To commemorate the 30th anniversary of the death of Léo Ferré, his son Mathieu supervised the publication of a complete set of his recordings. A total of 431 titles by the prolific artist. This incredible poetic sum, entitled The Words and the Gesture in the form of a box of 24 CDs is a first. It was designed under the direction of producer Alain Raemackers.
Mathieu Ferré, who now lives in the house in Tuscany where his father spent the last twenty years of his life, gave the essential reason for this formidable compilation work: “Léo, it has to be earned. It’s sophisticated, complex writing, it’s not music to put on the turntable for ironing.
This box Léo Ferré, the Words and the Gesture is accompanied by a 48-page booklet written by Alain Raemackers, specialist in his repertoire and illustrated with a stencil by Jef Aérosol, one of the pioneers of French street-art. The On Stage CD brings together 21 titles of which there is only one live version, recorded between 1958 and 1988. Seven Les Poètes CDs present the setting in song of the works of Aragon, Apollinaire, Baudelaire and Rimbaud.
We will also find in this rich collection worthy of Rabelais, three unpublished works: What remains of our loves? taken from an Ina (National Audiovisual Institute) radio archive from 1980, L’Émigrant de Landor Road, family archive from 1984 and Aragon and musical composition, reading taken from an Ina radio archive from 1988.
“When you fall into the pot, it’s a work that changes you, in the way of seeing things, of asking yourself in relation to others”, dissects Mathieu Ferré, boss of the musical editions La Mémoire et la Mer, founded by Léo Ferré a year before his disappearance on July 14, 1993 at the age of 76. This anthology allows us to appreciate a work that is anything but monolithic, far from a title like “Avec le temps” wrung out on television during tributes. “Léo is alone at the piano, or with a symphony orchestra, his songs are not limited to verses and chorus. Léo approached all styles, there are long chanted texts”. Could the dog, in 1970, be heard as the beginnings of rap? Matthieu Ferré, cautious, does not want to take sides, “I leave this comparison to others, otherwise it could give the impression that I would like to recover rap.”
The box therefore sweeps away the received idea of musical austerity. Léo Ferré, fan of Ravel and Debussy, who first wanted to be a musician, pays great attention to his arrangements. “The dog” with first free-jazz chords ends on very rock psychedelic guitars (title of almost 7 minutes). The booklet recalls that he wanted to collaborate with Jimi Hendrix. “Léo had also put forward the idea of working with the Moody Blues (British rock group), with the Pink Floyd, but that didn’t happen,” underlines Mathieu Ferré again. And he declares himself “always surprised when people say that Leo is depressing, it’s quite strange for me this label, this cliché. I retain his somewhat utopian side. Yes, it’s melancholic at times, but I find it’s hopeful in the end. Leo had his feet and his heart riveted in the society in which he lived, which was not always rosy. But, in the song There is nothing more, he says that one day, We will have everything”.
Today, a singer like Eddy de Pretto, with his raw writing, claims Léo Ferré as one of his influences. The son of Léo Ferré does not fail to underline it: “The proof, the artists of the generation of Léo saw their public aging with them while the public of Léo did not stop getting younger”. In this anniversary year, Mathieu Ferré is ” saddened by the lack of important radio and television programs devoted to his father. “Leo disturbs certain good consciences, I only see this option”, he concludes without bitterness but all the same with a little regret.
» Les Paroles et le Geste, Label Panthéon, anthology which includes 16 CDs retracing the original studio discography recorded under the labels Le Chant du monde, Odéon, Barclay and La mémoire et la mer. There is only one live version captured between 1958 and 1988 and 7 Les Poètes CDs with songs taken from the works of Aragon, Apollinaire, Baudelaire, Caussimon, Rimbaud, and Verlaine.
Léo Ferré sings With time in 1973
