The Divine Comedy
Description
Towards the tail end of the 1980s, Neil Hannon: a talented singer/songwriter from Northern Ireland, formed his first line-up of The Divine Comedy. In 1989, he signed a deal with independent label, Setanta Records, which led to the band becoming the label's most successful chart act of the 1990s. In this book, Alan Draper examines the thirteen original studio albums released under The Divine Comedy banner between 1990 and 2022. This overview includes some interesting additional recordings including single releases and also takes in the pair of albums recorded by offshoot project: The Duckworth Lewis Method, on which Hannon combined forces with fellow Irishman Thomas Walsh. The sweeping eclecticism on display throughout the recording career of The Divine Comedy is simply breathtaking: from indie roots on the 1990 debut album Fanfare For The Comic Muse; through the groundbreaking hybrid chamber-pop of Liberation and Promenade; to hit singles during the 1990s Britpop era and ambitious orchestral arrangements on later masterworks such as Fin De Siecle and Absent Friends. Through all these changes, Neil Hannon's restless spirit has remained a constant factor at the heart of The Divine Comedy, resulting in the extraordinary and ongoing canon of music explored in this book.
Alan Draper is a writer and musician living in Fareham, Hampshire, UK, with his wife Radiance. Starting his musical career as guitarist with The Alsatians in 1978, he wrote both sides of their 1980 single: 'Teen Romance'/'Our Man In Marrakesh'. His song 'Complications' featured on the album Rocking With The Renees by The Gymslips, a top twenty hit on the independent chart in 1983. His first solo album Earth Magic appeared in 1989, followed by Ascension Day in 1999, both displaying folk, classical and progressive rock influences. His first book Stackridge On Track, was published by Sonicbond in 2022.
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Content
Liberation (1993)
Personnel:
Neil Hannon: vocals, guitars, keyboards, arrangements, all other instruments apart from those listed below
Darren Allison: drums, percussion
Lucy Castle: viola, violin
Monica Scott: cello
Quentin Hutchinson: French horn
Recorded at Fundamental Studios, Crouch End, London in March 1993
Mixed at The Lab and The Drugstore, London
Engineer: Darren Allison
Producer: Neil Hannon
Record label: Setanta
Released: 16 August 1993
Highest UK chart position: did not chart
Following the demise of the three-piece line-up in April 1992, Neil Hannon returned home to Northern Ireland, there to lock himself away in his room while he composed the material that would constitute his next two albums: Liberation and Promenade. His latent talent seemed to suddenly switch on and he created the blueprint for his first two true masterworks in a creative frenzy that beggared belief. Ensconced in his parents' attic, he then employed a four-track tape recorder to demo his next album Liberation. By March 1993, Hannon felt ready to record the album and Setanta booked him into Fundamental Studios in Crouch End, London, for four weeks. The results proved to be spectacular: the breadth of The Divine Comedy's new sound palette suddenly expanded Hannon's songs from grainy black and white into widescreen colour.
The photoshoot for the album cover took place at Richmond Park, London on 3 May. Photographer Kevin Westenburg snapped Neil Hannon, who, sporting freshly shorn hair (dyed a dazzling yellow!), was dressed smartly in a suit and a tie and wearing shades. This head and shoulders image of him holding onto a park gate was set against the backdrop of one of London's most attractive open spaces. On the final cover shot, both the sky and Hannon were tinted a yellowish hue, contrasting with the green fields in the background.
The album was released on 16 August, and Hannon performed some promotional gigs, accompanied by Chris Worsey on cello and Natalie Box on violin, including a support slot with Blur at Kentish Town Forum on 7 October. In most instances, the press responded favourably to Liberation: Ian Cranna in Q Magazine commented on Hannon, 'It's sometimes difficult to tell if he's being serious or not', Stuart Clark in Hot Press opined, 'If this LP only sells half-a-dozen copies, it'll still be a triumph' and Select were of the opinion that Liberation was 'One of the most bountiful, overflowing joys of the year - any year'.
A voracious reader, Hannon openly admitted to 'Using novels as a shortcut to wisdom'. One book, in particular, influenced his first tranche of Divine Comedy albums: A Room With A View by EM Forster proved to be a revelation to him, and he subsequently devoured all of Forster's novels. A quote from Hannon best sums up Liberation: 'I threw off the shackles of indie-pop and was able to write music. It was Liberation by name and nature'.
'Festive Road' (Hannon)
After a smidgen of birdsong, the first sounds to greet our ears on this opening track are eight bars of gloriously cascading, tinkling piano notes. Each bar consists of a triplet followed by two pairs of quavers, tumbling ever downwards, akin to a stream burbling over rocks. This leads us into the first verse of a short song in praise of the 1970s TV show Mr. Benn. The titular character of this programme would leave his home at 52 Festive Road and enter a costumiers' shop, there to swap his suit and bowler hat for all sorts of exotic costumes. Once he stepped through a magic portal, it would then lead him into a world of adventure and discovery, suited to the particular costume he had donned that day. In the spirit of Mr. Benn, 'Festive Road' acts as a kind of portal into the world of Liberation created by Neil Hannon. The themes featured throughout the album often explore notions of freedom in various guises and 'Festive Road' itself celebrates the freedom to be who you wish to be. This makes a perfect start to our journey of lyrical and musical discovery, as we explore the twists and turns of the eclectic creations featured on this second album by The Divine Comedy.
'Death Of A Supernaturalist' (Hannon)
Strident violin and cello strokes introduce us to the second track, as Hannon explores his next notion of freedom: to throw off the shackles of institutionally imposed mental rigidity and superstition and, instead, embrace the liberty of unfettered self-expression. This reflected the journey of self- discovery he had been on over the previous three years. The violin and cello both swirl with an ornate virtuosity as 1990s chamber-pop is born, marking the start of what has been termed The Divine Comedy's 'baroque years'. The second verse, in particular, recalls Antonio Vivaldi, with its furious semiquaver string attack sawing away under Hannon's lyric. The spoken samples at the start of the song are taken from the Merchant Ivory production of the 1985 film adaption of EM Forster's A Room With A View. 'Supernaturalist' proved to be the first of several tracks on Liberation that evoke a chilly autumn landscape (and mention that season in the lyric). There is, indeed, an autumnal feel to the music itself, reflected in the minor key verses, with their emotive rising repeated melody. This contrasts with the 16-bar middle section that reverts to a major tonality and lightens the intensity wrought by the minor-key verses, to which we return again as the song points to its conclusion.
'Bernice Bobs Her Hair' (Hannon)
Following the moody chamber-pop of the previous track, 'Bernice' bobs in with a breezy pop bravado and a 1960s-style 'Baa-ba-ba-ba-baa' chanting hook that links the verses. Although featuring minor chords a-plenty, this intro/bridge section has a pop catchiness that makes it hard to get out of the head, once heard a few times. Driven at pace by Hannon's guitar picking, the memorable verse melody is strung over a snaking chord sequence and there are some tricky time signature punctuations in the section following the verses.
The lyrics are based on the F. Scott Fitzgerald short story 'Bernice Bobs Her Hair', first published in the Saturday Evening Post in 1920. The song pretty much follows the plot of the novel: Bernice is a Native Indian girl who is tricked by her dominating cousin, Marjorie, who, looking down on Bernice as below her own social standing, talks her into bobbing her flowing hair into a flapper-style cut in an attempt to humiliate her socially. Bernice, however, gets sweet revenge in the end, when she hacks off her sleeping cousin's luxurious braids, before heading to the station to catch a train back to her hometown. In the context of the album, this track would appear to represent another aspect of freedom: that of freedom from domination and imposed social constraints.
'I Was Born Yesterday' (Hannon)
Some staccato keyboard strokes provide a segue from the previous track, evincing a strong Kraftwerk influence through the track's chugging, almost mechanistic feel using minor and major ninth chords. Lyrically, it's a song that turns the well-known saying, 'I wasn't born yesterday', on its head and runs with a similar theme to 'Bernice': that of domination - firstly parental, then latterly, by a partner, judging by the spoken prose between the sung verses. The chant of, 'Why should I let you, walk all over me?', towards the close of the song perhaps indicates that the worm has turned and is now demanding freedom from an all-too-familiar situation that many unfortunate individuals find themselves in.
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'Your Daddy's Car' (Hannon)
One of the songs on Liberation that dates back to the John Allen period, 'Your Daddy's Car' is widely regarded as a DC classic and would have made a fine single release, with its strong pop melody and catchiness quotient. Inspired by a car drive to Fermanagh with friends, the lyrics describe the adventures of two lovers who drive out to the seaside, get drunk on champagne and wrap the car around a tree, barely escaping with their lives (and actually die in the demo version!), after which they don't feel like driving anymore. Seen by some as a comment on the drink/drive problems in Northern Ireland at the time, the melody is bouncy, peppy and catchier than a dose of the flu! It's another tune that is hard to stop mentally humming after a few passes. Driven by Hannon's piano and pizzicato violins - with a rising melodic sequence in the verses climaxing in suspensions, and a great use, again, of diminished chords in the catchy choruses - Hannon draws the listener into the story with this irresistible melody. It would prove to be a song that would run and run (excuse the pun!), remaining a live favourite throughout Hannon's long career.
'Europop' (Hannon)
Another tune dating back to the period when John Allen was on vocals, it was, in fact, the title track of an EP recorded back in 1991. The version on Liberation, though, is...
