Serge Gainsborg, Reissue!!!!
French sex idol pop singer Serge Gainsbourg was REISSUED not a week ago. It's been nearly 40 years since Gainsbourg lamented about running over the fictional lolita Melody Nelson. Historie de Melody Nelson is a short comprised of funky basslines and baggy drum parts coinciding with orchestral arrangements and baroque crooning. Melody, which opens the CD, has somewhat of an aphrodisiac for an opening. Serge coaxes the listener in with faint guitar sound, dark string movements, and the most romantic of all languages. Suddenly, we arrive at the 4:00 mark, and the band, Serge, and strings become one, washing over the listener. Musical elements of Can, vocal cues from Scott Walker, and the flamboyance of Roxy Music. Ballade de Melody Nelson and En Melody introduce us to Jane Birkin, Gainsbourg's signifigant other. These songs truly are 'Genre: sex.' Cargo Culte is methodic and bouncy and dark, while L'Hotel Particulier . Serge searchs across the vast spectrum of instruments for his sound on Historie. The albums influence is no less than bands ranging from Arcade Fire to Placebo, Kylie Minologue to Luna, also Jarvis Cocker of Pulp, Portishead, and Franz Ferdinand.
