L'Imprudence

L'Imprudence (The Imprudence) is the eleventh studio album by French rocker Alain Bashung, issued in October 2002 on Barclay Records.

L'Imprudence
Studio album by
Alain Bashung
Released21 October 2002
RecordedStudio ICP, Brussels
GenreChanson, art pop
Length66:23
LabelBarclay Records, Universal Music Group
ProducerAnne Lamy
Alain Bashung chronology
Fantaisie militaire
(1998)		 L'Imprudence
(2002)		 Cantique des cantiques
(2002)

Production

Alain Bashung cowrote most of the lyrics from this album with Jean Fauque, except "Faisons envie" ("Let us be desirable") which was written with Christophe Miossec, and the song "Jamais d'autre que toi" ("No other than you") which is a poem by Robert Desnos turned into a song. Bashung composed the music, collaborating with Ludovic Bource, Jean Lamoot, Arnaud Devos and the Swiss band Mobile in Motion.[1]

The title of this album is based on Lenteurs et imprudence... (Slownesses and imprudence...), a working title for Fantaisie militaire and on his own "reflection on human relations".[2] This album has been written and composed as Bashung became the father of a daughter and a feeling of "fear, injustice and incomprehension" fed by everyday news. For instance, Bashung said he composed the song "Dans la foulée" ("Following") after the "media backlash against Marie-Josée Pérec in Australia" during the Sydney Olympics when the athlete, because of pressure and a surge of paranoia, fled the competition. Shocked by the reaction of the media towards her, because of the expectations and after laudatory comments about her, he questions the system.[2] Also, the song "Noir de monde" ("Heavily crowded" but in the sense of "What a dark world", "noir de monde" being a common language expression) is a denunciation of all the revisionists, those of history and others at a more personal scale.[2] Alain Bashung also declared that after the success of Fantaisie militaire he wished to make "a tragic and sensual album".[1]

From a technical viewpoint, Bashung was very careful about the sophistication of musics, arrangements, and even ambiance noises, using the computer technology as a recording tool and not for a question of technical quality.[3] The album is often spoken more than sung, like in the music of Serge Gainsbourg or Léo Ferré like for the singing of Desnos' poem or "Faisons envie" by Miossec.

Reception

Critical reception

Critical reception was highly positive,[4] with the album variously being called "a landmark"[3] and "sublime",[5] while the music was qualified as "dark" and "crepuscular".[1][5] In a 2005 volume of L'actualité, a reviewer listed it alongside Fantaisie militaire as one of Bashung’s supreme achievements.[6]

Track listing
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Tel"Alain Bashung / Jean Fauque - Alain Bashung / Mobile in Motion5:39
2."Faites monter"Alain Bashung / Jean Fauque - Alain Bashung / Ludovic Bource4:21
3."Je me dore"Alain Bashung / Jean Fauque - Alain Bashung / Ludovic Bource5:05
4."Mes bras"Alain Bashung / Jean Fauque - Alain Bashung / Mobile in Motion7:47
5."La Ficelle"Alain Bashung / Jean Fauque - Alain Bashung / Arnaud Devos4:37
6."Noir de monde"Alain Bashung / Jean Fauque - Alain Bashung / Mobile in Motion4:22
7."L'Irréel"Alain Bashung / Jean Fauque - Alain Bashung / Mobile in Motion / Ludovic Bource / Jean Lamoot3:36
8."Jamais d'autre que toi"Robert Desnos - Alain Bashung / Ludovic Bource / Jean Lamoot2:00
9."Est-ce aimer"Alain Bashung / Jean Fauque - Alain Bashung / Arnaud Devos3:59
10."Le Dimanche à Tchernobyl"Alain Bashung / Jean Fauque - Alain Bashung / Ludovic Bource / Mobile in Motion5:45
11."Dans la foulée"Alain Bashung / Jean Fauque - Alain Bashung / Arnaud Devos / Arnaud Rebotini5:22
12."Faisons envie"Christophe Miossec / Alain Bashung / - Alain Bashung / Mobile in Motion3:44
13."L'Imprudence"Alain Bashung / Jean Fauque - Alain Bashung9:38

Personnel

Musicians

Charts
Chart Top
position		 Number of weeks
in the Top 50		 Certification
France[7] 1 6
Belgium[8] 2 6
Switzerland[9] 46 3

Certifications
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
France (SNEP)[10] Gold 100,000*

*sales figures based on certification alone
^shipments figures based on certification alone

gollark: Plus technically-incompetent people, and a focus on making money with no regard to anything else.
gollark: A real company needs incompetent management, a marketing department, and unrealistic deadlines.
gollark: Not realistic at all.
gollark: CC-server companies inevitably end up "groups of people who share computers to work on similar stuff".
gollark: Compatible with almost all CC programs!

References
  1. L'Imprudence de Bashung in Télérama n°2753, 19 October 2002
  2. Alain Bashung: "Un jour je me sens Hamlet et le lendemain Orson Welles" interview by Gilles Médioni in l'Express, 17 October 2002
  3. L'Imprudence de Bashung - Comme un acteur dans le décor interview by Bertrand Dicale for RFI musique, 25 October 2002
  4. Abecassis, Michaël (2018-06-11). An Anthology of French and Francophone Singers from A to Z: “Singin’ in French”. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. p. 49. ISBN 9781527512054.
  5. Alain Bashung - L'Imprudence album review in Les Inrocks, 21 October 2002
  6. L'Actualité (in French). Maclean-Hunter Limitée. 2005.
  7. L'Imprudence sur chartsinfrance.net
  8. L'Imprudence sur www.ultratop.be
  9. L'Imprudence sur swisscharts.com
  10. "French album certifications – Bashung – L'Imprudence" (in French). Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique. Retrieved 1 February 2019.
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