The world has seen release of many tribute albums, many tossed off with casual indifference that miss the mark completely.  Occasionally, one comes along that’s just so misguided you end up wondering how it came to be in the first place.  The idea of thirteen different low-key French artists recreating Morrissey’s 1994 album ‘Vauxhall & I’ could easily sound like a bad one from the off, but somehow, through an array of reasonable talent – not to mention excellent source material and sheer balls – ‘Vauxhall & Us’ works.  Without Morrissey’s distinctive croon adding to a many a black humour within his lyrics, these songs sound markedly different.  Their charm is still often apparent, but in a wholly different way.  The acoustic setting on some of the recordings allows Moz’s gift of words to remain the biggest draw of all, but the European slant evident from time to time also lends a certain charm.

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