Jacques Brel Is Alive And Well And Living In Paris

They Say...

Review by William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide

Jacques Brel occupied a position in French popular music roughly comparable to that of Bob Dylan in the U.S., writing and singing personal, serious songs of greater depth and individuality than most pop. Unlike Dylan, however, Brel's music, drawing upon cabaret styles, had an overtly theatrical flair. America in the winter of 1968 was well-primed for such an artist, and veteran songwriter Mort Shuman, along with associate Eric Blau, hit upon the idea of translating Brel's songs and presenting them in a musical revue. Using only four performers (including Shuman), they staged Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris at a Greenwich Village nightclub starting on January 22, 1968. When it finally closed, 1,847 performances later, it was the third-longest-running show in off-Broadway history. One reason was the performers, particularly the gruff, melodramatic Shuman and the reedy-voiced Elly Stone, who recalled Edith Piaf. (Smooth tenor Shawn Elliott had several excellent ballad solos, such as "Fanette," while Allison Whitfield largely offered support.) But the main reason was those songs, which explored the glories and humiliations of love (notably "Mathilde" and the deceptively cheery "Madeleine"), the passage of time ("Marathon," "Carousel"), and, unflinchingly, death ("My Death," "Funeral Tango"). The material worked theatrically because each song defined a character and told a story, whether of an unmarried man ("Bachelor's Dance") or an army recruit losing his virginity to a prostitute ("Next"). David Bowie became so enamored of "Amsterdam," a song in which a sailor salutes the city's prostitutes, that he recorded a cover version, but he did not improve on Shuman's rendition. Columbia Records recorded a double-LP box set of the show that included 22 of its 26 songs and captured its enormous appeal. The 2002 reissue adds one of the missing numbers, "The Middle Class."