About

Collecting Brel is an English-language archive dedicated to the music, lyrics and physical legacy of Jacques Brel — the Belgian singer-songwriter whose work remains one of the great bodies of twentieth-century chanson.

The site was built by a collector with a long-standing obsession with Brel’s records, autographs, and ephemera. Over the years that collecting has expanded into something more analytical: song-by-song commentaries, poetic translations into English, and in-depth notes on individual pressings and variants that don’t appear anywhere else in the English language.

What you’ll find here: a full discography with detailed notes on every album; English translations of selected songs; a store featuring rare items for sale; and a blog covering Brel’s influence, legacy, and the occasional extraordinary find.

We also offer two services for collectors:

• Valuation: we can assess the value of your collection
• Authentication: we can help verify autographs

If you have items you’d like us to look at, or material you’d like to list on the store, get in touch.