Frères Sourires Finale: Brel covered

As promised, we're closing the Month of Male with a top 15 of the bestest Brel-covers by men. Yes, I know I said Top 25 before, but how many Ne Me Quitte Pas-versions can you take?
I left out the four covers already posted (Pierre Lapointe's version should be in this list, though). And I've added a few miscalleneous versions. Thanks to Gerwin, SOM, John, Billy and everyone else who has send me emails and tips about coverversions.
NOTE: ALL FILES ARE DOWN
Hors Categorie

Dusty Springfield - If You Go Away (Ne Me Quitte Pas)
Best coverversion ever. Nuff said.

1. Scott Walker - Next
2. Gavin Friday - Next
3. M - Au Suivant
These versions of Au Suivant really stand out. They differ a lot: Walker does a stiff-upper-lip-take, Gavin foames at the mouth, and M adds some modernity. Walker's Brel-cd is a must-have, by the way. The Gavin Friday-cover is a very rare live-version,recorded by Dutch radio in Amsterdam.

4. Herman van Veen - Liefde van later (Chanson des Vieux Amants)
5. Luc de Vos - De Sluiswacht (L'Éclusier)
Jacques Brel in Dutch, no thanks. Except for these two versions. Herman van Veen is a living theatrical legend in Holland (and succesful in Germany too), Luc de Vos fronts the Belgian rockband Gorki, and has so much melancholy in his voice, you should keep a handkerchief nearby.

6. Tchad Unpoe - Les Moutons
Yes, you can rap a lyric by Brel. And the outcome is great, too.

7. Arno - Le Bon Dieu
This is such a brilliant version. Rotten to the core, in a good way.

8. Yuri Buenaventura - Ne Me Quitte Pas
Yes, you can add some salsa to one of the saddest songs ever written.

9. Noir Desir - Ces-gens là
Like a course, this version. Loathing 101.

10. Les Croquants - Jacky
They did a few Brel-covers, this upbeat folky version is my favourite.

11. Achil Komodo - Vesoul
Also very upbeat, very sunny. And very good.

12. David Bowie - Amsterdam
I heard one horrible version of Amsterdam by David and Ute Lemper. Solo is better.

13. Divine Comedy - Jacky
Very Scott Walker-ish. But Neil Hannon is a great surrogate.

14. Paul Armfield - Why Should It Be That A Man Gets Bored? (Pourquoi-faut il que les hommes s'ennuient?)
I don't like it when a singer tries to imitate Brel, and believe you-me, while researching for this post I heard a lot of ba-a-a-a-d imitations. Paul tries a little, but not too much. I never heard the original, but I think this stays close to it. Could be worse.

15. Sting - If You Go Away (Ne Me Quitte Pas)
Really, it's not as bad as you think. He seems to sing it with a Canadian accent, though.

Miscalleneous:

Grooveblaster - If You Go Away
Loungey remix of Ne Me Quitte Pas, tastefully done. I don't know which version G'blaster used, though. Do you?

Les Snuls - Avec
Funny guys, using a Brel-sample in a funny way

Pate Mustajärvi - Nyt (Au Suivant)
Brel in German is terrible - see how long you can stand Klaus Hoffman. But Brel in Finnish? Hmm....

Frères Sourires (26): Dominique A

The Month of Male started with Dominique A(né), and it's going to close with the genius from Provins too. (Yes, the Brel-superpost is coming up as well).
His first album La Fosette (1992) singlehandedly kickstarted the Nouvelle Chanson movement, featuring young fresh guys and dolls who were as inspired by American and British indierock as by the grand French chanson-tradition. Dominique is a declared fan of Christophe and Barbara, for instance. His musical style is considered to be minimalistic - I'd call it Spartan. A voice and some noise. Most of the time the noise is produced by a guitar, a beatbox and some samples (Dom almost all the time works in trio-form), but his voice is always on the forefront. And what a voice that is. It can be demanding, it can be sharp, but most of the time it's lovelorn. No other French singer can sound that heartbroken as Dominique Ané. His best album, to me, is Auguri (2001), but the very melodic Tout Sera Comme Avant (2004) and L'Horizon (2006) are great too. The experimental Remué (1999) is best approached with care.
He surfaced before on this blog, and almost all the time it was mentioned he's the former lover of Francoiz Breut (they have a son together). She designed the cover of his first album, sang on several songs like his best-known chanson Le 22 Bar, and he wrote a lot of songs for her. Dom also wrote songs for Jeanne Balibar, worked with Yann Tiersen and is supposed to be a member of the mysterious group Oslo Telescopic. L'Horizon, Dom's last album released in 2006, is an intimate masterpiece.

Dominique A - L'Echo(from La Fosette)
Dominique A - Chanson de la ville silencieuse (from Si je connais Harry)
Dominique A - Le Travail (from La Memoire Neuve)
Dominique A - Je Suis Un Ville (from Remué)
Dominique A - Je t'ai toujours aimée (from Auguri)
Dominique A - Pendant que les enfants jouent (from Tout Sera Comme Avant)
Dominique A - Rouvrir (from L'Horizon)
Dominique A - Mon camarade (Léo Ferré-cover, from tributealbum Avec Léo!)
EXTRA:
Dominique A & Francoiz Breut - Teenage Kicks (Undertones cover) (Merci Susie)

Frères Sourires (25): Confusion of Gender

We are approaching the end of the Month of Male here on Filles Sourires. SOM has a nice take on the theme:

"You make me feel like a natural woman". All the following male singers could have interpreted this Aretha Franklin classic... They are all men and assume to sing a song created by/for female singers. From a funny Diane Tell cover by Jérémie Kisling to the Claire Diterzi's sexual healings by Franck Monnet. Here are cocky songs!!

In this short selection, there's so much irony. When I heard Vincent Delerm singing with Keren Ann that 80's classic Tout doucement(Tran. "All softly"), I realized that the lyrics were so beautiful... I didn't expected that, because the song by Bibie hasn't got a good reputation in the French musical industry. When Jérémie Kisling sings Si j'étais un homme (Tran. "If I were a woman"), it's a very nice occasion to smile and hear a refreshing and surprising version of Diane Tell's classic. We can also find humour in Sur le pont d'Avignon, the ambiguous sexy song taken from the last Claire Diterzi's album. The song was originally recorded by Franck Monnet for his own album but the song was refused by his label. He gave it to Claire Diterzi, who fell in love with it during Franck Monnet concert. This straight love song becomes a gay love song in a daring interpretation... In the Émilie Simon cover, Flowers by Mathias from Dionysos, it's hilarious to hear a man singing a girlie ditty. Male singers can be brilliant - ánd have a great sense of humour.


Jérémie Kisling - Si j'étais un homme
Diane Tell - Si J'étais un Homme
Franck Monnet - Sur le pont d'Avignon
Claire Diterzi - Sur le pont d'Avignon
Mathias (from Dionysos) - Flowers
Emilie Simon - Flowers
Vincent Delerm & Keren Ann - Tout Doucement
Bibie - Tout Doucement

Frères Sourires (24): Jerome Attal

Editors, She Wants Revenge, Interpol, Jerome Attal. What do these artists have in common? A knack for Joy Division. Or at least the oblique, claustrofobic take on new wave JD had (thanks to producer Martin Hannett) back in the late seventies. And just like his British and American collegues, Paris-based Jerome Attal says he never was into Joy Division that much, that he has his own style and all the comparisons are just lazy journalism. R-i-i-i-g-h-t. Just listen to Comme Elle Se Donne, the title-track of Jerome's third album (from 2005). That bassline, that low voice, that choir, it's all gone Ian Curtis to me. Enfin. Attal sure is a genuine talent, who not only makes great music, he writes nouvelles too. And songs for other people, like Johnny Hallyday, Florent Pagny and the band Vendetta. If you go to his MySpace-site, you can see the two clips he made with three beautiful actresses, Melanie Laurent singing in Quand Tu Me N'Aimeras Plus, and Marie Denarnaud & Vahina Giocante dancing suggestively in Comme Elle Se Donne.

Jerome Attal & Melanie Laurent - Quand Tu Me N'Aimeras Plus
Jerome Attal - Comme Elle Se Donne

Frères Sourires (23): Julien Clerc

Speenhoff requested me to write a post about Julien Clerc, and focussing on his collaboration with Carla Bruni. That whole story is here. In short: they met at a dinnerparty, she told him she wrote songs, he politely smiled and referred to his agent. Then one day he found a fax, with beautiful lyrics. When he found out the song was written by Carla, he not only named the album after that first song (Si j'étais elle), she ended up writing five more songs for that cd, that came out in 2000 and sold very well. Later on, Carla duetted with Julien, in a translated version of the standard I Get Along Without You Very Well. And she wrote two songs for his last album. When I interviewed Carla, she told me it took her a long time to write these, because she was already tangled up in the No Promises-project, for which she read a lots of English poetry and quite frankly got a little bored of writing French songs. "But hey, I promised to do it, so I did it", she told me.
Paul-Alain Leclerc, aka Julien Clerc, is a survivor. He was among the first French artists who enjoyed succes across the border in the sixties, scoring major hits in Holland - the very danceable Venise being the best. When you see his afro-like coupe, it's no surprise he made a name in France doing the musical Hair. He's pop-royalty in France, made a lot of albums and staying in very good shape. He's not my cup of tea, but I enjoy his hits every now and then, and sure like his collabs with Carla.

Julien Clerc - Elle voulait qu'on l'appelle Venise
Julien Clerc - Elisa (Gainsbourg-cover)
Julien Clerc & Carla Bruni - Qu'est-ce que tu crois?
Julien Clerc - Si j'étais elle
Julien Clerc - Une vie de rien (both songs written by Carla Bruni)

Frères Sourires (22): Stuart A. Staples

Guestpost! Roger Grund on Stuart A. Staples and Tindersticks. Okay, this might be stretching the Frères Sourires-project a little - Tindersticks isn't a French band, nor do they sing in French a lot. But Roger chose a great song (in French), and every chance to introduce people to this brilliant band I take! Go right ahead, Roger:

So talented, yet so unbothered by success, fame and all that comes with it. That is, in a nutshell, Tindersticks, from Nottingham, UK. For a brief moment in 1995, around the release of their second album characteristically named Tindersticks, it appeared as if the band were going to massive, but of course, it did never happen. Their fanbase were more concerned about this than the band; Tindersticks simply continued on their journey of progressively more subtle and seducing songs, a journey that has led to solo recordings by Tindersticks singer Stuart A. Staples, most recently.
France always occupied a special position in Tindersticks-land. Like Roxy Music before them, aestetically and atmospherically Tindersticks are regarded as ‘European’ - then again, almost any band that does not sing about beer and football is deemed continental in Britain. In France they played sell out shows in prestigious venues, had modest airplay and an active following in artistic circles. Maybe with this in mind, Tindersticks recorded Plus de Liaisons, a French-language version of No More Affairs from their second album, the closest Tindersticks ever approached a Hit Single. Plus de Liaisons finds Tindersticks in a reflective mood, where the singer ponders the emotional cost of his ‘fooling around’ and concludes that from now on there will be Plus de Liaisons.

Tindersticks - Plus de Liaisons

Frères Sourires (21): Bertrand Betsch

Bertrand Betsch a l’élégance de déprimer joyeusement, somebody wrote about strawberry-blonde Betsch, who debuted in 1997 with La Soupe à la Grimace. It was released on the Lithium-label, at the time the home of Dominique A., Francoiz Breut and Jerome Minière, the heroes of the nouvelle chanson. Betsch, with his delicate, high voice, put intimate confessions in his songs, but could also be very cruel and cold. In this interview, he is asked if he feels any kinship with author Bret Easton Ellis, also someone who can be very intimate and very cruel. It's like somebody hit a sore spot: Betsch detests Ellis. Shame, 'cause there are comparisons. The year after the release of his debut, Bertrand lost his voice, for the next 12 months he had to recover. He then returned with B.B. Sides, a very personal album with some covers (songs by Phil Spector, Dominique A and Leonard Cohen) and nine self-penned songs. I haven't heard that one, but my online friend Roar tells me it's "probably the worst disappointment I've had as a music collector". So there. You can listen to Nu from that album on BB's Myspace-site. Pas de Bras, Pas de Chocolat (2004) is way better, Betsch has a go at different musical styles like jazz and reggae, and writes a lot of infectious songs. In February, his new album comes out. First single and titletrack La Chaleur Humaine has some irie vibes as well.

Bertrand Betsch - La Chaleur Humaine
Bertrand Betsch - Des Gens Attendant (from Pas de Bras Pas de Chocolat)
Bertrand Betsch - Un Mauvais Vivant (from Soupe à la Grimace)