a complete discography, a comic strip and a poetic and committed clip

Not sure he would have liked that Leo, a lavish celebration, a tribute with great fanfare. Plus a July 14! No bowl to be dead on the day of the national holiday for a convinced anarchist poet. At the parade on the Champs Elysées, he probably preferred the words of Brassens: “on July 14, I stay in my cozy bed, the music marching in step, that doesn’t concern me”. He was uncompromising Leo, and he would probably have castigated any idolatry towards him. But let’s not hide our pleasure, the 30th anniversary of his death is an opportunity to rediscover his abundant and still current work, through four releases on different media.

1A 24 CD anthology “Words and gestures”

For the first time, we find in a single box the entire discography of Léo Ferré, i.e. 431 tracks recorded between 1948 and 1990. 16 CDs cover the original studio discography through the various labels The song of the world, Odeon, Barclay And The memory of the sea. At the same time, the 21 titles of which there is only one version in public, captured between 1958 and 1988, are grouped together in the CD On the scene. Finally, 7 CDs are devoted to poets set to music by Ferré: Aragon, Appolinaire, Baudelaire, Caussimon, Rimbaud and Verlaine. The singer has set no less than 180 poems to music, thus achieving unparalleled work in the field of Poetry.

Within this impressive collection, there are three unreleased titles: What remains of our loves ? an INA radio archive from 1980, The Emigrant from Landor roadfrom the family archives of 1984, and the reading of Aragon and musical composition on the radio in 1988.

Particular care has been taken with the visuals of the box, supervised by the specialist Alain Raemackers who also signs the notes of the booklet. The stencil on the cover of the box was created by street artist Jef Aérosol with the help of Mathieu Ferré, son of the singer. On the official YouTube channel, the designer details the different stages of his creative process for the box cover.

When we don’t know everything about Ferré’s life, we learn astonishing things in the booklet, such as the fact that the singer wanted to collaborate with Jimi Hendrix. “Léo had also put forward the idea of ​​working with the Moody Blues and Pink Floyd, but it didn’t happen”says Mathieu Ferré.

2Two best-ofs in 2 vinyl or 4 CD versions

For those who prefer to keep a more global overview of the artist’s career, two best-ofs were also released on June 30: The indispensablean 18-track double vinyl covering the 1960s to 1980s, and Revolt music and poetrya quadruple CD comprising 81 tracks and spanning the wider period from 1953 to 1990. In both cases, the selection of songs aptly summarizes Ferré’s work through his classics: With time, It’s great, loneliness, Latin Quarter, Neither God nor master…

3A comic strip “Neither god nor master”

Pascal Boniface is an admirer of Léo Ferré. In 2016, he had already published Léo Ferré, still alive. For this 30th anniversary of the singer’s death, the French geopolitical scientist, founder and director of the Institute of International and Strategic Relations, has chosen to celebrate the anar poet in a comic strip entitled Léo Ferré, neither God nor master, published by Dunod editions. A beautifully illustrated biography by the cartoonist Lukino to make known the life and music of a man for whom Pascal Boniface admits to having “a lot of admiration”, as he explains on his YouTube channel. In line with the title, the cover design immediately sets the tone and displays the impertinent and protesting Ferré.

4A tribute by the younger generation

Proof that the words of Léo Ferré continue to speak to current generations, the students of the Bachelor Photographer and Videographer from the Ecole des Gobelins in Paris have brought to life Loneliness. 42 years after the recording of this song, as part of the partnership between Universal Music France and Gobelins Paris, five students produced a poetic and committed clip, highlighting this need for solitude and isolation as told by Léo Ferré. This visual illustration was uploaded to the artist’s official channel.

Ferré’s verb still relevant in 2023? there is no doubt. And 30 years after his death, the intransigent and uncompromising singer-songwriter continues to scratch where it hurts, and reminds us not to fall asleep, while admitting to being helpless in the loneliness of the condition. human.