Benjamin Biolay and The Who at the top

Every week, our music columnist Olivier Nuc shares two favorites among the album releases.

The most gifted French singer of his generation is currently completing a long tour of major venues which will take him to the Accor Arena in Bercy at the end of the year. He continues the frankly rock option started with his feet on the album Grand Prix, in 2020, and Saint Clair, his latest production, released last year. Quite the opposite of his new album, At the Auditorium, which has just been released.

On it, the singer, whose career began a good two decades ago, recounts the pearls of his repertoire accompanied by an orchestra: that of Lyon, conducted by Dirk Brossé. Captured in concert in the Auditorium of his hometown, this collection in the form of a best of paints the portrait of a crooner who is not so disillusioned after all. We are happy to find the intensity of his best compositions - “La Superbe”, “Ton inheritance”, “À l’origine” - transcended by silky arrangements. Since his first album, Rose Kennedy, we have known Benjamin Biolay's taste for writing strings, here in majesty.

Author-composer, arranger, producer, pygmalion, Biolay took a long time to be accepted as a performer. He is really convincing in the role here, daring to follow in the footsteps of Frank Sinatra on “It Was a Very Good Year”. A title that must work for this young, restless fifty-year-old. Another success to be credited to this long-distance runner.

“At the Auditorium”, 2 LPs or 2 Cds (Romance/Universal Music), 15.99 and 45 euros

The iconic sixties English rock group continues to tour successfully, but it is now by digging into its past that it is making the news. After box sets dedicated to the albums My Generation and The Who Sell Out, Pete Townshend has finally delivered - two years late - a version commemorating the 50th anniversary of the album Who's Next, released in 1971. In 10 CDs and a Blu- ray, the composer of the Mod group, reveals the long and winding road that led The Who to this landmark album.

After the triumph of Tommy in 1969, Townshend aimed to release a new concept album, Life House. A huge construction site whose developments we follow here, revealed for the first time. Between the very accomplished models produced by a multi-instrumentalist Townshend and the first group sessions, we can measure the creative genius of these young people aged 24 at the time. We discovered that guitarist Leslie West had participated in some of the recordings made in New York, before the group retreated to London in the hands of Glyn Johns to end up recording a “simple” album of The Who.

We are often amazed by the road that led to the standards Baba O’Riley or Won’t Get Fooled Again. The presence of a 100-page book shedding light on the adventures of the project completes this beautiful object in the eyes of those who consider Who's Next to be the pinnacle of the group's career.

«Who’s Next / Life House», 10 Cd et 1 Blu-ray, 4 LP ou 2 Cd