If I were a religious man I would make Marc Collin my personal lord and saviour. But I'm an atheist so I'll have to settle for a lot of admiration. First Marc Collin brings the world his bossa nova-style punk/post-punk/goth/modern rock/new wave cover band Nouvelle Vague featuring some of the most talented female vocalists France has to offer. Not good enough for you? (Wow, selfish much?). From Marc Collin's genius mind we also get Hollywood, Mon Amour, which much like Nouvelle Vague is a nod to the French New Wave (Nouvelle Vague translating from French to mean New Wave) with the name being a play on my favorite French New Wave film, Alain Resnais' Hiroshima Mon Amour. The music style is very much the same but the aim of this project is more geared towards reworkings of movie theme songs. As both a lover of the Nouvelle Vague-style and a filmmaker I adore this 2008 self-titled release for its emotion-melting abilities and wise song choices. In league with Marc Collin's tastes displayed with the Nouvelle Vague-project, all the film's are from that decade I was born in to called the 80's. I really like this collection because Collin doesn't always have to go for the most popular songs (though there are plenty of those there as well) and so I think the album doesn't necessarily just play like a compilation but rather allows Hollywood, Mon Amour to explore a variety of styles and put together a cohesive album. Collin's arrangements are so beautiful and I think this release has a particularly calming effect that allows the listener to occupy a space inside the album for sixty or so minutes of the album. However Collin is not alone here once again aided by many of his Nouvelle Vague compatriots and a bevy of talented femme fatal vocalists including Skye, Katrina Ottosen, Nadeah, Dea Li, Yael Naim, Cibelle, Nancy Danino, Leelou, Inga, Bianca Calandra, and the incomparable Juliette Lewis. Though I wish this release could have included my favorite Collin-co-conspirator, Melanie Pain, it was refreshing to see a mostly new line-up of women from the aforementioned sister project Nouvelle Vague. I feel like I could write entire entries about each track but the story of the album is a lot of sexiness in a slue of great song choices. Collin really takes the time to reinterpret these songs and so a track like Survivor's "Eye of The Tiger" (from the film Rocky III) traditionally elicits that image of a montage of preparation where Hollywood, Mon Amour's version feels more like a retrospective tale told by the campfire. Another great example would be the theme from the Bond film For Your Eyes Only (one of two Bond songs on the album with the other being the infamous Duran Duran-penned "A View To A Kill"), which one would traditionally think of with deception, secrecy, etc. but here the band creates this amazing sense of intimacy. The real soft spots in this album for me have to be "Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do" and "When Doves Cry". Collin's sense of emotion is so well complimented by songs that are fairly emotionally epic on their own. The limited edition version of the album also contains three great tracks including Berlin's "Take My Breath Away", the theme from Electric Dreams, and the theme from Butterfly. This is a beautiful record and there's a lot of appeal here whether you're a fan of Nouvelle Vague, Marc Collin, any of the singers, any of the films, etc. so I highly recommend picking this up and here's hoping that this project is not just a one and done. Favorite Tracks: Call Me, Eye of The Tiger, When Doves Cry, A View To A Kill, Flashdance...What a Feeling, Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do), For Your Eyes Only, and Don't You (Forget About Me)
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Album a Day: Hollywood, Mon Amour - Hollywood, Mon Amour
If I were a religious man I would make Marc Collin my personal lord and saviour. But I'm an atheist so I'll have to settle for a lot of admiration. First Marc Collin brings the world his bossa nova-style punk/post-punk/goth/modern rock/new wave cover band Nouvelle Vague featuring some of the most talented female vocalists France has to offer. Not good enough for you? (Wow, selfish much?). From Marc Collin's genius mind we also get Hollywood, Mon Amour, which much like Nouvelle Vague is a nod to the French New Wave (Nouvelle Vague translating from French to mean New Wave) with the name being a play on my favorite French New Wave film, Alain Resnais' Hiroshima Mon Amour. The music style is very much the same but the aim of this project is more geared towards reworkings of movie theme songs. As both a lover of the Nouvelle Vague-style and a filmmaker I adore this 2008 self-titled release for its emotion-melting abilities and wise song choices. In league with Marc Collin's tastes displayed with the Nouvelle Vague-project, all the film's are from that decade I was born in to called the 80's. I really like this collection because Collin doesn't always have to go for the most popular songs (though there are plenty of those there as well) and so I think the album doesn't necessarily just play like a compilation but rather allows Hollywood, Mon Amour to explore a variety of styles and put together a cohesive album. Collin's arrangements are so beautiful and I think this release has a particularly calming effect that allows the listener to occupy a space inside the album for sixty or so minutes of the album. However Collin is not alone here once again aided by many of his Nouvelle Vague compatriots and a bevy of talented femme fatal vocalists including Skye, Katrina Ottosen, Nadeah, Dea Li, Yael Naim, Cibelle, Nancy Danino, Leelou, Inga, Bianca Calandra, and the incomparable Juliette Lewis. Though I wish this release could have included my favorite Collin-co-conspirator, Melanie Pain, it was refreshing to see a mostly new line-up of women from the aforementioned sister project Nouvelle Vague. I feel like I could write entire entries about each track but the story of the album is a lot of sexiness in a slue of great song choices. Collin really takes the time to reinterpret these songs and so a track like Survivor's "Eye of The Tiger" (from the film Rocky III) traditionally elicits that image of a montage of preparation where Hollywood, Mon Amour's version feels more like a retrospective tale told by the campfire. Another great example would be the theme from the Bond film For Your Eyes Only (one of two Bond songs on the album with the other being the infamous Duran Duran-penned "A View To A Kill"), which one would traditionally think of with deception, secrecy, etc. but here the band creates this amazing sense of intimacy. The real soft spots in this album for me have to be "Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do" and "When Doves Cry". Collin's sense of emotion is so well complimented by songs that are fairly emotionally epic on their own. The limited edition version of the album also contains three great tracks including Berlin's "Take My Breath Away", the theme from Electric Dreams, and the theme from Butterfly. This is a beautiful record and there's a lot of appeal here whether you're a fan of Nouvelle Vague, Marc Collin, any of the singers, any of the films, etc. so I highly recommend picking this up and here's hoping that this project is not just a one and done. Favorite Tracks: Call Me, Eye of The Tiger, When Doves Cry, A View To A Kill, Flashdance...What a Feeling, Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do), For Your Eyes Only, and Don't You (Forget About Me)
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