Georges Brassens - Anthology 2021 (All Tracks Remastered) '2021

Tracks list

Tracklist:

01. Une jolie fleur... dans une peau de vache (Remastered)
02. La mauvaise herbe (Remastered)
03. La marche nuptiale (Remastered 2015)
04. Pénélope (Remastered)
05. La guerre de 14-18 (Remastered 2015)
06. Le petit cheval (Remastered 2015)
07. P... De toi (Remastered)
08. Le parapluie (Remastered 2015)
09. Au bois de mon cœur (porte des lilas movie soundtrack) (Remastered 2015)
10. Le vieux léon (Remastered 2015)
11. La ballade des cimetières (Remastered)
12. Auprès de mon arbre (Remastered)
13. Comme hier (Remastered 2015)
14. Le bistrot (Remastered)
15. Jeanne (Remastered 2015)
16. Le vent (Remastered 2015)
17. La légende de la nonne (Remastered)
18. La chasse aux papillons (Remastered 2015)
19. Le pornographe (Remastered 2015)
20. Le temps passé (Remastered)
21. La mauvaise réputation (Remastered 2015)
22. Le testament (Remastered)
23. Comme une sœur (Remastered 2015)
24. Le temps ne fait rien à l'affaire (Remastered)
25. La première fille... qu'on a pris dans ses bras (Remastered)
26. L n'y a pas d'amour heureux (Remastered 2015)
27. Grand-père (Remastered 2015)
28. Je rejoindrai ma belle (Remastered 2015)
29. Le mauvais sujet repenti (Remastered)
30. Les funérailles d'Antan (Remastered)


 Read Full BiographyGeorges Brassens was born in the small Mediterranean town
of Sète, France, on October 22, 1921. His deeply religious mother encouraged
him to play the mandolin, and taught him some of the Italian folk songs she'd
grown up with; intellectually, however, Brassens wound up taking after his
staunchly anti-religion father. Around age 15, Brassens met Alphonse Bonnafé,
the literature teacher who first introduced him to poetry (and would later write
the first Brassens biography in 1963). Brassens soon spent his free time writing
poetry and song lyrics, the latter of which he typically set to popular melodies
of the time. He also formed a small musical group called Jazz, which played
local functions with Brassens as the drummer. Unfortunately, Brassens was
expelled from school in 1939 after inadvertently getting mixed up in a jewel
theft on campus. He first went to work for his father's masonry business, then
went to Paris in 1940 to live with his aunt and work at the Renault car factory.
In the meantime, he learned piano and wrote some of his first original
compositions.

When Nazi troops arrived in Paris that summer, Brassens returned to Sète for
a few months, but found it difficult to remain there. He was back in Paris by
year's end, and despite the Nazi occupation, he managed to publish two short
poetry collections in 1942. In 1943, Brassens was conscripted into the S.T.O., a
mandatory work service program that forced him to go to Germany; there he met
Pierre Onténiente, a fellow Frenchman who would become his lifelong friend
and (in his successful years) private secretary. After a year in the S.T.O.,
Brassens returned to Paris on a two-week leave; rather than go back to Germany,
he went into hiding at the home of a couple, Jeanne and Marcel Planche, whom he
would later immortalize in song. Without much else to occupy him, Brassens spent
his days composing songs and writing music, eventually teaching himself the
guitar based on his prior experience with the mandolin.

In 1946, after the war had ended, Brassens published the first of a series of
articles in the anarchist journal Le Libertaire. The following year, he also
published his first novel, La Lune Écoute Aux Portes, and met Joha Heiman,
the woman he would love -- and write about -- for the remainder of his life
(oddly, they never married or even cohabited, as Brassens continued to live with
the Planches until 1966). Brassens wrote much of his finest early work during
the next few years, but found it difficult to place his material with anyone on
the Parisian cabaret circuit. His luck started to change in 1951 when he met
singer Jacques Grello, who helped him find performers for his songs; however,
none proved especially popular with audiences at first.

In early 1952, Brassens auditioned a selection of his material for female
cabaret star Patachou, giving a late-night performance that dazzled the small
audience present. Though Brassens had never considered himself a singer,
Patachou convinced him to try his hand at performing himself. A bass player
present at the audition, Pierre Nicolas, quickly joined Brassens in support, and
would serve in that capacity for the remainder of the singer's career. Brassens
was an immediate hit on the cabaret circuit with both audiences and critics, and
with Patachou's help, he met Polydor exec Jacques Canetti, and landed a record
deal. His first single, "Le Gorille," was released later in 1952, and stirred up
controversy with its strong anti-death penalty stance; in fact, it was banned
from French radio until 1955.

In 1953, Brassens released his first LP, La Mauvaise Réputation, and played
his first major concert at the Bobino Theatre, to which he would return often in
the years to come; he also published a second novel, La Tour des Miracles. He
won the prestigious Grand Prix du Disque de l'Academie Charles Cros in 1954 for
his EP Le Parapluie, and spent much of the year touring Europe and northern
Africa. He released several more LPs over the remainder of the '50s, during
which time chronic kidney ailments began to affect his health, resulting in
periodic hospitalizations. Nonetheless, he continued to tour regularly, and made
his film debut in 1956's Portes des Lilas; he also set some of his friend Paul
Fort's poetry to music.

Brassens' early-'60s LPs included strong works like Le Pornographe, Le
Mécréant, and Les Trompettes de la Renommée. In 1964, he wrote the hit
theme "Les Copains d'Abord" for the film Les Copains, and issued an album of the
same name. His prolific writing pace of the '50s slowed considerably afterward,
due in part to health problems and personal tragedies (both his parents and the
Planches had passed away by the end of the decade). These experiences informed
his increasingly morbid lyrical outlook, typified by his 1966 LP Supplique pour
Être Enterré à la Plage. However, the remainder of the '60s was not all
unkind to Brassens; he was awarded the Grand Prix de Poésie de l'Academie
Française (the highest national poetry award) in 1967, and took part in a
celebrated three-way radio interview with Jacques Brel and Léo Ferré in
1969. Also in 1969, he returned with the new album La Religieuse, which featured
his new second guitarist, Joel Favreau, the third musician to hold that chair
(the first two were Victor Apicella and Barthelemy Rosso).

Brassens spent the early '70s working on several film soundtracks, and
performing several well-received concert series at the Bobino Theatre; he also
issued a new album, Fernande, in 1972. Weakened by his kidney problems, he
embarked on his final tour in 1973. He issued one further LP, Don Juan, in 1976,
and gave a series of farewell concerts in early 1977 at the Bobino. Brassens
would return to the studio on several other occasions as a star guest for
others' recording sessions, but by 1980, his kidney problems had worsened into
cancer. He passed away on October 29, 1981, in the village of
Saint-Gely-du-Fesc, at his doctor's home, and was buried nearby in his hometown
of Sète. ~ Steve Huey

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