Album: A Short Album About Love
Artist: The Divine Comedy
Born: Enniskillen, Northern Ireland
Released: February 1997
Genre: Baroque
Witty, super-literate singer-songwriters like Neil Hannon don't tend to get much time in the limelight, so The Divine Comedy's rise to (relative) fame in the mid-90s was a surprising development. Hannon is clearly in the same baroque lineage as Jacques Brel and Scott Walker, but he was also guilty of releasing novelty singles designed for mass appeal, like Something For The Weekend, Generation Sex and National Express. What I love about A Short Album About Love is that doesn't contain any of these more silly, frivolous moments. The focus is instead on orchestral arrangements and straight love songs, as well as Hannon's expressive voice. The main strength of album opener, In Pursuit of Happiness, is its melody and the sweeping philharmonic strings, while the lyrics emphasise the power of love to bring sanity in an insane world. The song's middle section was adapted for the theme tune to the BBC's Tomorrow's World. TV, specifically the brilliant Father Ted, was one way The Divine Comedy raised their profile in the 90s, with both the show's theme tune and the memorable My Lovely Horse. Everybody Knows (Except You) is one of The Divine Comedy's biggest hits, reaching No.14 in the UK singles charts, and contains some of Hannon's best singing, as he laments an unrequited love ("I told the passers by / I made a small boy cry / and I’ll get through to you / if it’s the last thing that I do").
The minor key Someone is one of the album's best moments, with an arrangement reminiscent of the Tindersticks at their best, mixing orchestral pop, guitars and lyrics full of yearning. “If…” is a piano ballad that builds into a crescendo similar to the dramatic finale to the Beatles' Day in the Life, and lyrics that cite increasingly ridiculous hypotheticals ("If your name was Jack / I'd change mine to Jill for you"). Hannon often has his tongue in his cheek, but this song stretches credulity. If I Were You (I’d Be Through With Me) has a 60s pop feel, with Hannon reinventing himself as Burt Bacharch with a bossa nova backing track and self-deprecating lyrics. Timewatching is another highlight on the album, perhaps the most baroque track on the record, with its classical opening and lyrics inspired by pop standard When I Fall In Love, made famous by Nat King Cole. There's an appreciation of how brief that feeling of falling in love can last ("We shall not be chained / we shall not be tethered / and we'll never be unkind"). After all the classical influences that permeate this short record, album closer I'm All You Need has a much more modern feel and makes for an upbeat ending. The Divine Comedy is one of the rare examples of music that my wife introduced me to, and listening to Hannon's voice never fails to transport me back to the late 90s.
Witty, super-literate singer-songwriters like Neil Hannon don't tend to get much time in the limelight, so The Divine Comedy's rise to (relative) fame in the mid-90s was a surprising development. Hannon is clearly in the same baroque lineage as Jacques Brel and Scott Walker, but he was also guilty of releasing novelty singles designed for mass appeal, like Something For The Weekend, Generation Sex and National Express. What I love about A Short Album About Love is that doesn't contain any of these more silly, frivolous moments. The focus is instead on orchestral arrangements and straight love songs, as well as Hannon's expressive voice. The main strength of album opener, In Pursuit of Happiness, is its melody and the sweeping philharmonic strings, while the lyrics emphasise the power of love to bring sanity in an insane world. The song's middle section was adapted for the theme tune to the BBC's Tomorrow's World. TV, specifically the brilliant Father Ted, was one way The Divine Comedy raised their profile in the 90s, with both the show's theme tune and the memorable My Lovely Horse. Everybody Knows (Except You) is one of The Divine Comedy's biggest hits, reaching No.14 in the UK singles charts, and contains some of Hannon's best singing, as he laments an unrequited love ("I told the passers by / I made a small boy cry / and I’ll get through to you / if it’s the last thing that I do").
The minor key Someone is one of the album's best moments, with an arrangement reminiscent of the Tindersticks at their best, mixing orchestral pop, guitars and lyrics full of yearning. “If…” is a piano ballad that builds into a crescendo similar to the dramatic finale to the Beatles' Day in the Life, and lyrics that cite increasingly ridiculous hypotheticals ("If your name was Jack / I'd change mine to Jill for you"). Hannon often has his tongue in his cheek, but this song stretches credulity. If I Were You (I’d Be Through With Me) has a 60s pop feel, with Hannon reinventing himself as Burt Bacharch with a bossa nova backing track and self-deprecating lyrics. Timewatching is another highlight on the album, perhaps the most baroque track on the record, with its classical opening and lyrics inspired by pop standard When I Fall In Love, made famous by Nat King Cole. There's an appreciation of how brief that feeling of falling in love can last ("We shall not be chained / we shall not be tethered / and we'll never be unkind"). After all the classical influences that permeate this short record, album closer I'm All You Need has a much more modern feel and makes for an upbeat ending. The Divine Comedy is one of the rare examples of music that my wife introduced me to, and listening to Hannon's voice never fails to transport me back to the late 90s.
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