Brigitte Fontaine - Comme à la radio (Special Edition) (2026) [Hi-Res]

Paris-based label Wewantsounds, which previously issued an expanded edition of Brigitte Fontaine’s classic 1970 album Comme à la Radio, is releasing a companion piece: the limited-edition double LP Comme à la Radio: On Air. The first LP collects previously unreleased live recordings made for French radio ORTF between 1969 and 1971, in which the singer performs with Areski Belkacem, her partner and collaborator, and musicians from Paris’s expatriate American jazz scene — saxophonists Steve Potts and Robin Kenyatta, as well as Ronnie Beer. The programmes trace her repertoire from the theatrical works Les Enfants sont tous fous and Niok to the making of Comme à la Radio, one of the most radical albums in French music.

The second LP takes the listener into the Saravah studio sessions where the album took shape: the original instrumental version of the title track and a previously unheard alternate take, the complete ten-minute version of “Leo”, and an alternate mix of “Tanka II”. Everything has been newly remastered from the original tapes. The package includes a four-page bilingual booklet with an essay by Fontaine’s biographer Benoît Mouchart and an introduction by Benjamin Barouh. Together with the expanded edition of the album, the release is the most comprehensive account to date of how this peak of the French avant-garde was made.

Tracklist:
1. Brigitte Fontaine - Comme à la radio
2. Brigitte Fontaine - Tanka II
3. Brigitte Fontaine - Le brouillard
4. Brigitte Fontaine - J'ai 26 ans
5. Brigitte Fontaine - L'été L'été
6. Brigitte Fontaine - Encore
7. Brigitte Fontaine - Léo
8. Brigitte Fontaine - Les petits chevaux
9. Brigitte Fontaine - Tanka I
10. Brigitte Fontaine - Lettre à Monsieur le Chef de gare de la Tour de Carol
11. Brigitte Fontaine - Comme à la radio (English Version)
12. Brigitte Fontaine - J'ai 26 ans (English Version)
13. Brigitte Fontaine - Le goudron (7" Single)
14. Brigitte Fontaine - Le noir c'est mieux choisi (7" Single)
15. Brigitte Fontaine - Les beaux animaux (7" Single)
16. Brigitte Fontaine - L'été l'été (Early Version)
17. Brigitte Fontaine - L'été l'été (Instrumental Version)
18. Brigitte Fontaine - Tanka I (Instrumental Version)
19. Brigitte Fontaine - Tanka II (Instrumental Version with Flute)
20. Brigitte Fontaine - Le brouillard (Instrumental Version)
21. Brigitte Fontaine - Lettre à Monsieur le Chef de gare de la Tour de Carol (A Cappella English Version)