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” They all consider Histoire de Melody Nelson as a major album in pop music history Beck, Air, Cat Power, Brian Molko (Placebo), Jarvis Cocker (Pulp), Michael Stipe (R.E.M), Portishead, Mick Harvey (Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds), Gruff Rhys (Super Furry Animals), Tricky, Howie B., David Holmes, Franz Ferdinand, French artist/producer (co-producer of Madonna’s album Music) Mirwais