Serge Gainsbourg – Histoire De Melody Nelson (Clear Vinyl)

Histoire de Melody Nelson, released in 1971, is Serge Gainsbourg’s cult masterpiece and a concept album that fuses lush orchestration, funk, rock, and whispered narration. Arranged and co-written by Jean-Claude Vannier, it revolves around a poetic—or at times provocative—narrative: a middle-aged man collides with a young girl named Melody, becomes obsessed, and witnesses her tragic fate. Its brevity (just under 28 minutes) and thematic coherence allow every musical gesture—be it bass grooves, string swells, or sparse percussion—to carry emotional weight. The album moves like a dark suite, refusing filler and inviting listeners into its haunting, intimate world. Over the decades, Histoire de Melody Nelson has acquired status not just as a highlight of Gainsbourg’s output, but as a touchstone for genre-blurring art pop. It has been sampled by Massive Attack, influenced Beck, Portishead, and others, and is frequently lauded as a blueprint for marrying cinematic ambition with pop craft. The clear vinyl edition retains the clarity and weight of the original recording, making it an essential object for collectors and admirers of its spectral beauty.

Reviews

“With the aid of London session musicians … they created a record of rare dynamism … it consolidates funk, pop, classical and the avant-garde in the most sophisticated, seamless way.” – The Quietus

“As the grinding guitars and trembling drum lines of ‘Cargo Culte’ propel Melody Nelson’s 707 across the gaze … its undertone of macabre spirituality emerges as a thing of beauty.” – Paste

“Gainsbourg’s music here is a true collaboration: the arrangements seem to respond almost intuitively to the twists in his language and narrative … the soundworld they create is like nothing else in rock.” – Pitchfork