Bleu pétrole

Bleu pétrole (Petrol blue) is the twelfth studio album by the French rocker Alain Bashung, released in March 2008 on Barclay Records. It was the last studio album released during his lifetime.

Production
Great expectations surrounded Bleu pétrole after L'Imprudence, issued in 2002, and the live album La Tournée des grands espaces, issued in 2004. Bashung took time to work on it, before deciding finally to not work with his lyricist Jean Fauque, choosing instead to work with Gaëtan Roussel of Louise Attaque and Gérard Manset. After the more experimental works of the 2000s, Bashung decided to go back to a more traditional rock-sounding album, closer to his works of the 1990s. The album is dedicated to Mick Larie, a member of Bluegrass Long Distance, who died in July 2007, the mandoline player and friend of Marcel Dadi and Patrick Sébastien. The first single from the album was "Résidents de la République" ("Residents of the Republic").

Bashung began touring to promote the album and sang "Comme un lego" ("Like a lego") by Gérard Manset as the opener of his concerts. On 7 July 2008, an expanded vinyl collector edition of 1,000 copies was issued.

Bleu pétrole was Bashung's last studio album;, who died on 14 March 2009.

Critical reception
In 2010, the French edition of Rolling Stone magazine named this album the 46th greatest French rock album (out of 100).

The French magazine Les Inrockuptibles called the album an "immense chef-d'œuvre" (a huge masterpiece).

Musicians

 * Alain Bashung - vocals
 * Gaëtan Roussel - acoustic guitar, electric guitar, ukulele
 * Marc Ribot - electric guitar, banjo
 * Arman Méliès - electric guitar, banjo
 * Mark Plati - bass guitar, guitars, keyboard, drum machine
 * Simon Edwards - bass guitar
 * Shawn Pelton - drums
 * Martyn Barker - drums, bongo
 * Tahar Boukhlifa - drums
 * M. Ward - electric guitar, acoustic guitar
 * String section :
 * Violins - Marian Tache, Erik Sluys, Dick Uten, Bart Lemmens, Tatjana Scleck, Christophe Pochet, Cristina Constantinescu, Annelies Broeckhoven
 * Viola - François Grietje
 * Cellos - Hans Vandaele, Karel Steylaerts
 * Strings direction - Mark Steylaerts

Production

 * Jérôme Witz, element-s: cover art and graphisms
 * Ludovic Carême: photos