Serge Gainsbourg: Histoire De Melody Nelson version on CD in Remastered edition. This particular edition was published in France in publishing company Philips in cooperation with Mercury on 6. November 2001.

Serge Gainsbourg: Histoire de Melody Nelson - 40th anniversary of the cult classic - Unreleased studio recordings and film footage from the archive On the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the release of his colossal concept album "Histoire de Melody Nelson", it will be released on November 11. When Serge Gainsbourg recorded his first rock album "Histoire de Melody Nelson" in 1971, the "enfant terrible" of French pop culture had already passed the age of 40. Gainsbourg had already lived out his provocative genius on chanson, jazz and pop records. Gainsbourg recorded his best rock album by far with composer and arranger Jean-Claude Vannier and a top line-up of French studio musicians. In the spirit of early '70s rock, "Melody Nelson" is a concept album. After a thirty-second introduction (imitating the sound of windshield wipers), Gainsbourg begins to tell the story of a night drive in his Rolls Royce. It's a spicy story, typical Gainsbourg: an old man runs over a young girl (played and sung by Jane Birkin) with a Rolls Royce. He drags her to a cheap motel.... "Melody Nelson" is "adult pop" in the true sense of the word. The LP is often described as "cinematic", "surreal", "trip-hop". But the crazy story is backed by insanely hilarious songs like "Ballade de Melody Nelson", next to "Bonnie & Clyde" Gainsbourg's biggest hit in the pop notch. Gainsbourg and Vannier were completely indifferent to the style of rock records popular at the time. Completely at odds with the epic prog rock of the early '70s, "Melody Nelson" has a brisk playing time of 28 minutes of lushly orchestrated slow funk. With lasciviously meandering bass lines right at the front of the mix. (Bassist Herbie Flowers shines shortly after on Lou Reed's "Walk On The Wild Side"). The arrangements respond to the smallest nuances of Gainsbourg's (spoken) vocals. Even if you don't understand a word of French, a dark, obsessive love scenario unfolds in your mind. In critical consensus, "Histoire de Melody Nelson" is considered a timeless classic, earning four- and five-star reviews wherever you look, with unanimity among Pitchfork and AllMusic, "Rolling Stone" and Paste magazine. A good twenty years after its initial release, "Histoire de Melody Nelson" has been discovered by a whole new generation of musicians: Air, Pulp, Portishead, R.E.M., Placebo, De La Soul, Beck, David Holmes have taken its tracks, incorporated samples from "Melody Nelson" into their own songs and made the album a stylistic reference point for 90s indie rock. The limited deluxe edition contains 2 CDs and 1 DVD in a double-sided 4-page digipack, inside a 20-page booklet with excellent illustrations and French and English lyrics. Review , "The cover alone saves the album from oblivion." (Rolling Stone, January 2012) , "With rock-symphonic borrowings, gloomy psychedelic sounds and monotonous rhythms, Gainsbourg's sonorously mysterious voice tells a story so oppressive that Birkin's ecstatic screams at least shine through. Now this album, which has certainly left its mark on the indie rock scene, is being released in a lavish deluxe edition. To mark its release exactly 40 years ago." (Jazzthetik, January/February 2012) , "An eccentric's work." (Stereoplay, February 2012) , "Vernebelte, veruchte, versoffene Chansons: The Story of Lolita , "Histoire De Melody Nelson" (1971) can rightly be considered the excessive peak of the work of the eccentric Serge Gainsbourg." (Audio, February 2012)

Album spans genres Rock, Pop and Psychedelic.