As The Foreign Correspondents, Ted Leo and members of Fugazi, Fake Names, and Obits pay tribute to French-Canadian power-pop antihero legend, Michel Pagliaro with the new single “Lovin’ You Ain’t Easy/We’re Dancin’.” Hailing from Montreal, Quebec, Pagliaro began his musical career in the mid-’60s but found cult success a decade later. Known early on for his songs “L’espion,” “Les bombes,” and “J’entends frapper,” he predominantly wrote music in French but also achieved some international acclaim, most notably with his self-titled rock album Pagliaro, featuring power-pop classics such as “Lovin’ You Ain’t Easy,” which reached 31 in the UK singles chart, “Rainshowers,” and “Some Sing, Some Dance.”

DC scene vets join forces with Outer Battery Records for a series of 7” singles covering long-lost ’70s artists, with the first from Pagliaro. Over the next year, Outer Battery Records will be releasing several 7” cover singles from similarly singular artists like Pagliaro and eventually compile them all together on LP.

“It’s going to be an amazing series of releases,” explains OBR’s John Pastore. “Dave (Sweetapple) and I are both huge fans of Michel Pagliaro and we’ve been trying for years to reissue his first album from 1971 but with no luck. So, we started to wonder if we should record a couple of covers of our favorite songs, put it out, and hopefully catch his attention.”

The 7″ vinyl, featuring the stone-cold power pop masterpiece, ‘Lovin’ You Ain’t Easy’ and ‘We’re Dancin’’ (from an early Pagliaro side project called Second Helping) will be released on 5th April 2024 and is available on four pressings, with unique, period-appropriate cover art and vinyl color can be pre-ordered here.