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Track Listings
| 1. Melody |
| 2. Ballade De Melody Nelson |
| 3. Valse De Melody |
| 4. Ah Melody |
| 5. L'Hotel Particulier |
| 6. En Melody |
| 7. Cargo Culte |
Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
This, Gainsbourg's first conceptually realised album, is one of his finest moments. The seven tracks here, recorded in 1971, detail his infatuation, lust, blossoming love for and loss of a (very) young girl named Melody Nelson. In "Melody" he knocks a girl off her bike in his Silver Ghost Rolls Royce and, intoxicated by this red-headed English teenager carrying a rag doll, begins a relationship with her. Set to a fragile breakbeat and bowed guitar, the music is majestic, preening. A guitar shimmers dangerously close to a violent outbreak of feedback before settling back into its reverberating motif; strings erupt and soar like a bird of prey. "Ballad Of Melody Nelson", the single off the album, is lilting and light-spirited, buoyed by chiming string arrangements and crystalline acoustic guitar. With its waltz speed and structure, "'Valse De Melody" evokes carefree summer days and the giddy excitability of a fresh romance. "L'Hotel Particulier" narrates the memory of a secret liaison, ending with reconciliation in a Rococo-themed bedroom. It gives way to "En Melody", a brash funk instrumental overpowered by whinnies and snorts let out by Jane Birkin in the midst of sexual horse-play. Like a dream, the album closes with "Cargo Culte"; like a demon brother it adds an atmosphere of doom and gloom to the airy infatuation of the opening track. On returning to her native England, Melody's plane has crashed. In Gainsbourg's imagination, she has become a living sacrifice to a mechanical cargo cult. All that is left are the tortured and twisted bodily remains of his love. Consequently, the guitar melodies have become deliberately detuned, and a 70-piece gothic choir lends a funereal aspect to this requiem for the doomed romantic. --Chris Campion
CD Description
Brimming with lust, drama, and dark humor, HISTORIE DE MELODY NELSON is widely acknowledged as Gainsbourg's masterpiece. The 1971 release was criminally ignored outside France-despite the godfather of French pop's decade of cutting-edge songwriting. It's now something of a cult classic, and artistsas diverse as Air, Nick Cave, and Portishead have all citedthe album as an influence.
Don't be put off by the "concept album" tag. There are no goblins here. Instead, Gainsbourg concentrates on his favourite subjects-sex and death. Thestory line concerns a chance meeting between a middle-aged man and a teenage girl that develops into a passionate affair. Never one to shy away from controversy, Gainsbourg plays his character with consummate sleaze. Remember, this man wrote the playfully obscene "Les Sucettes" for young, innocent France Gall (who thought she was singing about lollypops). Most of the lyrics are intoned in Serge's seedy seductive whisper, intertwined perfectly with the cinematic music. From the slow, smoky funk of "Melody" through intricately arrangedballads and the final apocalyptic "Cargo Culte" (featuring a 70-strong choir), there's never a dull moment. In lesser hands, this would be an overblown mess. MELODY NELSON, in itssubtlety and invention, remains a testament to Gainsbourg'sgenius.
Don't be put off by the "concept album" tag. There are no goblins here. Instead, Gainsbourg concentrates on his favourite subjects-sex and death. Thestory line concerns a chance meeting between a middle-aged man and a teenage girl that develops into a passionate affair. Never one to shy away from controversy, Gainsbourg plays his character with consummate sleaze. Remember, this man wrote the playfully obscene "Les Sucettes" for young, innocent France Gall (who thought she was singing about lollypops). Most of the lyrics are intoned in Serge's seedy seductive whisper, intertwined perfectly with the cinematic music. From the slow, smoky funk of "Melody" through intricately arrangedballads and the final apocalyptic "Cargo Culte" (featuring a 70-strong choir), there's never a dull moment. In lesser hands, this would be an overblown mess. MELODY NELSON, in itssubtlety and invention, remains a testament to Gainsbourg'sgenius.
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