Released this April, Ailleurs Land has proved a phenomenal hit to date, sales rapidly topping the 600,000 mark and earning Pagny a double platinum disc. When the singer did the rounds of prime time TV chat shows and Parisian radio stations earlier this year he proved his usual outspoken self, denouncing the high levels of taxation in France which, he claimed, had been his main motivation for fleeing “Ailleurs.” Pagny goes even further than this on Ma liberté de penser, a cheeky single (penned by Lionel Florence with music by Pascal Obispo), on which he recounts his recent run-in with French bailiffs, singing “You can take it all/ Take the kids, the TV/ My toothbrush and my gun/You’ve nabbed the car already (…) But, no matter what happens, you’ll never take my freedom of thought!” Pagny’s frank autobiographical account of his recent troubles appears to have struck a chord with the French public. Sales of the first single release from his album have already topped the 600,000 mark (like the album).

Ailleurs Land marks a return to the Pagny of old, the Pagny who raged against everything he hated in French society with a passion straight from the guts. This is an album for fans who remember Pagny’s former diatribes against the gutter press (c.f. his 1990 hit Presse qui roule). Ailleurs Land occasionally finds Pagny in a more, playful ironic mood, however, as on the song where he cleverly subverts the French expression “Go ask my horse!” Demandez à mon cheval (written by Pierre-Yves Lebert and Pascal Obispo)is a tongue-in-cheek number about a horse named Jéricho: “Jéricho don’t know my songs by heart /Jéricho don’t know how much my house is worth /Jéricho don’t know what make of motorbike I ride /And he don’t know what horsepower my car is either (…) So what does Jérichoknow?/All the rest, all the rest (…) So if you’re interested (…) Don’t go lookin’ in no newspaper (…) Ask my horse instead!”

It’s a shame there’s no photo of the mythical Jéricho on the booklet inside the CD, which includes various shots of Pagny trekking through the wastes of Patagonia he knows and loves. While all the musical arrangements, mixing and mastering on Ailleurs Land were carried out in France, the singer insisted on recording his vocals “at home” in the southernmost reaches of the world. And maybe it is this that makes Pagny’s new album his most intimate, autobiographical work yet - despite the intervention of a dozen different songwriters and composers, required because Pagny insisted his problems with the French tax authorities have forced him to give up songwriting and composing altogether!

The only “celebrity” guest star you’ll find on Ailleurs Land is French actress Sandrine Kiberlain (who recently accompanied Emmanuelle Béart and Patrick Bruel on Où sont tous mes amants on Bruel’s album Entre-deux). Kiberlain has gone one step further on Pagny’s album, actually penning the lyrics to Sur mesure, a sumptuously slow ballad tribute to Daran, the “woman of Pagny’s life.” With the singer’s vocals stripped of the rage and anger of more polemical songs, this track lets the sheer vocal wonder of Pagny shine through. And it is undoubtedly the impressive range and power of his voice that will go down in French music history rather than the controversial content of his songs!

It was this side of Pagny – the powerful vocals, touching tenderness and charismatic appeal – that earned the French star an enthusiastic reception at his recent appearance at the Night of the Proms (where he performed with a full symphony orchestra). And it was this side of Pagny which triumphed at Johnny Hallyday’s mega-show at the Parc des Princes for an unforgettable duet on Pense à moi. Let’s hope it’s this warm, generous side of Pagny which will greet audiences on his upcoming tour (that includes a long stint at the Paris Olympia from 13 July to 6 August).

Pagny fans who can’t make it to the Olympia can catch their idol on cinema screens from 16 July, when Pagny plays the male lead opposite Marie-Claude Pietragalla in Jacques Cortal’s film Quand je vois le soleil. Other than that you’ll have to travel to the outer reaches of Patagonia to see Pagny in person - unless the French tax authorities decide to get off his case, that is!