Jean-Pierre Ferland 1934-2024 | Claude Rajotte’s Perfect Notes

In 1995, Claude Rajotte awarded a score of 10 out of 10 to Don’t listen to that by Jean-Pierre Ferland. The legendary VJ talks about his admiration for the little king, one of only five Quebec artists to have been awarded a perfect score in the entire history of CD Graveyard.

Claude Rajotte generally hates the rearview mirror. When the rolling news channels call him to comment on the death of a star he has already interviewed, and there are many, the former headliner of MusiquePlus prefers to direct them to his colleague at the time, Mike Gauthier.

The music that resonates in his home, making the floor shake? Few old things. The critic of critics alternates mainly between drum and bass, dubstep and hardstyle.

“A quick note here to tell you that I am also saddened by the death of Jean-Pierre Ferland,” he wrote on social media on April 28, the day after the giant’s death, one of his rare testimonies of the kind.

He also recalled the filming of a Christmas show at Ferland’s in Saint-Norbert in 1995. “We were given royal treatment,” he wrote.

“Before we left, he even gave us a joint from his stock,” Claude adds with a laugh, sitting at a table at home not far from his CD collection, which he has not yet sent to the cemetery. “I felt like I was in a dream.”

So listen to this

A few months before this shoot, Claude Rajotte had awarded a perfect score of 10 out of 10 to Don’t listen to thatFerland’s comeback album. A little too young to experience the fever YELLOW (1970) In real time, the presenter born in 1955 would establish a real relationship with the work of his friend JP from his record The Virgins of Quebec (1974).

“The making of this album was different,” he observes, “the drums sounded like a ton of bricks and even if I’m not a fan of lyrics, these told us something important: that we don’t have to live our father’s life.”

But by the 1980s, Rajotte had lost touch with Ferland a bit. “And I think he had lost touch with himself a bit too,” adds the legendary VJ, recalling the decade during which the singer-songwriter devoted much of his time to television hosting.

D’où l’effet de sa critique qui, en invitant les fidèles du Cimetière des CD à écouter Écoute pas ça, apprendra à toute une jeune génération que l’homme qui pilotait des émissions plus ou moins ringardes à Radio-Québec était d’abord et avant tout un des esprits les plus visionnaires de l’histoire de la musique au Québec.

Écoute pas ça, c’est la pureté même ! C’est l’artiste qui ne sait pas pantoute si ça va pogner, et c’est ça, pour moi, un véritable artiste. C’est un artiste qui prend des risques, sans savoir si ses fans vont suivre.

Claude Rajotte

En entrevue au Cimetière des CD, le principal intéressé expliquera avoir donné comme seule consigne à ses musiciens qu’il fallait créer « pas un disque qui va passer à la radio, pas un disque qui va vendre, juste un disque qui va [le] to make women desire it.

The other 10 out of 10

In eleven years at the helm of the CD Graveyard (from 1994 to 2004, then in 2014), Claude Rajotte has only released ten albums with an immaculate score. Among them, six Quebec albums, including two obvious ones: Four seasons in disorder And Dream better of Daniel Bélanger, “because he had a sound like no one else had here. It seemed like he listened to a lot of music from everywhere.”

“I had to really trip out to give it a 10,” explains the man who believes that the rating that accompanies a review is not a necessary evil, but rather a useful insight. “We are drawn like bugs to the light by the rating. Even I look at it first.”

If the two 10 out of 10s given to the artist whose bohemianism is wearing thin are not so surprising, the other very rare winners may make you raise your eyebrows. Plan B Okoumé, anyone? “They broke up after that,” Rajotte recalls, “so I would tell the bands: if you want to survive, maybe it’s better that I hate your album.”

What about Serge Fiori’s comeback album in 2014?

There are some who thought I was crazy, but I’m sold on Fiori. I like her voice, I like her melodies, I even like her lyrics that no one understands. I find them funny.

Claude Rajotte

And The dome of Jean Leloup, him? He had harvested an honorable 9 out of 10. It is rather The silence of the roses, France D’Amour’s third album, which completes this list.

“A colleague asked me if I had gone crazy,” Rajotte exclaims, laughing. “I know that there are some who, before this album, found her cheesy, but for me, the idea that something can be cheesy had gone by the wayside a long time ago. It seemed that she wanted to go elsewhere and for me, that deserved to be highlighted.”

Enough to soften the reputation of a bloodthirsty critic that still clings to Claude Rajotte, the fault of his spectacular “Destroy”. “When I was young, I had very strong tastes,” he says, “then I got older and I realized that my very strong tastes were much too strong. From that moment on, all that was important to me was simply to be as honest as possible.”

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Quebec albums topped with a 10

Jean-Pierre Ferland – Don’t listen to that (1995)

Daniel Belanger – Four seasons in disorder (1996)

France of Love – The Silence of the Roses (1998)

Okoume – Plan B (2000)

Daniel Belanger – Dream better (2001)

Serge Fiori – Serge Fiori (2014)

International albums with a 10

Soundgarden – Superunknown (1994)

Beck – Odelay (1996)

Radiohead – OK Computer (1997)

Massive Attack – Mezzanine (1998)