. It has been suggested that one might do better to go for the collection of Brel songs by Scott Walker. Even better, why not go straight to the top, the man himself. Even if you don't speak French, it will be worth it, and there is lots of choice available from Amazon. (See my review of the "Quand on n'a que l'Amour" boxed set, for example.)
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