À PROPOS DE...

The previous Ange album was a real disaster and when I listen to the first song of this one, the worse can only expected. "A Propos De" is an album of cover songs from well-known French (and Belgian) singers / poets.

They already had covered "Le Grand Jacques" (one of our national hero in Belgium) with "Ces Gens Là" in their second album "Le Cimetière Des Arlequins". This version of "Le Moribond" is AWFUL. Disco / pop. What a treatment for this great song (covered as well by Leo Sayer in English, but I do not remember its English title).

Next one is on par : absolutely disgusting. It is of course difficult for people outside the French speaking territories to know Georges Brassens : a great French poet / songwriter. A great friend of Jacques BTW. This version is HORRIBLE.

Don't worry, "Tu Te Laisses Aller", from Charles Aznavour has the same disco beat : it is hard to believe. The grand Ange of not so long ago, would have brought a vibrant homage to these giants of another genre of course, but still a good source of inspiration. But you need to be inspired then.

Which was definitely not the case of Ange for this awful album which goes on with one great song from the anti-conformist Jacques Dutronc. "Il Est Cinq Heures Paris S' Eveille" is DREADFUL.

How is this possible ! Even if it were a joke it would be hard to believe. Ange doing this S H I T! Sorry there is absolutely no other words to describe this, and you know that I quite have praised this French band.

"A Jeun" is another Brel song. Less known but with great lyrics (as most of the time). The jazz-rock mood for this one and the theatrical vocals are not too bad. The lyrics talking about a drunken guy are well performed by Christian. It was about time !

"Le Rouge Et Le Noir" from Claude Nougaro (a French jazz singer from the old generation, dead by now) is not too bad either but I can not compare with the original since Nougaro has never been a fave of mine.

To close the album, we'll get the long "Le Bal Des Laze" from Michel Ponareff. He was extremely popular during the mid-late sixties - early seventies and was quite a controvertial character. He migrates in L.A. for a very long period of (almost) silence. He is now performing a very successful come-back in Paris as well as in Brussels these days (April-June 2007).

At least the long intro (four minutes) with the nice keys are reminiscent of the good old Ange. Good guitar work as well. This is finally a very good interpretation. Hopefully because with the first four songs, Ange produced really a pityful masquerade. This number really saves this record.

Some of these numbers are monuments of the French "chanson". Most of them are completely screwed up here. The last three save it to get the one star rating, but you really need to stay away from this album. Pauvre de nous...

Two stars.

1.5 stars really!!!

Like many groups Ange did their own « covers » album, but given their French singing, they did an album or reprises of La Chanson Francaise. Such albums are rarely a good idea and Ange does fall into the trap. If you remember way back when Ange reprised more or less successfully Jacques Brel's Ces Gens-là on the second album Arlequins. Although a risky bet, they were bold enough to chez Brel's epic song and if they didn't ridicule themselves, a lot of Brel fans were cringing, but had to recognize it was correct. And on this album they try two more, but this does not sit well with anyone, especially given Ange's lost musical perspective of the second part of the 90's.At least the group recognized some of the most important Chanteurs, as Brel, Brassens, Nougaro, Azvavour, Dutronc and Ponareff are obviously choice for an album introducing the newbie to La Chanson Francaise, but the way to do it was simply not correct. The choices of the original songs are disputable, but valid, but the way they treat the songs to these electronic-textured sounds that already stunk at release time, but will worsen as years go by

Not only do they not honour correctly, but even Musea (their label) probably hesitated releasing it as they give not their names or logo on the album, but the FGBG catalogue number leaves no doubt to its origins (FG is Francis Grosse and BG is Bertrand Gueffier), but everyone makes mistakes, and who knows this could've worked with a different public than Ange's normal followers. I can't find one single track that resisted Ange's torture, and certainly not the two Brel tracks or Brassens'. I had hopes that Dutronc's Paris track would survive, but alas to no avail. The worst part of it is that it's quite hard to realize that you are on a Ange album. Nougaro's chosen is a great classic (Stendhal's Red & Black, so funnily adapted in the 60's), but if not as catastrophic (a real guitar oozes from the electronica and gets in some histrionics) as others on the album, it certainly does not compliment the original. The only track I was not familiar with was Bal des Lazes, here turned into an 11- mins epic, in which enough drama to make it sound a bit normal Ange-like. While this track sort of saves the album from completely diving, you'd better avoid this dud.