Yelle ruins Heaven 17 tune; lead singer of English band doesn't mind

I always thought the opening riff of Heaven 17’s fantastic early 1980s track “Let Me Go” would make a smart sample for a techno or hip-hop act. Leave it to French electro temptress Yelle (née Julie Budet) to ruin my fantasy of the perfect meshing of Heaven 17’s signature track with contemporary beats. Her just-released video for “Ce Jeu” is about as uninspired as the song (which has been out now for a while).

But not everyone agrees with me. Curious what the man who sang the sampled track thought of Yelle resurrecting the famed bass line, I e-mailed a few questions to Heaven 17 frontman Glenn Gregory over the weekend. His response to the track and more Heaven 17 news (including possible forthcoming U.S. tour dates) after the jump.

What do you think of this track in general?

I've been aware of [her] for a while and even played “Je Veux Te Voir” [as a DJ] at the Big Chill Bar during a Honeyroot [Glenn’s current project] DJ set... two days later I was asked for clearance for the “Ce Jeu” track. I really like [“Ce Jeu”], actually. It’s good to hear the “Let Me Go” bass line being put to another use... I'm all for recycling. It’s funny, because “Let Me Go” was on "The Luxury Gap" twice really, because it started out in the demo stage being much slower and then when it evolved into the finished track we missed the haunting slow melancholy of the original demo so decided to use it again and it became "the best kept secret," so it’s accustomed to being re-used.

Have you had other electro acts or hip-hop acts request samples of Heaven 17 tracks?  If so, what’s your favorite?

There have been quite a few and to be honest, not all are great, but I don’t think we have ever said no to a cover request. You never know how they're gonna turn out and it's always interesting to see what other people want to do with your tracks. There was an American act called Mollela (part of the Outhere Brothers, I think) that did a rap over the instrumental of “Let Me Go,” and we made a video together... I quite enjoyed that. I love the covers of "Temptation," including [the versions done by] Cradle of Filth and Jarvis Cocker & Beth Ditto.

Finally, is Heaven 17 headed to the U.S. anytime soon?

We are going to be touring with the Human League and ABC in November and December in the U.K., and it's generating a lot of press and interest, so I think we might talk about taking it into Europe and then if everyone is still talking we might even try and conquer the U.S.A. (the bits around the edge, anyway).

-- Charlie Amter