Divine Comedy was the project of Neil Hannon, an Irish boy
(the son of a Protestant minister)
who played the orchestra like an instrument.
The idea seems more intelligent than it is: in fact, Hannon is one of the
few human beings who'll make you miss Burt Bacharach and Barry White.
Neil Hannon's main inspiration seems to be Scott Walker, who was doing
similar things decades before him.
Ultimately, Neil Hannon's is another British parable of a stubborn quest for
mass stardom. And little else.
Liberation (Setanta, 1993) is the album that introduced his orchestral
style, with ditties like Festival Road and Queen Of The South.
Similarities with the Kinks became evident on
Promenade (Setanta, 1994), ostensibly an operetta about the nostalgic
memories of an old couple that is waiting for the new millenium
(Tonight We Fly).
Casanova (Setanta, 1996), on the other hand, while still
performed by a full orchestra, announced a mature vision, thanks not so much
to the hits
(Becoming More Like Alfie,
Something For The Weekend and The Frog Princess)
as to a sequence of carefully assembled arias
(Middle-Class Heroes, Songs Of Love,
In & Out Of Paris And London, Through A Long & Sleepless Night,
Charge).
The seven-song EP A Short Album About Love (1997) contained Everybody Knows.
Fin De Siecle (Setanta, 1998) was the commercial breakthrough, thanks
to the singles Generation Sex, Certainty of Chance and, above
all, National Express.
A Secret History (Setanta, 1999) is an anthology that includes all
the hits.
Mastermind and Perfect Lovesong are the gems on
Regeneration (Parlophone 2001), produced a` la Radiohead and permeated
by a graver tone.
Love What You Do and Bad Ambassador are the singles.
Neil Hannon's lyrics are more intriguing than in the past, perhaps a tad too
erudite for the audience of rock music.
The humbler Absent Friends (Parlophone, 2004) exhibits the same
flaws: lots of form, but little content. Not all that glitters is gold.
Sticks and Stones,
the literate Absent Friends,
the autobiographical Come Home Billy Bird and
the catchy The Happy Goth,
are too generic to be effective.
On the other hand, Hannon continues to refine his skills at
storytelling, mixing them with his skills at orchestral arrangement
(Leaving Today,
The Wreck Of The Beautiful,
and especially
Our Mutual Friend).
Victory For The Comic Muse (2006) is
rich in detail
(A Lady Of A Certain Age, Arthur C Clarke's Mysterious World)
and replete with friendly choruses (To Die A Virgin, especially Diva Lady).
The exception to the rule (the touching elegy Snowball In Negative) could have been an album in itself, had Hannon aimed for the brain instead than for the wallet.
The side-project
Duckworth Lewis Method debuted with
The Duckworth Lewis Method (Divine Comedy, 2009), followed by the
concept The Greatest Cricket Album Ever (2013).