Verlaine et Rimbaud (English: "Verlaine and Rimbaud") is an album by Léo Ferré. It was released in December 1964 by Barclay Records. This album is one of the first studio double albums in popular music history (before Bob Dylan's or Frank Zappa's).
Background Verlaine et Rimbaud is Ferré's third LP entirely dedicated to a poet, after Baudelaire's Les Fleurs du mal ("Flowers of Evil") in 1957 and Les Chansons d'Aragon ("Songs of Aragon") in 1961. Here, Ferré sets into music 10 poems from Arthur Rimbaud and 14 from Paul Verlaine. He considers their two different kind of poetry as a whole and mixes them in the track listing, to underline their mythical love affair. The way classical music 'soundscape' tastefully fits into tuneful and straightforward songs is something of an achievement here.
Track listing All songs composed by Léo Ferré.
Original LP
Personnel – backing vocals (uncredited) Lionel Gali – violin solo (uncredited) Barthélémy Rosso – guitar (uncredited) The orchestra consists of session musicians hired for the recording
Credits Jean-Michel Defaye – arranger & orchestra conductor Gerhard Lehner – director of engineering Jean Fernandez – executive producer Maurice Frot – artwork Hubert Grooteclaes – photography Léo Ferré - original liner notes
External links Album presentation (French)