Trollheart

Pyrrhic victory?


Artiste: The Divine Comedy
Nationality: Irish
Album: Victory for the comic muse
Year: 2006
Label: Parlophone
Genre: Pop/Chamber pop/ Whatever you're havin' yerself!
Tracks:
To die a virgin
Mother dear
Diva lady
A lady of a certain age
The light of day
Threesome
Party fears two
Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious World
The plough
Count Grassi's passage over Piedmont
Snowball in negative
Chronological position: Ninth album
Familiarity: "Casanova", "Liberation", "Promenade", "A short album about love", "Bang goes the knighthood", "Fin de siecle"
Interesting factoid:
Initial impression: Quite similar to his early work such as "Promenade" and "Liberation"
Best track(s): Mother dear, A lady of a certain age, The plough
Worst track(s): Count Grassi's passage over Piedmont
Comments: Despite touching on this in my "Beginner's Guide" some time ago now, it's one of the few Divine Comedy albums I haven't listened to all the way through. As I say above it reminds me of his earlier works, certainly the opener, which bops along nicely, mind you that changes (and of course if you're a fan of Hannon you get to expect this) with the second track, a sort of country/bluegrass bopper with banjo and accordion, and then piano leads in Diva lady with a certain soul/funk vibe, with elements of early Santana in there too. Oh yeah, you get something for everyone with the Divine Comedy!

Whether he's playing uptempo chamber pop, the likes of the opener or relaxing ballads as in A lady of a certain age or The light of day Neil gives everything he has, and you never get any less than one hundred percent from him. I can't think of any of his albums from which I've come away disappointed. I like the variety, though some of his, shall we say, more comedic songs like Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious World can be at times a little wearing. Still, it's good to know that in general you can pop on a new DC album and expect to like it.

Great characters populate the songs of the best songwriters, and Neil Hannon is no exception. The disenfranchised wife in A lady of a certain age, the man trying to find his place in the world in The plough and the eponymous Count Grassi all bring his songs to life and invest the listener in them, even if I don't like the last one. His quirky sense of humour comes through in Threesome when we all expect a little risque, cheeky song. What we get is a delightful little upbeat piano solo, then recalling Tonight we fly and Going downhill fast his version of the Associates' Party fears two is barely recognisable from the original hit. That's how to do a cover! Trilling piano and labouring tubas and trumpets throw the old pop song into a chamberpop setting, while The plough is almost cinematic in its scope and breadth.

Not, to be fair, one of the best Divine Comedy albums I've ever listened to, but even then, Hannon's worst can often be better than some of the best work of other artistes.
Overall impression: I've heard better but it's a decent album.
Intention: Ah well I love the Divine Comedy, so nothing will stop me listening to them.

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