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Track Listings
| 1. Love Will Tear Us Apart |
| 2. Just Cant Get Enough |
| 3. In A Manner Of Speaking |
| 4. Guns Of Brixton |
| 5. This Is Not A Love Song |
| 6. Too Drunk To Funk |
| 7. Marian |
| 8. Making Plans For Nigel |
| 9. A Forest |
| 10. I Melt With You |
| 11. Teenage Kicks |
| 12. Psyche |
| 13. Friday Night Saturday Morning |
| 14. Sorry For Laughing |
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
An idea which must have been created in a mad moment in a smokily drunk Parisien underground bar, the Nouvelle Vague collective (and its ever changing line up) have managed to pull off the sublime - arranging punk and ska classics in a sultry bossanova style, whispered over by (mainly) French chanteauses. Somehow it works. More than works in fact and becomes something of a work of beauty.
It walks a fine line between kitsch and cheesy camp and heartbreaking tenderness, but somehow manages to find very different meanings from the originals. "Too Drunk to F*ck" becomes a louche and inebriated cocktail piece, "Friday Night and Saturday Morning" conjure ups images of metro rides and clubs in Pigalle, "Love will Tear us Apart" is a wistful, pleading lament whilst "Making Plans for Nigel" plucks each heartstring in turn. Live, they are stunning, and recorded almost as good.
It walks a fine line between kitsch and cheesy camp and heartbreaking tenderness, but somehow manages to find very different meanings from the originals. "Too Drunk to F*ck" becomes a louche and inebriated cocktail piece, "Friday Night and Saturday Morning" conjure ups images of metro rides and clubs in Pigalle, "Love will Tear us Apart" is a wistful, pleading lament whilst "Making Plans for Nigel" plucks each heartstring in turn. Live, they are stunning, and recorded almost as good.
2 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Its just a terrible collection of covers exploiting nice and unique songs!
As John Peel was describing his feeling when he heard the first time 'Teenage Kicks' on the radio: "There's nothing you could add to it or subtract from it that would improve it". Well Nouvelle Vague has managed to do so ...
As John Peel was describing his feeling when he heard the first time 'Teenage Kicks' on the radio: "There's nothing you could add to it or subtract from it that would improve it". Well Nouvelle Vague has managed to do so ...
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
40 reviews
52 of 56 people found the following review helpful
Post punk goes bossa nova & puts a smile on your face.
8 Jun 2005
Format:Audio CD
I have most of the originals & was quite into all of the original artists that this band has covered, in fact the 1977-1985 years were probably my favorite for pop/rock. Remakes/tributes are usually a mixed bag. Many are done by less talented groups to confirm their hipness & end up on cringe-inducing tribute collection albums. Those done by better artists often fail to capture the spirit of the original, or try to put a new twist on the song, but end up being really cheesy (and not in a good way). This collection of tracks seems like another gimmick, take a mix of post-punk hits & a few obscurities & give them a bossa nova facelift, making them a little bit more appealing & recognizable than the Muzak punk CD "Punk Rock Baby". However, I do feel that the album works quite well & doesn't become tiresome half way through listening to it. It's quite a lot better than another (recently-released) 80s remake CD I heard playing in a store not too long ago (I think the artist focused on politically-oriented songs from the era), which tried too hard & ultimately failed to either add anything new or match the originals in quality. Only 2 songs really fall short on those grounds & those 2 songs are probably the least known of the lot (KJ's "Psyche" & Josef K's "Sorry For Laughing"), so most people won't mind. The singer wavers between sounding like a number of different female singers (at their most subdued): Hope Sandoval (from Mazzy Star) (on #2 & #8 & #10), Bjork (without the high notes) on #4, the woman that sang that "Telephon Man" song from the 1970s on #6, & even a bit of Dusty Springfield (as on her version of "Windmills of My Mind") on #3.
This album isn't quite perfect, but I'd give it 4.5 stars if I could. Recommended more to those familiar with the originals or those who like quirky remakes than to bossa nova fans.
Here's the list of artists in case you don't recognize them:
1. Joy Division
2. Depeche Mode
3. Tuxedomoon
4. The Clash
5. PiL
6. Dead Kennedys
7. Sisters of Mercy
8. XTC
9. The Cure
10. Modern English
11. The Undertones
12. Killing Joke
13. The Specials
14. Josef K.
This album isn't quite perfect, but I'd give it 4.5 stars if I could. Recommended more to those familiar with the originals or those who like quirky remakes than to bossa nova fans.
Here's the list of artists in case you don't recognize them:
1. Joy Division
2. Depeche Mode
3. Tuxedomoon
4. The Clash
5. PiL
6. Dead Kennedys
7. Sisters of Mercy
8. XTC
9. The Cure
10. Modern English
11. The Undertones
12. Killing Joke
13. The Specials
14. Josef K.
19 of 22 people found the following review helpful
Nouvelle, but vague
4 Aug 2005
Format:Audio CD
Take classic post-punk songs, by bands like Joy Division, the Clash, the Cure, and the Dead Kennedys which. Now give them a new sound: bossa nova.
That's the particular gimmick of Nouvelle Vague, whose self-titled debut is an ironic little curiosity. And while it has pretty, tongue-in-cheek covers like a sultry "Love Will Tear Us Apart," it never really rises above the status of "ironic little curiosity."
It opens with the legendary Joy Division song, done to a trippy bossa nova sound, and backed by lifeguard whistles and waves crashing. Then it dips into a chipper cover of Depeche Mode's "Just Can't Get Enough," a rather plodding acoustic cover of the Clash's "Guns of Brixton," and a mildly engaging version of the Undertones' "Teenage Kicks."
There are sultrier numbers as well -- the Cure get a cover with sultry night noises and slow guitar in "A Forrest," and "Sisters of Mercy" is practically transcendental. But while I love the Dead Kennedys' "Too Drunk to F*ck," it doesn't translate well to an awkward bossa nova rhythm. It doesn't fit in, and is distractingly disjointed even when taken by itself.
Is "Nouvelle Vague" a pretty bossa nova covers album? Oh yes. Will it actually be listened to again? Hard to say. It's an interesting listen, but a novelty rather than an album in its own right.
Certainly Nouvelle Vague has excellent choice in retro rock music, since they chose several excellent groups to cover here, and often their best songs as well. Some are catchy, some are cutely sugary, some are ethereal ballads. They're pretty to listen to, but somehow the individual flavour of each song gets lost in the downtempo sound.
Whatever you think of the music, it can't be denied that Camille Dalmais has an exceptional voice. Except for that painful screech in "Too Drunk To F*ck," she veers between the breathiness of Hope Sandoval to the sultry croon of Beth Gibbons. With a hint of Bjork as well, to be honest.
In or out of Nouvelle Vague, Dalmais has enormous talent, while the rest of the album is merely "okay" or even "just good." Diverting, but not the sort of thing to listen to over and over.
That's the particular gimmick of Nouvelle Vague, whose self-titled debut is an ironic little curiosity. And while it has pretty, tongue-in-cheek covers like a sultry "Love Will Tear Us Apart," it never really rises above the status of "ironic little curiosity."
It opens with the legendary Joy Division song, done to a trippy bossa nova sound, and backed by lifeguard whistles and waves crashing. Then it dips into a chipper cover of Depeche Mode's "Just Can't Get Enough," a rather plodding acoustic cover of the Clash's "Guns of Brixton," and a mildly engaging version of the Undertones' "Teenage Kicks."
There are sultrier numbers as well -- the Cure get a cover with sultry night noises and slow guitar in "A Forrest," and "Sisters of Mercy" is practically transcendental. But while I love the Dead Kennedys' "Too Drunk to F*ck," it doesn't translate well to an awkward bossa nova rhythm. It doesn't fit in, and is distractingly disjointed even when taken by itself.
Is "Nouvelle Vague" a pretty bossa nova covers album? Oh yes. Will it actually be listened to again? Hard to say. It's an interesting listen, but a novelty rather than an album in its own right.
Certainly Nouvelle Vague has excellent choice in retro rock music, since they chose several excellent groups to cover here, and often their best songs as well. Some are catchy, some are cutely sugary, some are ethereal ballads. They're pretty to listen to, but somehow the individual flavour of each song gets lost in the downtempo sound.
Whatever you think of the music, it can't be denied that Camille Dalmais has an exceptional voice. Except for that painful screech in "Too Drunk To F*ck," she veers between the breathiness of Hope Sandoval to the sultry croon of Beth Gibbons. With a hint of Bjork as well, to be honest.
In or out of Nouvelle Vague, Dalmais has enormous talent, while the rest of the album is merely "okay" or even "just good." Diverting, but not the sort of thing to listen to over and over.
27 of 34 people found the following review helpful
[Nouvelle Vague] Wave this one by
21 May 2005
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
The songs are great, the singers (there are seven in all) are competent, what I don't like is the music. It doesn't swing, and I can't discern even the lightest bossa-nova influence.
Honestly, the arrangements are pretty pallid. There's a guitar, some soft drums, maybe strings in the background on a couple of songs. And they just kind of play through, like a lounge band would; nothing too difficult, not much passion. I'd love to recommend one or two individual songs, but they're all pretty much the same.
Now I enjoyed hearing the inimitable Camille Dalmais interpreting "Guns of Brixton," once, but the novelty wore off for me after that first listen. Maybe arranging music that was catchy and heartstopping in its first incarnation as drab pablum-pop is making a weird kind of revolutionary statement. Maybe it demonstrates that the establishment has coopted all those fiery ideals and passions that this music generated in the 80s. But for me, the music on the CD still ran in one ear and out the other.
Honestly, the arrangements are pretty pallid. There's a guitar, some soft drums, maybe strings in the background on a couple of songs. And they just kind of play through, like a lounge band would; nothing too difficult, not much passion. I'd love to recommend one or two individual songs, but they're all pretty much the same.
Now I enjoyed hearing the inimitable Camille Dalmais interpreting "Guns of Brixton," once, but the novelty wore off for me after that first listen. Maybe arranging music that was catchy and heartstopping in its first incarnation as drab pablum-pop is making a weird kind of revolutionary statement. Maybe it demonstrates that the establishment has coopted all those fiery ideals and passions that this music generated in the 80s. But for me, the music on the CD still ran in one ear and out the other.
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