Music Review by Neil Sadler
Nouvelle Vague create strange French pop versions of punk and electro classics. Best know for their version of Depeche Mode’s Just Can’t Get Enough – this album shows that they are not alone in creating strange hybrid covers.
Cover versions can be an acquired taste. Often they sound so like the original version that you wonder why they were created in the first place, other than the obvious cash in that is usually the case.
This cannot be said for the covers here. Here we have 80’s electro icons such as the Gary Numan, the Stranglers and Devo creating their own take on such classics the Stones’ Satisfaction and the Burt Bacarach classics Walk on By. There is a punk sensibility here and the interpretation is often done with a mix of homage and desire to deconstruct.
The results are often strange but always interesting. Even “poppier” band such as Duran Duran and OMD manage to create something rather original with their covers of David Bowie and Velvet Underground.
These are definitely of their time – a very early 80’s sound – with none of the pop sensibility of the better known tracks by these artists. But if you have listened to all the other 80’s electro collections, If you want to dig a bit deeper – or if you are a Nouvelle Vague fan with a love of unusual cover versions, you’ll find this a solid compilation.
