I think he's one of the best singers ever. Although not many people like him.
I really like france chansons, and since he's a belgian, I like him even more
The way he expresses his words...it's just so divine. I've never heard with any other singer, it's so expresive and sometimes so emotional.

I also like Brel a lot. He's one of my favorite french singers (though he's actually flemish).
If you want to learn his music better I could advise you to listen to "Jacques Brel - Mijn Vlakke Land". This is sort of compilation cd with his best songs.

Maybe a little fact about the name of this record: 'Mijn vlakke land' is the translation in dutch/flemish of 'Mon plat pays'. He actually sings some songs in dutch/flemish who are absolutaly fantastic!

"mijn vlakke land" is beautiful. He sings it so emotional (sorry that I wrote it with two l's, my mistake).
I have a cdbox of him, with about ten cd's in it, really good. Those flemish songs are trly hilarious, because sometimes he really has trouble with pronouncing the words right.

......seems that its a thread for belgians.
and whos Jacques Brel ? i dunno him .....
i will d/l some of his songs soon. do u have any recommendation?

hmmm...you should try "mijn vlakke land" it's hilarious, when you can't understan it. Oh, there is a song of Jacques that was actually covered by Frank Sinatra, but I'm not sure what it's called... I'll look it up.

thanks, i 'll try it soon and let u know how i feel....

, don't be surprised, it's not what you may call modern music

for the people who sadly dont understand french, i might advise to listen to "Amsterdam", which was coverd - in english, yes - by Bowie, and can be found on the Ziggy Stardust 2CD.
and maybe for those who think Brel is "flemish" rather than belgian, listen to "Les Flamingands"... fun is on the way

I didn't know bowie did a cover! wow! I should check it out
Thanx Haldol!!

Brel is great, i just love "Les Desesperées", "Les Vieux", "Les Bourgeois"... he's undoubtedly one of the best songwriters that ever existed. I mentioned these three songs above, but all i know from his work is superb... you can see his traces in other great lyricists like Serge Gainsbourg and especially Leonard Cohen... don't you think so?