Nouvelle Vague, s’il vous plaît

some good stuff there.

Nouvelle Vague was easily the biggest selling CD where I work, just from playing it, 3 people would ask about it every time you stuck it on. At Christmas maybe 6 or 7 people. You couldn't keep it in the shop. I never want to say the words "they're a French band and they've done these cover versions of......." or some variant, ever, ever, ever again!

I thought it was fairly good at first. It sounds nice despite the nagging sensation that it's actually just the homogenisation of lots of wildly different tunes for easy listening purposes.

Is my trepidation justified? I'm worried it could all be a bit Mike Flowers/Señor Coconut...

I love the record, but didn't know they'd since released a special edition with two more tracks. Which songs did they choose, Funk?

I go back and forth between calling the PiL and the DKs my favorites on there.

which extra songs does the extended (french import?) version have on it? ah, ok:

1 Love Will Tear Us Apart
2 Just Can't Get Enough
3 In A Manner Of Speaking
4 Guns Of Brixton
5 This Is Not A Love Song
6 To Drunk To Fuck
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
[extras]
14 Sorry For Laughing [Joseph K.]
15 Wishing (If I Had A Photograph Of You) [Flock Of Seagulls]

God, I feel old right now.

it's the other way round for me: love Señor Coconut, have a few problems with Nouvelle Vague. i get the impression the instructions to the vocalists was "like Astrud but, y'know, less strident". the sleevenotes swear blind that it's all genuine, no irony intended, but i'm not convinced

that said, about half of it works just fine - my favourites are "A Forest" and "Pssyche". and it's a pleasant enough listen from beginning to end.

WHY WASN'T I ALERTED OF THIS?

from an e-mail abt their US debut at Joe's Pub
"the singer from France's Nouvelle Vague making her way across the bar stealing drinks out of audience members hands and then helping herself to a $300 bottle of top shelf cognac which she downed and passed around the audience in the middle of their loungy version of "Too Drunk to F**K"?"

(Alex, I can e-mail you the Killing Joke cover if you like - what address should i use?)

If people care about this, it's because it's shocking to hear covers of some of these songs and react with anything other than disgust. The songs are pleasant and Nouvelle Vague seems to genuinely appreciate the source material.

I'd still say the word "care" is probably too strong in this circumstance, though.

I do think their cover of the Sisters' "Marian" is fucking wonderful. "Guns of Brixton" is also entertaining.

1. The Killing Moon
2. Ever Fallen In Love
3. Dance With Me
4. Don't Go
5. Dancing With Myself
6. Heart Of Glass
7. O Pamela
8. Blue Monday
9. Human Fly
10. Bela Lugosi's Dead
11. I Can't Escape Myself
12. Let Me Go
13. Fade To Grey
14. Waves

OTM

OTM.

It's the on-hold melody of a company I phoned up and I was so completely mesmerized after about two listens of the track I didn't even remember why I'd called them when they picked up.

is/was 'melt with you' a famous song in the states?

They use Tuxedomoon as on-hold music in Flanders?!

I want to know about the tracks that were slated for the second record and never materialized...

Bizarre Love Triangle (New Order)
Relax (Frankie Goes To Hollywood)
Ghost Rider (Suicide)
Sex Beat (Gun Club)
Putain Putain (TC Matic)

I've seen reports that the first two above were pulled due to contractual issues around the singer (Camille).

It also seems that those two tracks have been circulating...although I haven't stumbled upon them yet.

New album "3" just released. This time they've roped in some of the original singers, which takes the concept to even stranger levels. I still really enjoy what they do, mind. Their ska/reggae version of Ca Plane Pour Moi is ace.

I got a press release in my inbox that went on about a country/western influence for this one- is there any truth to that?

I've only listened a couple of times, but yeah, one or two tracks definitely had a country twangy air about them.

Half of what I've heard is too bland for me. Ca plane pour moi, metal and master and servant where highlights for me, the rest I don't care much about.

Just thought I'd point out that in 2001 and 2004 (just prior to the Nouvelle Vague debut), Chicago jingle producer Bruce Nash did the same schtick (bossa nova covers of 70s/80s standouts) with equal and perhaps greater success. Nash does play off the (coctail party irony / sedated) angle more with covers of "I Wanna Be Sedated" & "(Don't Fear) the Reaper" on Prozak for Lovers, & "Blister in the Sun", "Cities in Dust" and "Psycho Killer" on Prozak for Lovers II. No adorable French accents though.

And following Nouvelle Vague's commercial success there was a Brazilian project Eldissa that turned to the late-disco songbook, which doesn't work well for me, simply because it's too earnest. One could program a bossa covers coctail night entirely from the 6 albums, given a sadistic streak.

I think that Nouvelle Vague manage to plot a course somewhere between being earnest and over-reverent, on the one hand, and overdoing the cheese/irony factor, on the other.

Somehow, they just about succeed in remaining credible, and don't come across as a one-joke comedy act in that way that, say, Richard Cheese does.

God spare us if we get into the merits of Hayseed Dixie (who are probably more fun than any of the aforementioned, at least live). Mr. Cheese, on the other hand, clearly wants us to hate 90's alternarock as much as he does.

i too was surprised by the staying power of what should be a straight up novelty act (i listened to their first 2 albums much more than i expected to)

I prefer the less well-known songs, like In a Manner of Speaking on the first one and Simple Minds' The American on this one. When you're doing God Save the Queen you're on to a loser from the start. (That said, Love Will Tear Us Apart and Just Can't Get Enough worked on the first album but they've fumbled most of the big hits since then)

http://magiska.vlsweb.net.br/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/cover3-400x400.jpg

Following ’3′, Nouvelle Vague’s aptly named third album comes a best of collection that should finally break the band beyond their avid fan base.

Familiar to millions yet still relatively unknown, the bands cover versions of 80′s post punk classics have been heard on literally 100′s of TV ad’s and programme sound beds in the UK alone. Their sync CV reads like a who’s who of household brands – T-Mobile, Tropicana, Vicks, Dove & Waitrose to name a few. Not to mention starring roles in many a Hollywood soundtrack spanning blockbusters like Angelina Jolie’s ‘A Mighty Heart’ to cult classics like Tarantino’s ‘Grindhouse’.

The bands debut album ‘Nouvelle Vague’ went silver (60,000) in the UK and the band have gone on to sell over 750,000 units worldwide all from word of mouth with very little advertising or marketing.

Release Info

special edition comprises of 2 discs, the first is a collection of 15 of the bands most familiar covers including duets with UK musical legends Martin Gore (Depeche Mode), Ian McCulloch (Echo & The Bunnymen) and Terry Hall (The Specials).

The 2nd CD will feature rare and unreleased tracks collated from across the bands 8 year career and include rarely heard covers of U2’s ‘Pride’ and Dexys Midnight Runners ‘Come On Eileen’ to name but two + duet’s with Chris Bailey (The Saints) and Sammy Birnbach (Minimal Compact). This is the first time fans will be able to complete Nouvelle Vague’s release output on CD.

Tracks

1. I Melt With You
2. Just Can't Get Enough
3. Ever Fallen In Love
4. Master And Servant
5. Love Will Tear Us Apart
6. Heaven
7. Guns Of Brixton
8. Teenage Kicks
9. All My Colours
10. Making Plans For Nigel
11. Blue Monday
12. Dancing With Myself
13. In A Manner Of Speaking
14. Our Lips Are Sealed
15. Too Drunk To Fuck

1. Sweet And Tender Hooligan (live)
2. Shack Up
3. Aussi Belle Qu'Une Balle
4. Wishing (If I Had A Photograph Of You)
5. Sorry For Laughing
6. Confusion
7. Get A Grip On Yourself
8. Israel
9. Moody
10. Not Knowing
11. Pride (In The Name Of Love)
12. Marooned
13. Such A Shame
14. I'm Stranded
15. Enola Gay
16. Come On Eileen

A friend that I hadn’t seen in a while invited me for breakfast and played the debut album.

20 years have passed huh? It hasn’t aged that well… or rather the world aged terribly and this quirky kind of music doesn’t fit anywhere anymore. I remember many friends loving it when it came out.

Only song which still perked my ears was “in a matter of speaking” which might be even better than the original. Or at least it works perfectly as a bossa nova song.

down with this sort of thing

the french Mike Flowers Pops

now seeing that comparison already made, thus is is TRUE.

or rather the world aged terribly and this quirky kind of music doesn’t fit anywhere anymore

This is an astute way of putting things. I remember everyone was realy into this idea when it came out. Now it feels like the kind of thing that would appear on a lousy social media reel shared by UniLad.

God I hated it when it showed up and so did my music geek friends. Maybe it's just that there's less knowledge of/respect for bossa nova in the anglosphere?

Maaaaaaybe.... I think really it's the novelty aspect of this sort of thing wasn't as well-worn as it is nowadays. Or maybe I was younger and less jaded about this sort of thing?
Like it or loathe it, I would argue that a big defining factor of 2000s music was the act of genre-bending - kicking off with things like 2ManyDjs in the early 2000s, crap indie bands like Travis covering Britney, Outkast doing drum'n'bass versions of Coltrane, Bill Bailey covering Radiohead in a Bhangra style etc.
It's hard to imagine now but even in the mid-2000s people doing cover versions of songs in a radically different style still had a lot of legs, and the fact they chose semi-obscure new wave songs (the coolest thing you could do in that time) lent it credence.
There was sucha glut of this kind of thing that mashups and kooky covers became uncool and over-done very very quickly I guess.

The whole post-modern but not ironic, soft, cutesy/twee, wacky/playful vibe of the mid-2000s is interesting in retrospect, even if much of it was annoying at the time and is still annoying now. Much like the great depression coincides with the peak of Hollywood studio musicals, the repercussions of 9/11 and Iraq/Afghanistan invasions coincides with this conspicuously unserious/apolitical flavour in middlebrow culture. Sure we could come up with a hundred examples from film/music/books/internet.

Advertisers certainly have never fallen out of love with this kind of thing.

it could have been custom designed for them, it fits them so well.

that's likely the biggest factor in making this sort of thing incredibly uncool

further to my above post, the 90s attempt at breaking out of molds saw a lot of bands genre-hopping, trying to tackle a different style of music on each track of the album. 2000s was more about genre-fusing, like "Whoa, what if we got Destiny's Child to sing over 10CC?".

I remember receiving a promo of their version of "guns of brixton" before they even had a name. i thought it was great and then the album was ok (best track is deffo "in a manner of speaking").

i'm surprised to find they are still doing it and have released ten albums. touring too.

latest album appears to be more of the same so clearly has commercial mileage. i see they cover "she's in parties" on the latest album. i'm almost tempted to give it a listen, but not quite enough.

Isn’t Marc Hollander behind this? If this helps pay the bills for Crammed, then I’m fine with it

no, it's Marc Collin.

Marc Colander surely? can't believe he's been milking the same gimmick for 20 years, it must be draining

was actually going through some random ancient records this morning and listened to a 90s deep house thing by Dirty Jesus which is the same guy i think? nothing wildly exciting but decent enough

yes, same guy. nothing to do with crammed. was also in Volga Select.

On how this kind of music became uncool, I made this thread:

the fake bossa nova 80's hits music they play at cafes

I do think it's somewhat separate even if related to ukulele commercial music.

I might steal some of the suggestions from that thread. I created a playlist for my friend with some recommendations for the next time she’s hosting a bossa breakfast lol

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/01ZqXRqPJenv1tfO5DLQXx

Added a bit of cuban flavor as well to keep things more eclectic

I guess new Nouvelle Vague albums are like minions sequels - they're easy enough to make, and there's a built in audience (maybe?). I think I'm now curious enough to go check out their 2024 album...

I'm any case, I'll always have a soft spot for their version of In A Manner Of Speaking. Miles better than the original.

Yeah that song alone sort of justifies their existence.

I love that they added a cover of “too drunk to fuck”in their first album which sort of made it impossible to be played in franchise coffee shops in full.