For fifteen years, Dominique A has forged his own distinctive singing-songwriting style, influencing most of the younger generation of French singer-songwriters along the way. Fifteen long years but never a live album – unless you count the DVD release of one of his legendary solo shows, Live aux Bouffes du Nord (recorded in June 2004). It sometimes seemed that Dominique A was actively seeking to avoid making a live album, despite having spent so much of his career on the road. But the release of Sur nos forces motrices has now set the singer’s track record to rights. His new 15-track album captures the introspective fervour and powerful presence that is Dominique A live on stage, leaving one wondering why the iconic singer kept fans waiting for so long.

"More often than not there was a logistical problem," he says, "namely money! You know, there are plenty of producers and record labels out there who couldn’t give a damn about live albums. Back in 1999 we actually recorded a lot of concerts during the tour we did after Remué, but I was always frustrated when I heard what ended up on tape. I certainly didn’t feel it justified bringing out a live album – much to my disappointment! The problem was I just wasn’t satisfied with what we had on tape. It sounded a bit flat, a bit dull. And let’s face it, the tape is implacable, incorruptible, the tape never lies. But then, on our latest tour, I felt that me and the group had reached a new level. I’ve been playing with them for quite a few years now and I was determined to get things right. When we got bogged down in all the terrible money problems and I started thinking about giving up (the idea of doing a live album), it was the musicians and the technical crew who took over. There was a sort of synergy of desire which meant I wasn’t carrying the project on my own."

Unlike most live albums, based on an artist’s latest tour and thus revolving around new songs and a smattering of classics, Sur nos forces motrices is more like a Greatest Hits collection, featuring old favourites from various Dominique A eras. "The most important thing for me in the making of this album was the idea of ‘revisiting’ my repertoire. I wanted every studio album I’d ever made to be represented in some way. I didn’t just want to do the most obvious tracks. I didn’t feel a song like L’Amour was indispensable in songwriting terms, for instance, but I loved the way we treated it live. It ended up lighting up the whole album. Another thing was, I knew I didn’t want to include too many tracks from L’Horizon  because the way we did them live on stage was pretty much the same as we’d done them in the studio as it was more or less the same team involved on both occasions."

There were obviously some restrictions when it came to making Sur nos forces motrices. "We had to stick with what had actually been recorded," says Dominique A, "I really wanted to include Où sont les lions, a song from the album Tout sera comme avant, because I felt the live version really deserved to be heard again. But the problem was we didn’t have any proper recording of the song in the archives. On the other hand, I hadn’t originally thought about including a song like La Relève because I thought the live version was too close to the album one, but when I heard the song again on tape I discovered there were some interesting things going on there. In making the selection for the album I tried to tell myself there weren’t any tracks that absolutely had to be included. But I admit I’d have been a bit upset if La Mémoire neuve and Pour la peau hadn’t been on it."Sur nos forces motrices coincides with Textuel’s publication of Dominique A, Les Points cardinaux, the first book to give fans an in-depth look behind the scenes of the singer’s career. "Textuel offered to give me complete ‘carte blanche’, letting me present myself in book form and the idea appealed to me", says Dominique A simply. However, the idea of writing the book in the first person appealed to him a lot less, so the singer invited journalist Bertrand Richard along to confess him instead.

Dominique A flung open the doors of his extensive archives, unearthing teenage cartoon strips the young “Dominique Ané” sketched as well as flyers and cassettes associated with his first bands. Dozens of song manuscripts and handwritten notes are also included in the book alongside hundreds of photos snapped backstage or on the road. In fact, Bertrand Richard and Dominique A’s book goes way beyond the usual “self-portrait” through the eyes of another. Rarely has anyone explored the roots and the mechanics of inspiration and creation in such painstaking detail before. On page 63, fans will find a list of all the novels Dominique A has read to date and on page 102 the manuscript of Dans un camion with its original lyrics still visible under the scribblings out. An in-depth portrait indeed!