Histoire de Melody Nelson
| Histoire de Melody Nelson | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by Serge Gainsbourg | ||||
| Released | March 1971 | |||
| Recorded | April 21, 1970 - February 4, 1971 Studio Marble Arch, London, England and Studio des Dames, Paris, France |
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| Genre | French rock, avant-funk | |||
| Length | 27:57 | |||
| Label | Philips | |||
| Producer | Jean-Claude Desmarty | |||
| Serge Gainsbourg chronology | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Aggregate scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 96/100 |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |  |
| The A.V. Club | A |
| Pitchfork Media | (10/10) |
| PopMatters | (10/10) |
Histoire de Melody Nelson is a 1971 concept album by French songwriter Serge Gainsbourg. Produced by Jean-Claude Desmarty, the album was released in March 1971 through Philips Records. The Lolita-esque pseudo-autobiographical plot of the album involves the middle-aged Gainsbourg unintentionally colliding his Rolls Royce Silver Ghost into teenage girl Melody Nelson's bicycle, and the subsequent seduction and romance that ensues. Histoire de Melody Nelson is considered by many critics and fans to be Gainsbourg's most influential and accomplished work, as well as one of the greatest French-language albums in popular music.
At just under twenty-eight minutes, the short running time and the stylistic consistency and similarity throughout the album gives it qualities more in line with an EP or an extended musical piece with a number of movements. Histoire de Melody Nelson‘s mix of freewheeling guitar, funk style bass guitar, near spoken word vocal delivery, and lush, deep orchestrated string and choral arrangements by Jean-Claude Vannier who composed almost the entire music in collaboration with Gainsbourg for the album, have proven to be highly influential amongst later francophone and anglophone musical performers.
After the release of the album, a music video was made for each song, and released all together as "Melody" a short musical.
On October 18, 2011 Mercury Records through Universal Music released the album with a second CD containing alternate takes of all seven tracks as well as instrumental and vocal versions of the excised track "Melody Lit Babar." A limited edition was also released that included a DVD which featured the original album remixed in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound and a forty-minute documentary on the making of the album which includes interviews with Jane Birkin, Jean-Claude Vannier and others. This release also includes a full color booklet of liner notes in both French and English.
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