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I first encountered Pascal Comelade’s music thirty years ago—and nothing has sounded quite the same since. I was immediately captivated: he is an artist like no other, whose sincere and selfless love of music is always evident, especially in his tender reworkings of other people’s songs.

Comelade seems to work like a watchmaker: meticulous, precise, and obsessive—yet always drifting into something dreamlike. His music opens hidden doors, telling strange and beguiling stories filled with obscurity, kindness, and reserved humour.

Back then, my fascination was instinctive. Today, with a few more words at my disposal, I look to this exceptional 70-year-old French musician and feel exactly the same pull.

Métaphysique Du Hit-Parade is the first vinyl compilation devoted to Pascal Comelade’s favourite cover versions. It spans a forty-year career and traces sixty years of rock and roll history along the way. “Sheena Is a Punk Rocker” becomes a soft, soothing lullaby that may well have made the Ramones weep. Then there are his idiosyncratic tributes to Jonathan Richman (“Egyptian Reggae”) and The Kinks (“Sunny Afternoon”), alongside nods to formative heroes such as The Gun Club, Captain Beefheart, and MC5.

Two exclusive recordings stand out particularly: Bob Dylan’s “Girl from the North Country” and Nirvana’s “Come As You Are” — a song that shaped my early youth. Both were recorded especially for this release. – Jan Lankisch, January 2026

«The opening cover of Nirvana’s ”Come As You Are“ surprises: it is somehow light, pensive and accessible yet harmonically complex. The emotional weight of the original version is dissolved, and the song appears suddenly, and quite incredibly, processed by whimsy. Hearing Cobain’s ode to teen angst take this shape is unsettling because it resists the role in which it has long been fixed.» – Xenia Benivolski, The Wire, April 2026

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Réalisation: Jan Lankisch
Mastering: Stephan Mathieu
Laquer cut: Theo Krieger
Pressing: Optimal Media