Onion Chomping Optional

The late, great, John Peel often said that 'Teenage Kicks' by The Undertones was the greatest song ever written.

In fact, legend has it that he awarded the song 28 stars when he rated it on his Radio 1 show (the normal system he used was 1-5, with 5 being sensational, so I guess you could say that he quite liked the little ditty).

I'm not sure that I would quite go that far, but it is a great record nonetheless. One which has an infectious energy and vitality which belies the fact that it's now 20 years old.

Just before Christmas last year I remember hearing this stripped down, Bossa Nova style , version of the song in a bar. It was only on in the background, but I made a note of it, went home and after a bit of searching online found the track.

It sounded even cooler in the confines of my living room than a noisey bar, and the same can be said for the rest of the album.

Typically I'm not a fan of cover versions, especially light weight 'American/Pop Idol' versions which tend to have poor production and are almost always inferior to the original.

This version by Nouvelle Vague is different, because it takes the song and does something fresh and unexpected with it.

I find it increasingly difficult to find a song, or an artist that makes me sit up and take notice, but Nouvelle Vague are an exception. In fact, many of covers they do are so good, and so different, that I can't even work out what the original is until I look at the song title. (Check out their cover of "Don't Go" by Yazoo or "Dance With Me" by The Lords of the Church - fab video below - to see what I mean).

And of course the fact that the whole thing is sung by a woman in a sexy jusky French accent doesn't do it any harm either :-)