starrynight

Listen to The Doobie Brothers 'What a Fool Believes'.

The Fascinating Turnip

The Divine Comedy

I've been listening quite a lot to this band lately, and I cannot but alert to the genius of Mr. Neil Hannon. Throughout the years the band has been through a great number of line up changes and Mr. Hannon has been the only constant member, writing almost all of The Divine Comedy's songs, among which are absolutely brilliant tracks.
I say this because it seems to me that their 9 studio albums and live album go quite unnoticed. Possibly because their music videos are usually a bit rubbish. In any case, the songs are brilliant and you should bloody give them a listen, if you like both a bit of a silly, foppish approach to pop music and truly gripping tunes that make the hairs stand on your neck.

Do you want a few examples? Of course you do, you silly sods:


Now that is what I call a bloody brilliant chorus. One of my favourites.



This is probably their most popular song, a bit of a jaunty tune about getting rid of your worries by having a go on the National Express. Ah, trains...


They took her Daddy's car, drove it to the sea and wrapped it around a tree. That's basically it. Again, a bit of an upper class twit song.

And now for something completely different:


And let's not forget that the theme song from Father Ted is one of theirs and that they also wrote My Lovely Horse, which is nothing short of brilliant.
Well, excuse my terseness, but it's a habit I find hard shaking.

Ah go on, Mbers, give them a go!

Paedantic Basterd

Casanova is a great album. Shamefully, it is the only one I've heard so far. Really good to see you post something again though!

Trollheart

Divine Comedy, eh? Nice. I like a man with taste.
I've heard five of their albums to date, and would probably rate "Casanova" as the best, if only for the amazing closer, "The dogs and the horses". I only got into Hannon's music through Father Ted, and was totally blown away by what I heard. "A short album about love" is an album --- albeit, obviously, a short one --- without a single bad track, and with some real classics. In addition to "Timewatching", as you posted, I'd recommend "If...", "Someone", "I'm all you need" and "If I was you I'd be through with me". Excellent stuff.

"Fin de siecle" is a great album too. I have yet to catch up on his recent releases, but they're on the list. Kudos for being someone else to bring Divine Comedy to people's notice.

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Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

The Fascinating Turnip

You know, I only really listen to one song off Casanova, which is Becoming More Like Alfie. Bloody brilliant. Have to give the rest of it a good listen.

You should get Fin de Siécle and possibly Liberation. I'd say Live At Somerset House is quite a good album for you to get to know their material, and I don't usually like live albums.

And well, thanks!

@Trollheart: I bloody wish A Short Album About Love ended with Timewatching and not I'm All You Need. I mean, it's not that it's an awful song or something of the sort, but it ruins the whole sodding mood for me. Someone could be the last track as well. Terrific album, aye. And thanks mate!

The Fascinating Turnip

Well I might as well post something while I'm in the mood for it. This "segment" will essentially feature (as the cryptic title suggests) a few performances that I find fucking brilliant. On this post I'm going to be excessively pretentious with my picks, so if you happen to find pretentiousness nauseating, grab a plastic bag. And choke yourself with it. Right! First pick:

Charles Aznavour - La Bohéme:


La Bohéme is already a great song, but Aznavour's gestures add quite a lot to it. He may be singing, but he is also telling a story, and he acts accordingly. I find it quite interesting how he alternately seems completely uninterested in the fact that he's singing a song (in the beginning, for example) and to be overwhelmed by it (in the end).
He has quite a natty handkerchief as well.

Jacques Brel - Ne Me Quitte Pas


Again, a terrific song. The title essentially means "don't leave me". The imagery he uses (in the lyrics, I mean) is brilliant, but again, the performance is fantastic. Look at him: ugly, sweaty, dishevelled, pathetic, in absolute and utter pain and despair. All these things that standing apart are terrible but which together (despite not being particularly nice for one to feel) are beautiful. This song is exactly that. A man having to resort to begging, having to put all of his self respect aside so that he isn't left alone. And that, my friends, is beautiful.

Jacques Brel - Ce Gens-là


Now this one is quite interesting. The minimalistic, repetitive music behind yet another startling tale makes the whole song terribly hyptonic, dreamlike. The lyrics are absolutely brilliant. A tale about a forbidden love, it could just be another cliché, but it isn't. The family that keeps the two lovers apart is poor, but not at all humble. The "singer" is telling us exactly that, describing how vile and pathetic they are, telling us that one must not pretend one is rich if one is not.
The performance, of course, is mind shattering. I should have mentioned before, perhaps, that Jacques Brel was also an actor, because you can certainly notice that in the video. What can I say? From the subtle movement of the hands to the exagerate pronunciation of certain words, to slurping of the soup...Brilliant.

Trollheart

Eclectic, to say the least!
Is it just coincidental that all three performances are from French singers, or was that intentional?
Haven't heard the name Charles Aznavour in ages, just like I hadn't heard Sacha Distel, until I featured "Where do you go to my lovely" in my journal...

Oh, and, pretentious? Moi?

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Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

The Fascinating Turnip

Well, I wouldn't say it was intentional, they were just the best performances I could think of at that particular time, though another performance that wasn't french or in that particular vein might not have suited the post's ambience or whatever you wish to call it.

So now that I am here, I might as well make this about something more than just a reply to good old Trollheart. Here is a couple of tunes for those of you who wish to wallow in self pity and abject desperation and what not:


He does look a bit too much at the camera, doesn't he? Ah well. On the other hand, the using of the icy, barren landscape is quite interesting because this song has always made me feel like I'm trying to stay worm in something of a frozen hell. Oh, and miserable as well.

Low - Lullaby

Ah, this one. Well, the vocals are bloody brilliant. It is not particularly cheerful either. The guitar is absolutely terrific in this one, especially towards the end. Great use of build-up, reminds me of an Archive tune (though the genre isn't at all the same):

Bulldog

Almost 23 1/2 years I've been capable of sentient thought and I still don't have a Divine Comedy album to show for it. For me, they're like an application form I've been meaning to fill out but that's just been sitting on my desk for a week - I know I should really do something about it but, for some reason or other, I just keep putting it off.

Top man for giving a mention to Jaques Brel as well. A man with a best of comp of his will always be a happy one! Must admit though that I only got to hear about him via translations of his songs like these...


David Bowie ft. Mike Garson - My Death (Live) - YouTube


Scott Walker performing Mathilde - YouTube


Frank Sinatra "If You Go Away" - YouTube

...as opposed to actually knowing anything worth knowing about French music.

Keep this up by the way - this journal's immense.

The Fascinating Turnip

Bulldog! How are you mate? Longe time no see.

If you plan on finally getting your hands on some The Divine Comedy albums (and I grant you, it will be worth it) perhaps you should consider going about Fin de Siécle or Liberation first. I haven't listened to all of their albums with the attention I should have done, but they've been dethroning a lot of worthy placeholders on my top 5 bands on last.fm lately. I mean, they're amost beating Pulp mate and, I don't know about you, but I bloody love Pulp.

That aside, I don't own one Scott Walker album, which is probably a bit more shocking that never having picked up a The Divine Comedy one.

Well, thanks! I'll try to keep this up. And bearing that in mind...:


I think I've mentioned these fellows somewhere, but I just had a quick look 'round this journal and I didn't see anything. Then again, I may be an idiot. Bear with me:


I can't really be arsed with writing those in-depth band bios, I'm sorry. But what I will say is: Why on God's inner thigh were these chaps not a bloody hit?! I mean come on! When you give them a listen you'll see what I mean, but it's bloody annoying, for fuck's sake! Roddy Frame wrote these songs when he was 19! Oh, and they're scottish.

Now let's have a look at a gem of an album:

This album my friends...is fucking immense. It's a cascade of pop hits that were never pop hits. Brilliant, the lot of them:


They're very Disney, aren't they? In a good way, not in a cryogenic chamber, anti-semitic way. The use of the classic guitar is a constant in all of the songs I believe, and it's always done very, very skillfully.


Have you ever heard anything so silly, joyful, innocent, childish...and yet so arse buggeringly beautiful and genuine? And the solo on that last track (which may just be my favourite in the whole album) is terrific as well. Just get the album. Get it right bloody now, it's the cheeriest bally thing I've ever heard, and while it might be hard for you to put something cheery on when you're depressed or what not, it'll be bloody worth it. Always works.

This album only really has one problem: it has so many terrific songs right in the beginning that I never really remember the ones in the end.

Oh, here's another one:


Class.