Search - Bad Reputation :: Pierre de Gaillande Sings Georges Brassens

From the 1950s through the late 70s, Georges Brassens
redefined French chanson. He was an anarchist bard
whose songs were sometimes raunchy, sometimes
polemic, often poignant, and always steeped in classic
French poetry. His songs, unlike those of Jacques Brel
or Serge Gainsbourg, never became known outside of
France, mostly because of the language barrier.
Now, Franco-American singer and composer Pierre de
Gaillande has taken on the impossible task of translating
Brassens songbook, to astonishing results. He has stuck
to the rhyming scheme and verse length of the original
songs, thus matching the melodies perfectly. He has
re-arranged the music with a cinematic sensibility, using a
combination of guitars, clarinets, lap steel, and charango.
The best way to describe the record is to compare it to
the perfect film adaptation of a literary classic sung by
the offspring of Nick Cave and Leonard Cohen.