Louis Chedid, Dreamer, dreamer

Already the eighteenth studio album for Louis Chedid which shows no sign of wear on this sumptuous Dreamer, dreamer. Each of the songs on this collection shows the extent to which the septuagenarian has kept his enthusiasm and freshness intact. Chedid wrote some forty songs, but only kept ten or so, which make up the essence of an album that follows the piano-voice exercise he carried out with Yvan Cassar. Here, Chedid has put his trust in a young director, Stan Neff, who was already at the helm of the singer’s new album. ClouÀ l’évidence.

The modern, meticulous arrangements of the songs benefit from the contribution of musicians of the highest calibre, such as François Poggio (guitars), Johann Dalgaard (keyboards) and Laurent Vernerey (bass). A dream team at the service of utopian pop, celebrating above all Heartbeat. Matthieu Chedidaka -M- punctuates the album with sober guitar choruses, and Anna Chedid, another daughter of the Chedid clan, provides backing vocals.

Since his appearance on the French scene in the mid-1970s, this former film student has occupied a special place, cultivating a singular, intimate garden punctuated by hits such as Anne, ma sœur Anne or Absentees are always wrong. “People often say to me, ‘With the career you’ve had, you’ve got nothing left to prove’. I reply that it’s just the opposite.” Louis Chedid puts his title back on the line with great grace and elegance.

John Cale, The Academy in Peril and Paris 1919

Limogé from Velvet Undeground by a Lou Reed jealous in 1968, John Cale continues to lead a solo career even more exciting than that of his enemy brother, who died in 2013: this year, at the age of 80, he released a very good album.

His new label, Domino, is taking the opportunity to reissue two of his most cult albums: The Academy in Peril and Paris 1919, respectively released in 1972 and 1973, when the musician was pursuing a dual career as artistic director and artist for the Reprise label. These two albums are poles apart. While the first offers instrumental music on the borderline between rock and classical, the second is a true pop masterpiece.

After academic training on the viola, Welshman Cale was in New York studying contemporary music with John Cage when he hit the city’s rock’n’roll scene. Paris 1919 is permeated by this double culture, and celebrates an attachment to European culture seen through the prism of a man exiled in California. The stroke of genius of this album, apart from the exquisite quality of its songs, is to have used the musicians of the Californian group Little Feat alongside a symphonic band. This new reissue of the album – its author’s most beloved – benefits from a number of amusing bonuses, and above all, a new, very impressive remastering that allows us to hear hidden instrumental parts for the first time.