Having spent some years openly singing the praises of Jacques Brel, as well as covering his songs both in studio and live, Marc Almond went ahead for a full cover album tribute to the Belgian singer and songwriter, aiming to update Brel’s Anglophonic appreciation in the 1960s for a new generation. A passion project in the best sense, often involving new translations into English specifically for the release, Jacques had Almond delivering Brel classics like “My Death,” “Never to be Next” and, in a new rerecording of a favorite, “If You Go Away.”

– Ned Raggett