The era is for anniversaries and commemorations, accompanied by tributes, various compilations and, more and more often, integrals. The disc equivalent of complete works in literature: are they always justified? Specialists answer.
It was in 1993. For the 50th birthday of Johnny Hallyday, we had, at Philips/Phonogram, an idea beyond the measure of the character: a complete guitar. In other words, inside a box, set with the bloodiest red velvet, we housed for eternity the then complete discography of the Elvis of the French, in 45 CDs. Everything except the recordings of shows, which filled their own container, an imitation of a reinforced box for transporting equipment, the famous Flight Case and its 17 discs.
As much as it marked the blow, it was arbitrary: the singer still had decades of records and concerts ahead of him. The idea nevertheless remained: the object had seduced, the word “integral”, impressed. We competed in imagination in marketing. A box of cowboy boots for Eddy Mitchell, a fake 1950s record player for Ray Charles (Atlantic years only), the candy box for Brel, the Morris column for Aznavour, and so on. At a prohibitive price to say the least. At column height.
Nowadays, Universal France manages its huge catalog differently, looking less for the flashy than the brand image. The integrals look like books, open and store like books. We want to have them all. Especially since they are in the process of filling a radius. Thus, one after the other, we have just received the complete version of Christophe and the Film music by Ennio Morricone, vol. II (see our review in the record window). Of course you need them. No ? Who said no, there, in the background?
Completion or discernment
Jean-Pierre Pasqualini, the program director of Melody TV, did not say no to these titles. He said no to the following question: is a complete always necessary when one loves (a lot) an artist? “No, because it can remind us that it hasn’t been all good. “He specifies:” For example, I did not like all the periods of the career of Marie Laforêt, who moved away from variety at the end of the 1960s to return to it five years later. In the meantime, she has made “chic” songs that put me to sleep a bit. So I did not buy this integral. »
For Steve Normandin, musician and artistic director of the Carrefour mondial de l’accordéon in Montmagny, yes, without hesitation. “I have always considered an ‘integral’ as the overview of a work that allows us, as a fan or a simple listener, to channel the periods of creation of an artist. In the pursuit of this noble goal, the existing integrals are rarely satisfactory, to his ears as much as to his eyes as an informed collector. “The integral is a publisher’s point of view and not often a desire to safeguard the sound heritage. »
Beautiful but without nonsense
Sébastien Desrosiers, historian of popular Quebec music and co-director of the Trésor National label, knows what he wants to find: the reflex of a researcher. “As with the reissue, we want an updated version of the work, put into context with its demos, its alternative or concert versions, its side effects (rejected pieces, for example), everything that immerses us in the process artist’s creative. »
The simple juxtaposition of the albums published in a beautiful case does not help him much: he already has them, these albums. “The box should be beautiful AND practical, with new liner notes to read while listening. You have to think about the format: if you can’t store it anywhere, it will accumulate dust and you won’t revisit it often. »
Good point for the complete books of Universal. Everyone agrees, including Lionel Lavault, agent and artistic director. The integral of Marie Laforêt, conceived with the competition in extremis of the singer, constitutes for him “a superb work”. He notes that “the deep changes of the record multinationals (takeovers and mergers, etc.) have sometimes also allowed these integrals to become more complete by bringing together catalogs that in the past belonged to competing companies”.
He praises Dalida’s second complete, which “allows you to have an overview in an ultra-luxurious presentation”, as well as Aznavour’s most recent complete in 60 discs. Ouch! the column. Echo of Sébastien Desrosiers: “The key ring with the effigy of the group, the figurine of the singer or the exclusive CD of uninteresting remixes by contemporary artists, we can do without it. »
The Quebec imbroglio
“The integrals work better with French audiences than with ours,” notes producer Didier Morissonneau. “We don’t even have a complete Jean-Pierre Ferland, which is still amazing! For Lionel Lavault, this is due to the very nature of our recording industry: “In Quebec, which is above all a market for independent companies and not multinationals, the proliferation of labels makes it difficult for most artists: how to envisage a real integral of Ginette Reno or Renée Martel with master tapes belonging to many rights holders? »
Comment from Sébastien Desrosiers: “Talk to Lucien Francoeur, who couldn’t include his first album on his own anthology…” He himself dreams of a complete Tony Roman, the Sinners “who, in addition to their production, worked with everyone in the studio. Lionel Lavault imagines the “royal treatment” that a Diane Dufresne would have in Europe, the equivalent of a Juliette Gréco.
The critical mass, the editorial will, the collaboration of real specialists, everything counts. Jean-Pierre Pasqualini did the calculation for French-speaking Europe. “The record before the 2003 record crisis was held by Gainsbourg’s integral in the form of a package of Gitanes. Tens of thousands of copies. Sales of a complete are today around 1000 copies, but 1000 times 100 euros each = 100,000 euros, which pays the costs. »
Steve Normandin considers that he will never be “too” demanding, and a full never “too” full. “Never a complete will seem to me “too much” if it respects the artist and the proposed work even a little. It takes the fine balance between the surgical aspect of the undertaking and the purely artistic pleasure. Integrity and integrity of a work: etymological root which does not always give the same tree…”