Customer Reviews

Nouvelle Vague

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

This CD is based on an interesting premise. Take a social-political-music movement, "new wave", and interpret it through bossa nova (which also means "new wave," in Portuguese). The brash male vocals and stark instrumentation of the original songs yield to cool female vocals and more relaxed tempos. Yang becomes yin.

But this is not to say that the songs lose any of their power in the process. Rather, they gain new layers of complexity through the bossa nova interpretation. "Brixton," for example, is a real treat -- the singer spits out the lyrics with a combination of contempt, weariness, and exasperation not possible in the original.

Thinking of _Nouvelle Vague_ as either "new wave" or "bossa nova" is actually quite limiting. I would say this project, deliberately or inadvertently, has much in common with Brazil's Tropicalia movement, in terms of its global outlook and focus on social issues. In order to make the transition between genres, the artists metaphorically traverse the Atlantic numerous times, from the U.K. to America to Europe to Brazil. In the process, they demonstrate that the social and economic issues underlying new wave still resonate, even decades later, when placed in a new context.

If bossa nova hadn't so quickly become associated with cheese in the United States, (ex. "lounge,") I'm certain that more of Amazon's reviewers would have recognized this album as the intellectual endeavor that it is, rather than reading it as a handful of light, ironic new wave covers.

Look, it's pseudo bossa nova. 'Love Will Tear Us Apart,' 'Guns of Brixton,' and 'I Just Can't Get Enough' try HARD.

But the most gorgenous song on this album is 'In A Manner of Speaking.' Listen to any of the originals, and I guarantee you'll be impressed by the cover. It's gorgeous, intelligable, nonvibrato. It's wonderful.

You'll fall in love.

Am I the only reviewer who LOVES the desultory delivery on "Guns Of Brixton"?! Dyspeptic never sounded so ironic. This CD digests better if taken as an organic whole, meanining a CD whose lounge melodies, easy-listening chorus-filled tunes, and female vocals draw comparisons to band Noonday Underground (especially their disc, "Self Assembly") and fellow Brits, Broadcast. If you think of this as a "covers" venture neccesitating wholely original arrangements, (think Richard Cheese and The Dan Band)then you will be disappointed.

An excellent downtempo ~ Bossanova rework of those 80's songs that everyone loved and now occasionally listens to.

I found that her interpretations held up better then the actual orginal works. "Making Plans For Nigel" is excellent along with "Just can't get enough".

First time through this distinctly "left field" album is likely to leave you a bit confused... laid back interpretations of classic 80's rock tracks served up as nonchalant, bossa-nova driven Anglo-French lounge music. Ridiculous? Well, fortunately not, because in here are some absolute gems - so good that once you've locked into what's going on you'll find them completely irresistible. Which ones depends on where you were at the time but, for me, "Teenage Kicks", "Love Will Tear Us Apart", "We're Only Making Plans for Nigel" & "Just Can't Get Enough" are so beautifully structured and darkly exciting that they're worth the price of the album on its own. But, as you'll see from the other reviews, there's a lot more on offer. Sure, some tracks miss it... but most don't and, insidious and clever, they add up to a brilliant, very different and probably unrepeatable "one off".

i think this is a great album and i didn't find it wore on me at all ... and "the guns of brixton" cover ROCKS! annie lennox should watch out: she is getting challenged for the "best clash cover of all time" crown.

I realize that this is the sort of project that can polarize listeners, especially those well-acquainted with the original versions. I'm not here to criticize those who don't agree with me, though. Overall, I LOVE this. With the exception of the icky treatment of I MELT WITH YOU, this is hypnotic, and it treads a nice line between taking things lightly and capturing a mood with light brushstrokes. I, for one, love the version of TOO DRUNK TO F**K. (I find it admirably subversive that it's smack in the middle of the song sequence, so, this isn't just background music) But, then, I'm a sucker for sleazy, smoky English-as-a-second-language treatments. A FOREST is another success. My favorites, though are MARIAN and IN A MANNER OF SPEAKING. Those are inspired yet far-from-obvious choices for a bossanova spin. Oh, and TEENAGE KICKS is wonderful, and goes on just as long as it needs to (thankfully, this is case with most of the songs). This continues to grow on me. A refreshing surprise. Oh, and, I feel this would have been far less successful had the same vocalist done all the songs.