Serge Gainsbourg / Histoire De Melody Nelson (Super Deluxe Edition 2CD + 2LP + DVD) 2778252 Price Code: AJ
Release Date: November 8, 2011 Box Lot: 20

Originally released in March 1971 this concept album from the French songwriter Serge Gainsbourg is a delicate and modern masterpiece of orchestral pop. Created as an adult tale, each track tells the story of a teenage English girl named Melody Nelson (sung by Jane Birkin) who meets a forty year old French man (sung by Serge Gainsbourg). The entire album is directed by Jean-Claude Vannier who’s also composed some of the music. He gives to this album its unique artistic shape where each track is more like a movement of the music than just a simple song. The result is as Beck said once : “One of the greatest marriages of rock band and orchestra that I've ever heard” To celebrate this occasion Universal Music Canada will be releasing 2 unique versions of the record in multi formats. These contain bonus material, including unreleased complete and alternative studio takes and exclusive unreleased documentary.

CD 1 : ORIGINAL ALBUM
1. MELODY 7’33 (Serge Gainsbourg)
2. BALLADE DE MELODY NELSON 2’00 (Serge Gainsbourg / JeanClaude Vannier).
3. VALSE DE MELODY 1’32 (Serge Gainsbourg)
4. AH ! MELODY 1’46 (Serge Gainsbourg / Jean-Claude Vannier)
5. L’HÔTEL PARTICULIER 4’06 (Serge Gainsbourg)
6. EN MELODY 3’26 (Serge Gainsbourg – Jean-Claude Vannier)
7. CARGO CULTE 7’37(Serge Gainsbourg) Ed. Sidonie / Warner Chappell Music France

CD 2 : BONUS ALBUM
1. MELODY 9’27 Complete take - unreleased
2. BALLADE DE MELODY NELSON 2’09 Alternative voice take – unreleased
3. VALSE DE MELODY 1’40 Alternative voices take – unreleased
4. AH ! MELODY 1’57 Alternative voices take – unreleased
5. MELODY LIT BABAR 1’05 Voice version – unreleased track
6. MELODY LIT BABAR 1’12 Instrumental version – unreleased track
7. L’HÔTEL PARTICULIER 5’12 Complete take – unreleased
8. EN MELODY 3’35 Alternative take – unreleased
9. CARGO CULTE 7’44 Instrumental version - unreleased

DVD 9 NTSC ALL ZONES : ORIGINAL ALBUM 5.1 VERSION
1. MELODY 7’33
2. BALLADE DE MELODY NELSON 2’00
3. VALSE DE MELODY 1’32
4. AH ! MELODY 1’46
5. L’HOTEL PARTICULIER 4’06
6. EN MELODY 3’26
7. CARGO CULTE 7’37
EXCLUSIVE UNRELEASED DOCUMENTARY

Amazon USA:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005NNJL0O/?tag=imwan-20

Amazon UK:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B005NNJL0O/?tag=imwan-21

Oh no. Another must have. I already have the DVD of all the videos. hopefully there will be enough overlap that I'll be able to resist my impulse.

a) Did anyone get the huge edition of this?

b1) Did anyone get the not-as-huge edition (just the CDs and the DVD)?
b2) How big is the booklet? (The book in the huge edition is apparently 50 pages.)

c) Jane Birkin.

The French TV clip is as classic as "Historie de Melody Nelson". Still hilarious.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMdXi6f5KRg

I ordered it on Amazon but the release has been delayed until December 19.

The itunes version is pretty good too. The doco is way interesting and the digi booklet is really nice.