Serge Gainsbourg - Histoire de Melody Nelson - 2CD+DVD 2011

Histoire de Melody Nelson is a 1971 concept album by French songwriter Serge Gainsbourg. The Lolita-esque pseudo-autobiographical plot involves the middle-aged Gainsbourg unintentionally colliding his Rolls Royce Silver Ghost into teenage nymphet 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 album.
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 including the French band Air, David Holmes, Pulp's Jarvis Cocker, Portishead, and Beck, whose 2002 track Paper Tiger from Sea Change is extremely close to the distinctive Histoire de Melody Nelson sound.
After the release of the album, a music video was made for each song, and released all together as Melody, a short musical.

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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. (wikipedia)

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Serge Gainsbourg - Histoire de Melody Nelson 1971 - limited edition
(2CD+DVD Mercury Records Universal Music France 2011)

CD1 Histoire de Melody Nelson

1. Melody
2. Ballade de Melody Nelson
3. Valse de Melody
4. Ah! Melody
5. L'Hotel Particulier
6. En Melody
7. Cargo Culte

CD2 Les Sessions Melody Nelson

1. Melody
2. Ballade de Melody Nelson
3. Valse de Melody
4. Ah! Melody
5. Melody Lit Babar
6. Melody Lit Babar
7. L'Hotel Particulier
8. En Melody
9. Cargo Culte

Alan Parker - guitar
Dave Richmond - bass
Dougie Wright - drums
Jean-Claude Vannier - arrangements, Orchestra Director
Jane Birkin - vocal parts

DVD Histoire de Melody Nelson

1. Original album remixed in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
2. Histoire de Melody Nelson documentary