This new Nouvelle Vague CD, Bande a Part, is ridiculously good. So far I'm only on track 4, and all I have to say is HOLY MOLY this is a yummy CD!! They cover "new wave/alternative/post punk" songs from the 80s--Bauhaus, Echo and the Bunnymen, Buzzcocks, Blondie, Billy Idol, New Order with a twist: set to a Latin rhythm for the most part. (I had never heard of this band until a few weeks ago, and apparently they have three CDs out now. Whoops!)

Heard "Heart of Glass" oiginally and thought to myself, "clever." I then heard "The Killing Moon" and loved it. I also liked "Fade to Grey" a lot but I have totally fallen in love with "Don't Go." Once I listen to that a couple hundred times, I'll move on to "Dancing with Myself!"

Now, aside from Billy Idol, Blondie and U2, I haven't heard much of the other groups, though I know that they were huge back in the 80s (sorry, as a teen in suburbs of NJ, I grew up solely on top twenty pop, unfortunately, until I went to college). I religiously watched John Hughes movies, so I had a passing acquaintance with the artists who created this music. And I owned the "Pretty in Pink" soundtrack, so I knew who the Psychedelic Furs and Echo and the Bunnymen were. I also knew some New Order stuff.

I worked with a cool girl who was a huge fan of Bauhaus and I hung out with her a bit and listened to a lot of their stuff. She also introduced me to Ska (Philly style), and I started hanging out at a post-punk/alternative club seconds before the Seattle grunge scene hit.

I'm saying all of this to say that I haven't been COMPLETELY ignorant of alternative music of the late 70s and 80s!! What this CD is saying to me is taking a piece of music and changing it to suit a different style with brilliant results shows you the quality of the song to begin with.

Now I'm going to have to go back and pick up some of this stuff in its original form.

If you're sick of listening to chicks sing about how hot they are and how much hotter they are than the other girls, and dudes rapping and singing about how they're going to have sex with you six different ways from Sunday, pick up this CD. Seriously.