Nouvelle Vague - 3

Au retour

Nouvelle Vague’s 2004 debut album was a genuinely refreshing conceit; a set of bossa nova covers of new wave songs, arranged and produced by Marc Collin and Olivier Libaux and sung by a succession of breathy young female vocalists. The follow-up, however, 2006’s Bande À Part, was a little muggy from an idea that had run its course.

3 ditches the bossa nova rhythm for a more countrified and bluesy interpretative approach – with patchy results. The Psychedelic Furs’ Heaven, for instance, is transformed into a slice of shimmering acoustic loveliness, but Ça Plane Pour Moi falls flat on its face in a haze of fame-school graduate smugness. The guests, however, add a lot of interest. Martin Gore pops up with a vocal on Master & Servant, Ian McCulloch on All My Colours, Barry Adamson slides into Parade and Terry Hall does the low-voiced thing on album highlight Our Lips Are Sealed – on which Marina Celeste puts in a brilliant vocal. It’s undone quickly, though, with God Save The Queen being reimagined – gasp! – as a pastoral acoustic track. Pah, the Pistols camp had surely already released the best cover themselves 30 years ago on The Great Rock’n’Roll Swindle soundtrack.

3 stars 3 stars 3 stars

Peacefrog | PFG 118 CD

Reviewed by Joe Shooman
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