''Les Fleurs du mal'' (English: "''The Flowers of Evil''") is an album by

Léo Ferré Léo Ferré (24 August 1916 – 14 July 1993) was a French-born Monégasque poet and composer, and a dynamic and controversial live performer, whose career in France dominated the years after the Second World War until his death. He released s ...

, released in 1957 by Odeon Records. It is his first LP dedicated to a poet and this is the first time in popular music history a whole album is dedicated to a dead poet. Léo Ferré has set

Baudelaire Charles Pierre Baudelaire (, ; ; 9 April 1821 – 31 August 1867) was a French poet who also produced notable work as an essayist and art critic. His poems exhibit mastery in the handling of rhyme and rhythm, contain an exoticism inherited fro ...

into music two more times : in 1967 with

double album A double album (or double record) is an audio album that spans two units of the primary medium in which it is sold, typically either records or compact disc. A double album is usually, though not always, released as such because the recording i ...

'' Léo Ferré chante Baudelaire'', and with unfinished project '' Les Fleurs du mal (suite et fin)'', recorded in 1977 but posthumously released in 2008.

History

Track listing

Texts by Charles Baudelaire. Music composed by Léo Ferré. ;Original LP

Personnel

- voice, piano * Jean-Michel Defaye - piano * Jean Cardon - accordion * Barthélémy Rosso - guitar * Pierre Gossez - tenor saxophone * Janine de Waleyne - ondes Martenot * Fred Ermelin - double bass

External links

Album listening & presentation
(French) {{DEFAULTSORT:Fleurs du mal Léo Ferré albums Les Fleurs du mal in popular culture French-language albums 1957 albums Musical settings of poems by Charles Baudelaire