Serge Gainsbourg •ั L'Hôtel Particulier (HD)
Genre :
Progressive rock
Album :
Histoire de Melody Nelson (
1971)
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. It is also regarded as one of the greatest albums of all time.
The French edition of
Rolling Stone magazine named this album the 4th greatest
French rock album (out of
100)
Concept
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,
Stereolab,
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.
Performances
Jean-Claude Vannier performed the album live at
London's Barbican on
October 21,
2006 with guest vocalists Jarvis Cocker,
Badly Drawn Boy,
Brigitte Fontaine,
The Bad Seeds'
Mick Harvey and lead singer from
Super Furry Animals,
Gruff Rhys. Vannier performed the album in its entirety alongside his own solo album
L'Enfant assassin des mouches.
Publicity for the Barbican concert revealed that the musicians used for the album were Dougie Wright,
Big Jim Sullivan,
Herbie Flowers and
Vic Flick who all joined Vannier for the concert.
The BBC Concert Orchestra, the
Crouch End Festival Chorus and a children's string quintet were part of the show.
In
October 2008 22nd &
23rd Jean-Claude Vannier performed the album live at the
Cité de la Musique with guest vocalists
Mathieu Amalric, Brigitte Fontaine,
Brian Molko (
Placebo),
Martina Topley Bird,
Daniel Darc,
Clotilde Hesme,
Seaming To. Also performing were Herbie Flowers (bass),
Claude Engel (guitar), Pierre-Alain
Dahan (drums).
Jean Claude Vannier also performed the L'Enfant
Assassin Des Mouches. The
Lamoureux Orchestra, the Yound
Choir of
Paris and a children's string quintet were also part of the show.
On August 28,
2011, Jean-Claude Vannier participated in A
Tribute to Serge Gainsbourg at the
Hollywood Bowl. The artists that performed Gainsbourg's songs that evening included Beck,
Sean Lennon and
Charlotte Kemp Muhl,
Mike Patton,
Zola Jesus,
Victoria Legrand (singer of indie band
Beach House),
Ed Droste (singer of indie band
Grizzly Bear) and
Serge's son
Lulu Gainsbourg. The second half of the evening included a performance of the album with Vannier conducting. Each of the album's songs were performed by different combinations of the evening's artists, backed by the
Hollywood Bowl Orchestra and the
Cal State Fullerton chorale.
American actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt also participated in the album's performance.
Musicians :
Serge Gainsbourg : chant, composition
Jane Birkin : voix
Alan Parker : guitare électrique
Dave Richmond / Herbie Flowers : basse
Dougie Wright (présumé) : batterie
Georges Barboteu : cor solo (piste 4)
Jean-Luc Ponty : violon solo (piste 6)
Jean-Claude Vannier : piano, orgue, harmonium, timbales
Jeunesses musicales de
France : chœur