I'd really enjoyed Scott Walker's album of Brel songs, and we've already visited Rod McKuen's album of translations. This French compilation of Brel's work, was definitely a pound in a charity shop!
Without anything standing out, it's a good listen early on. La Valse A Mille Temps is a lively number, before the passionate ballad Ne Me Quitte Pas - a top ten hit for Terry Jacks as If You Go Away. Les Bourgeois is imposing, as is La Quete (The Impossible Dream in French). And while Brel, who died in 1978, was undoubtedly a great singer and composer, by the halfway point it's all becoming a bit intense. Mathilde (covered by Scott Walker) is a fine song, but it gets a bit turgid and melancholy for most of the second half of the compilation, and not even a spirited live version of Amsterdam can rescue it.
2* - some great songs, but much that is ordinary on this over-long compilation.
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