Noir Désir
En Public

THE REVIEW

The Noir Désir, one of the most important French rock bands, release a double live CD following the huge European success of "Des Visages Des Figures" from 2002. After a tour in France, Europe, Canada, and the Middle East that achieved incredible success, the group wanted to pay tribute to all this by releasing a live album featuring the best performances. However, during the mixing phase, Cantat, the band's singer, was in Vilnius and ended the stay in the worst possible way: he killed his partner Marie Trintignant, which was followed by a trial that sentenced him to eight years in prison. The production obviously came to a halt... until today.

The other band members wanted to stay close to their audience and didn't lose heart. With a small audio system in the prison visiting room and with the frontman's help, the group set out to complete this very anguished work. 24 tracks in total for over two and a quarter hours of music, in which the group plays at the best of its abilities with a raw, angry, and system-weary rock sound, mixed with world music, a genre extensively tackled with the help of Manu Chao in the last album of new songs, and lyrics masterfully interpreted by Cantat.
Important tracks for the group's success like "Tostaky (Le Continent)", "Le Vent Nous Portera", "Lolita Nie En Block", "L'Homme Pressé", "One Trip One Noise" and the very first "Pyromane" are performed to perfection, but the best of all is "A Ton Étoile", present in the album "666.667 club" from 1996, which finds a new light in this live performance. Noir Désir also allow themselves to include some covers: "21st Century Schizoid Man" by King Crimson, "Ces Gents Là" by Jacques Brel, and "Des Armes" by Leo Ferré. It concludes with "Ce N'Est Pas Moi Qui Clame", an improvised composition based on a poem by Jozsef Attila, a Hungarian poet. The track is mesmerizing and deserves close listening.

The double CD is accompanied by a 52-page booklet, which makes it all much richer, and it is released simultaneously with "En Images", a double DVD containing a live performance. A significant release for the boys from Bordeaux, expressing positivity in the environment. In fact, with this live performance, the group celebrates twenty-five years since its formation and everyone wishes them to continue their career dotted with ups, downs, and... "quarrels".