I had a friend who was obsessed with his Jacques Brel tribute album. Whenever I went over there, that was the only thing on the stereo, for weeks. So I'm familiar with that album, but none of his others.

Jacques Brel's widow said that, if she had her way, Marc Almond would be the only person allowed to do her husband's songs.

Jacques Brel's widow said that, if she had her way, Marc Almond would be the only person allowed to do her husband's songs.

Although she withdrew that after his (brilliant) hi-nrg version of Jackie. I'm very sad about this - I was a colossal Marc fan in the early '90s, and without him I'd never have discovers Walker, Azhnavour, Brel et al.

And as hec says, Mother Fist is one of the great albums of the '90s, and the title song is one of the top ten songs about masturbation.

"Sweetness, I was only joking when I said / that by rights you should be bludgeoned in the head..."

Bludgeoned in your bed - to rhyme with smash every tooth in your head.

RIO - if you have time, I dunno if you do, track down Simon Reynolds' book Blissed Out - it's where I stole the nostalgia for a place you hate line, and has about the smartest dissection of Morrissey circa 1991 I've ever read.

Bludgeoned in your bed - to rhyme with smash every tooth in your head.

I knew I'd muffed that, but trusted I'd be corrected in no time. I think tooth-smashing is the more violent imagery actually.

OMG Marc Almond did a Jacques Brel tribute album?

WANT.

Although she withdrew that after his (brilliant) hi-nrg version of Jackie. I'm very sad about this - I was a colossal Marc fan in the early '90s, and without him I'd never have discovers Walker, Azhnavour, Brel et al.

I love his version of Jackie. Marc Almond is in no small way responsible for my marriage - my now wife came by my place on our first "date" and found that I had a copy of "The Stars We Are", and decided I was worth her time, I guess.

Azhnavour? I am unfamiliar. However, have you heard Jack Lukeman's "Wax" album? That young man has a voice that was MADE for Brel. Too bad most of the stuff he's written himself is shite.

OMG Marc Almond did a Jacques Brel tribute album?

Well, really, two of them, kind of. Tenement Symphony has a few Brel tunes, most notably Jacky. Jacques is (I believe) Brel in it's entirety.

WANT.

TAKE. HAVE.

track down Simon Reynolds' book Blissed Out

Just ordered it; thanks!

An intro to a top-5-love-songs list, shamelessly stolen from the University of Chicago Student newspaper and reposted because it amuses me:

Some procedural notes before we open the floor: The abstract requirements for love song status are as follows: The song must be addressed to an unnamed subject, addressed only by the second-person singular pronoun or by honorifics like “baby,” “sweet cheeks,” “sugar,” or “lady.” The subject must not have agency. Further, the thematic content song must fall into one of the following broad categories, allowing for poetic inversions and whatnot:

1. I Done You Wrong, Please Forgive Me

2. You Done Me Wrong, Watch Me Forgive You

3. I Enjoy Freaking With You, Let Us Begin/Continue Freaking Together

4. Everything (Including Freaking) Is Going Great

Criteria specific to this list: No live versions, no ironic covers, no songs containing the word “fuck” and no Brill Building shit, by which I mean the song must in some way express sentiments native to the singer, or the singer must have socioeconomic fraternité with the songwriter, if they are not the same person. Anyway, the list, in 5-4-3-2-1 order.

Is that what "Le Freak" was about. t enlightened

Is that what "Le Freak" was about.

The origin of that particular song is that Niles Rodgers and Bernard Edwards couldn't get into Studio 54 one night. So they started a chant of "Awwwww, Fuck Off!" And got the whole crowd going. So they made it into a song, after a retitling.

See also: "Super Freak" and "No Freakin' on the Dance Floor" and a berjillion other 80s funk hits.