Histoire De Melody Nelson
by Serge Gainsbourg

Not quite sure how to rate this, it's got some really cool instrumentals to each of the songs and I can see how it was ahead of its time and influenced so many artists that came after it, but having said that, none of the songs really feel like songs - they just seem like jam sessions to me. Cool bass, guitar, drums with the word "melody" spoken in a cool voice every now and then. It could have been so much more (Edited)

I think that it’s worth saying about this album is that it’s very much a collaboration between gainsbourg and Jean-Claude Vannier who co wrote some of the album and was the musical director for the orchestration on the album. Together they produced something of real beauty

good album this one but i think it doesnt deserve to be top 100 of the 70´s

actually pretty incredible heavy guitar influenced French

From JoaoMoreira 07/09/2020 00:47 | #255279

Good solid backing band with a really interesting guitar player.
The string arrangements are really powerful.
Lots of tension :)
Gainsbourg, a big influence on many artists.

From Boltzmann 03/15/2020 11:40 | #248755

This comment is beneath your viewing threshold.

An absolute masterpiece and the greatest French album by the greatest French artist.

From Brad1770 02/24/2018 08:22 | #209430 | TOP COMMENT Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.

What an awesome surprise this album was , never in my wildest dreams did I imagine I would love a 47yo French Spoken album as much as I did

I jumped on line and read the lyrics in English , the story of this album goes something like this: the main protagonist whilst driving a Rolls Royce has an accident with a 15yo girl called Melody Nelson , soon a relationship develops and at one stage the two end up in a Hotel where things have obviously turned sexual. Unfortunately Melody Nelson dies in a plane crash and the protagonist is left heart broken and empty

This album sparkles with sexy vocals , lush orchestral moments , choirs and moody guitars . Its all over in 7 tracks and I was left wanting more

Stunning

90/100

To be honest I was a little disappointed by this album. Due to it's reputation I was expecting a lot more. It's basically an album of narration and considering I don't speak French it certainly lowers the impact. Don't get me wrong, I like the album, it's just I wanted to like it more than I currently do. Still, in time, who knows? (Edited)

From colonelchibbers 05/20/2015 05:05 | #142027

He's still aging on my tongue, like a fine French wine, but he certainly seems like he was one of the most interesting foreign pop stars out there just on the merit of this album.