The art of the humble cover version has been re-awakened by French act Nouvelle Vague who demonstrate what can be achieved when artists apply the same creativity into reworking hits as in writing them.

Cover versions are often seen as attempts by artists to align themselves with acclaimed acts and songs of yesteryear without giving the listener any additional perspective or new experience.

However, classic reworkings including Jeff Buckley's version of Leonard Cohen's haunting "Hallelujah," and Johnny Cash's 2002 album "American IV: The Man Comes Around" highlight the value and originality which can be involved in covers.

"I don't know whether it is personality or a certain sound which makes a good cover version but they have to make it sound their own," band member Olivier Libaux told AFP.

"We try to be as creative with our covers as we would with original material and try to make people look at the songs in a different way," he added.

Nouvelle Vague, who are led by Libaux and his compatriot Marc Collin, scored a surprise hit in 2004 with their debut album "Nouvelle Vague" which consisted of bossa-nova reworkings of punk and new-wave classics.

The contrast between the lazy swing beats and the anger implicit in the original versions caught listeners' imagination and invited them to consider the songs in a completely different light.

"When you are covering these types of songs, for example Joy Division's "Love Will Tear us Apart," you need to be creative to give it an unique sound," Libaux explained.

To ensure they a achieved fresh take on such well known songs the duo used various vocalists who had never heard the songs before on the first album.

For their latest album, "NV3," which is out now, the Frenchmen have come a full circle, managing to secure the services of original artists to appear on covers of their own songs.

Depeche Mode's Martin Gore, The Specials' Terry Hall and Echo and the Bunnymen frontman Ian McCulloch all appear on the release, which employs other cover styles including country and reggae.

"We had a list of people we wanted to work with which also included Jean-Jacques Brunel of the Stranglers but he couldn't because he was in Sri Lanka competing in a karate tournament, he is a karate champion.

"It was great working with Ian McCulloch, he has one of the great rock voices," the Frenchman recalled. "Terry Hall came in and recorded his piece but we never got to meet Martin Gore, he was in New York recording with Depeche Mode so sent it over via the internet."

The sometime guitarist admits there are more recent songs he would also like to rework. "One song I would really love to cover is Queens Of The Stone Age's, 'No One Knows.' That song could be covered in so many different styles."

Reactions from the original artists have been positive with Morrissey, Mick Jones from The Clash, The Undertones and Dead Kennedy's all voicing their approval of the duo's reworking of their songs.

"The responses we get from the artists have been positive," said. "We would have loved to have worked with David Byrne, we sent our finished version to him he really liked it."

The band admit the project started as a fun enterprise and that their side projects provide release from the bounds of the project.

Libaux has played with French first lady Carla Bruni and recorded with DJ Alex Gopher. Collin has been a regular face on the Paris club scene for 20 years and has composed television adverts for Cartier, Philips and Ford.