Light in the Attic have announced today that they are to reissue a series of Françoise Hardy albums she released between 1962-1966 during which she released one French-language album per year. The five albums have been remastered from the original tapes, in their original French format. The re-issues come with the support of the artist and the liner notes include an exclusive new interview with the illusive songstress.
Each, strictly speaking, was eponymously titled and each was collected from a series of contemporary four-track, seven-inch, picture-sleeve EPs–pop music’s main format in France, known as le super 45. In them, we see the maturing of one of the decade’s most singular talents– a pop singer with the heart of a chanteuse, a singer-songwriter in an age before such a thing was known, and a style icon who valued privacy and modesty. Remastered from the original tapes, we present the first five Françoise Hardy albums in their original French format, on deluxe LP and CD
During the years the reissues cover her music began to grow in popularity beyond France, not just with the teenagers who idolised her french cool, but with some well know stars in the pop-world including The Stones, the Beatles as well as Bob Dylan who in 1964 immortalized her in one of his series of poems which appeared in the liner notes to Another Side of Bob Dylan:
for françoise hardy
at the seine’s edge
a giant shadow
of notre dame
seeks t’ grab my foot
sorbonne students
whirl by on thin bicycles
swirlin’ lifelike colors of leather spin
the breeze yawns food
far from the bellies
of erhard meetin’ johnson
piles of lovers
fishing
kissing
lay themselves on their books. boats.
old men
clothed in curly mustaches
float on the benches
blankets of tourists
in bright red nylon shirts
with straw hats of ambassadors…
for françoise hardy1966 was the year Hardy met Dylan, who demanded an audience with her at his Paris gig and later performed for her at a party. “It was only later that it occurred to me that he was singing ‘I Want You’ because he actually wanted me,” she says. Françoise said Dylan was not part of her world. As La Maison Ou J’Ai Grandi proved, Hardy’s world was perfect and fleshed out and set–five albums in, she had a sound, mood, and feel all her own.
All five albums are available for preorder on both CD & deluxe LP now.
CDs will be out October 16th.
Deluxe LPs will be out January 29th, 2016.
There is also an option to collect all five in one format at a discounted price.
Details here: http://lightintheattic.net/