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Songs (click on the  -icons
for a small audio-sample)
 1.
La Came
2. Gendarmerie blues
3. Louise
4. Ma Mère
5. Les trois p'tits mots
6. Crotte de chien
7. Skinette
8. Speakerine
9. L'araignée
10. Les hérissons
11. Adieu / La muerte
12. Marie
13. La main qu'on glisse sous les draps
14. Looser
Daniel Hélin : vocals, guitar, bass, harmonium, accordion
Jean-Yves Evrard : guitar, clarinet, drums, bells, garden hose, organ, percussion
and with
- Jean Kowalski : drums
- Nikola Pejakovic : piano
Recorded at " la maison de Geneviève, Louise & Jean-Yves Evrard
(spring/summer 1999)
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My opinion
Within the span of a year, Daniel Hélin seems to have grown from a well-kept
secret to a household name in Wallonia : this funny and impertinent little man
with a message won the "Biennale de la chanson Française" and
since has been asked to play from festival to benefit and from club to radio-studio.
And not without reason. It's about time that the rest of the world gets to know
this anarchistic singer-songwriter.
The best thing on the cd are without a doubt the lyrics : ironic, biting, naughty,
on the attack, sweet, tender, sad ... all sentiments pass by. Sometimes these
lyrics are virtuose (as in the Nirvana-ish song "Louise", in which the
story of a love-affaire with a girl that later hangs herself is told in nothing
but sentences that rhyme on "-ise"). Sometimes they are of a simpler
form and come on strongly (eg. the best track of the cd "Ma Mère",
in which the singer wonders why he had to be born and is determined not to have
an offspring himself "Alors, alors, pardonne-moi donc, de me réfugier
dans la masturbation, ou dans la baise en capotes ou pillules, j'en suis fier
je n'tue que quand j'éjacule"). Sometimes they are rather
funny, as in the complaint about the police in "Gendarmerie blues" (ils
seront à leur mort à la droite de Dieu, avec les mongols, les pauvres,
les lépreux, car Dieu guérit toutes les maladies des hommes et efface
la connerie d'un grand coup de gomme).
The themes vary from drugs (La came), death (Adieu, l'Araignée), right-wing
extremism (Skinette, Looser), traffic that kills (les hérissons), the police
(gendarmerie blues), love (les trois p'tits mots, Louise, la main qui glisse sous
les draps) and masturbation (Ma mère, Speakerine).
Musically, the form chosen still belongs to "chanson", but there are
big fat influences of punk, blues, jazz, reggae and grunge. Only a few songs have
guitar and vocals only (although that's his live-setup), since most have touches
of accordeon, a bed that creaks, a saxophone, a waltzing organ ...
My admiration is not unconditional though : sometimes he starts rattling his lyrics
a bit too immoderately, or thinks he's a comedian (eg crotte de chien, Marie,
Looser), which make up for the lesser moments.
But on a number of songs, there were cold shivers. And a bang for the egoïstic
head, and a mirror for your society.
With a sleeve like that, the conclusion was obvious from the start : vâchement
bien !!
And your opinion?
Did I get it all wrong, or was I spot-on ? Do you want to share your opinion about
this cd ? Send it in, and I'll put it up here !
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Where to buy this CD ?
You can order this CD from a number of locations (prices researched on October
11th, 1999, but nothing guarantees they still are the same when you read this).
The lowest price is in yellow, the highest in red. This price comparison doesn't
take things into account like deduction of shipping expenses when ordering more
than 1 cd, bonus points, differences in guarantees ... Shipping prices are those
for customers in Belgium.
Have you seen this record elsewhere on the net, do you own an online-CD-shop
with Belgian products in it, or if there's something wrong with my calculations
: let me know.
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