Judging by his new album "La Bête est revenue" (The Return of the Beast), Pierre Perret is not a happy man. The title of the new album - which is, by the way, superbly produced and impeccably written and arranged - is a reference to Brecht's famous quote about the far-right, when the anti-Nazi playwright predicted that one day the Beast (of racism/fascism etc.) would surely return. In the course of his singing and songwriting career, Pierre Perret has already evoked the spectre of the French far-right - most memorably in his song "Lili" (about a Somalian immigrant living in France). On his new album the singer returns to the subject once again, bombarding our collective conscience with a new shower of hard-hitting lyrics - "C'est la valse des croix gammées / Car pour gagner quelques voix / Des nostalgiques de Pétain / C'est les juifs encore une fois / Que ces dangereux aryens / Brandiront comme un épouvantail / Dans tous leurs sinistres éventails." ("Time for the swastika waltz again / Now that, to gain a few extra votes / The neo-supporters of Maréchal Pétain/ Dangerous Aryans, every one of them / Are preparing to blame the Jews again / Waving them in the air like scarecrows.").

After having attacked his bête noire, the new generation of xenophobes, Perret turns his attention to literature. The singer - who takes pains to point out that he gives his allegiance to neither Left nor Right, but is a simple humanist - moves on to examine the work of the controversial French novelist Céline (who was notorious for holding anti-Semitic and xenophobic views). In a carefully reflective song, Perret expresses the view that modern readers can appreciate the work of Céline the novelist ("Mort à Crédit" and "Voyage au Bout de la Nuit") but warns that they should never forget the ideology of Céline the man. In his hard-hitting but poignant song Perret wonders whether Céline's soul ever received salvation, asking "So, Ferdinand, did you ever get to heaven? / Or does God the Father only accept the true blue-blooded / Racism always polluted your talent / Just admit it, Ferdinand, you were never a very nice man.".

However, "La Bête est revenue" is not simply aimed at passing judgement and seeking retribution. On his new album, Perret also extends his songwriting talent to other, more cheerful, subjects, expressing his love of womankind (or should we say womanising?) and his passion for ecology and environmentalism, most memorably on a hard-hitting song entitled "Vert de colère" (Green with Anger).

Perret does not remain angry for long, however, as his love of literature soon gains the upper hand. The talented singer/songwriter adapts a number of famous literary texts on his new album, setting the work of Francis James and Victor Hugo to music, with the aid of accordion, violins and soft acoustic guitars. One of the most outstanding tracks on Perret's new album is undoubtedly "Demain dès l'Aube", a mournful adaptation of a poem written by Victor Hugo about his drowned daughter Léopoldine. Perret's musical adaptation of the poem is especially moving, infused as it is with his own personal grief. (The singer lost his own daughter in 1995).

CD "La Bête est revenue" (Adèle / Emi)