The Divine Comedy are a pop band from Northern Ireland, formed in 1989 and fronted by Neil Hannon. Hannon has been the only constant member of the group, playing, in some instances, all of the non-orchestral instrumentation except drums. The band has released 12 studio albums. Between 1996 and 1999, nine singles released by the band made the top 40 of the UK Singles Chart, including the 1999 top ten hit, "National Express".
The beginning and early success (Fanfare to Promenade)
The Divine Comedy were founded in 1989, by Neil Hannon who had been the only member of the band until he was joined by John McCullagh and Kevin Traynor. Their first album, Fanfare for the Comic Muse, enjoyed a minor success and was later deleted. A couple of equally unsuccessful EPs – Timewatch (1991) and Europop (1992) – followed, with newly recruited member John Allen handling lead vocals on some tracks. After the commercial failure of the Europop EP, this line-up soon fell apart.[3]
Hannon, however, was not deterred in his efforts and entered the studio again in March 1993, teaming up with co-producer/drummer Darren Allison, for the recording of Liberation.[4] The record is characterised by a plethora of literary references: "Bernice Bobs Her Hair" recalls a short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald; "Three Sisters" draws upon the play by Anton Chekhov; and "Lucy" is essentially three William Wordsworth poems abridged to music.[5]
Minor success in France enabled Hannon to proceed with his second effort, Promenade, released in 1994. It was heavily driven by classical influences, with Michael Nyman's stylings clearly an inspiration. Hannon himself acknowledged this when he reportedly sent a copy of his new album to the composer, jokingly asking him not to sue.[6] Essentially a concept album about a day spent by two lovers,[4] it also received similar positive feedback to Liberation; however, it was not a major commercial success.[7] Soon after the release of the album, the Divine Comedy went on tour with Tori Amos, supporting her during her European dates.[8][9]
During that time, Hannon also wrote and performed (with drummer Allison) the theme music for the sitcom Father Ted,[10] he also composed the music for the mock-Eurovision song "My Lovely Horse" that featured in one episode.[11] Hannon resisted widespread requests from fans to release the track as a single for the Christmas market, but it was eventually released in 1999 as the third track on the CD-single "Gin Soaked Boy". This would not be the only time they would be responsible for a TV theme: "In Pursuit of Happiness" was used by the BBC science and technology show Tomorrow's World. Hannon also composed the music for Father Ted co-writer Graham Linehan's Channel 4 comedy series The IT Crowd.[12]
The road to fame (Casanova to A Secret History...)
The album Casanova (1996), and in particular the single "Something for the Weekend", championed by Chris Evans, then BBC Radio 1 breakfast show DJ and presenter of TFI Friday, led to the band's first major success.[3]Casanova was the third album to be produced by Darren Allison and Neil Hannon, thus completing a trilogy of albums which began with Liberation in 1993.[4] Further singles from Casanova, including "Becoming More Like Alfie" and "The Frog Princess", both of which received some airplay, further cemented the band's reputation.
The foppish image, but not the suit, was ditched for the more sombre album Fin De Siècle in 1998, although its biggest hit, the jaunty "National Express", belied its more intimate, soul-searching tone.[13] Maintaining the balance between these poles, 1999's Secret History – the Best of The Divine Comedy included re-recordings of Liberation tracks ("The Pop Singer's Fear of the Pollen Count" and "Your Daddy's Car") and two new songs ("Gin-Soaked Boy" and "Too Young to Die") alongside the band's main hits.[14] In the same year, the band also collaborated with Tom Jones on a cover version of Portishead's 'All Mine', featured on his album Reload.
A serious side to the band was also in evidence in 2000's collaboration with Ute Lemper on her album Punishing Kiss, most of which featured The Divine Comedy as Lemper's backing band. Neil Hannon and Joby Talbot also contributed two original songs and an arrangement of Brecht and Weill's "Tango Ballad", whilst Neil Hannon sang two songs ("Tango Ballad", "Split") as duets with Lemper.
Post-Setanta (Regenerationto Office Politics)
The Divine Comedy performing at the Summer Sundae festival in 2007.
The band performed at V2001 Festival,[15] and their 2001 album Regeneration attempted to remove the band still further from its association with comedy.[16] Hannon hired producer Nigel Godrich to "remake" the band. Hannon ditched the suit and donned a Britrock band image. The album was a greater critical than commercial success, and soon after its release it was announced that the Divine Comedy were splitting up. However, within a year Hannon was touring again with a revised band line-up, playing a series of joint-headline gigs in the United States, United Kingdom and Ireland featuring both the Divine Comedy and Ben Folds.[17]
A new album surfaced in the form of 2004's Absent Friends. The album struck a balance between the occasionally earnest sound of the band's later material and the lighter tone of the more popular releases. 2004 saw two performances featuring The Millennia Ensemble orchestra, one at the London Palladium (which was later released as a live DVD) and one at the Royal Albert Hall. In January 2005, Hannon announced that he had acquired the worldwide copyrights to all of his recorded output with his former record label, Setanta Records. He launched his own record label Divine Comedy Records in order to re-release his 1990s output.
Hannon's ninth album with the Divine Comedy, Victory for the Comic Muse, was released in June 2006.[18] The bulk of the record was recorded over two weeks, much of it live rather than multi-tracked, hence a more spontaneous sound. The album featured Simon Little on bass, Andrew Skeet on keys, Tim Weller on drums and Ian Watson on accordion from the current band.
Hannon also provided vocals for songs on the soundtrack for the film of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy released in 2005, working with Joby Talbot, the composer for the film and former Divine Comedy band member. This sci-fi connection continued in late 2006, when he contributed vocals to two tracks – "Song For Ten" and "Love Don't Roam" – on the Doctor Who: Original Television Soundtrack album.[19] In an interview with Bullz-Eye.com, Hannon explained that, "literally, I was asked to add my vocal by the composer of the songs, who writes for the show. And I didn’t feel that I could say no, simply because I spent my childhood watching this programme. It would be just plain wrong to not do it."[20] Hannon also lent his vocals to "Aliens", the last track on the Irish charity album The Cake Sale in 2006, organised by Brian Crosby of Bell X1 and featuring a variety of mainly Irish musicians.
In 2007, the first ten or so seconds of "Tonight We Fly" was used as the ending tune to BBC7's Digi Radio. The song was also used for an advertisement for the Airbus A340 airliner.[21]
Meanwhile, Hannon took part in various projects: he recorded "Perfection As a Hipster", included in the God Help the Girl soundtrack, a soon-to-be-released musical film by Belle and Sebastian frontman Stuart Murdoch as well as the LP The Duckworth Lewis Method, together with Thomas Walsh of Pugwash. In March 2007 Neil Hannon's relationship with Parlophone came to an end.[22]
On 31 May 2010, The Divine Comedy released their tenth album entitled Bang Goes the Knighthood on DC Records. As with Victory for the Comic Muse it was recorded in RAK studios in St John's Wood by Guy Massey and the orchestra was conducted by Andrew Skeet who was the arranger on this album. The album charted at 20 in the first week of release, making it their highest-charting album since Regeneration in 2001. The album itself was preceded by the download-only single "At The Indie Disco".
On 2 September 2016, The Divine Comedy released their eleventh album Foreverland. A live album featuring performances from the 2016–17 Foreverland tour, "Loose Canon", was released digitally on 16 February 2018 after being made available as a CD on the tour.
On 1 April 2019, the Divine Comedy announced a new single "Queuejumper", first played on BBC 6 Music on 3 April. It was followed by the announcement of Office Politics, the band's first double album, which was released on 7 June 2019.[23] The release of "Queuejumper" was followed by the single "Norman and Norma", released on 16 May 2019, and an animated music video for the songs "Infernal Machines" / "You'll Never Work in this Town Again", released on 3 October 2019.
Venus, Cupid, Folly, and Time
The Divine Comedy celebrated its 30th anniversary by reissuing remastered versions of the band's first nine albums (from Liberation to Bang Goes the Knighthood) on LP and CD. All eleven albums were included in the box set Venus, Cupid, Folly, and Time: 30 Years of the Divine Comedy, released in October 2020.[24] The 24-disc box set consists of 12 albums of two CDs: each with an original remastered album, with a second CD of B-sides, demos, alternate versions, rarities and unreleased material curated by Neil Hannon. The collection includes the original album Fanfare for the Comic Muse, and other pre-Liberation material. The CD release of A Short Album About Love comes with a DVD of A Short Film About A Short Album About Love – a previously unreleased 50-minute film of the Shepherd's Bush Empire concert at which Short Album... was recorded.[25]
Hannon and an eleven-piece ensemble will also be celebrating the band's 30th anniversary with residencies at The Barbican in London and the Cité de la Musique in Paris. These shows, postponed from September 2020 to September 2022, will feature the band playing two of the classic albums, per show, in a five-show residency in each venue.
Charmed Life
Charmed Life,[26] a double compilation album was released on 4 February 2022. Special limited edition copies included a bonus album, simply named Super Extra Bonus Album.[27] Ten days after its release, Charmed Life claimed the number one spot on the Official Independent Albums Chart. A European tour of Charmed Life followed.[28]
Band members
The band has mostly consisted only of Neil Hannon, but has also included:[4]
Edward Neil Anthony Hannon is a singer and songwriter from Northern Ireland. He is the founder and frontman of the chamber pop group the Divine Comedy, and is the band's only constant member since its inception in 1989. Hannon wrote the theme tunes for the television sitcoms Father Ted and The IT Crowd, as well as the original songs for the musical film Wonka (2023).
Joby Talbot is a British composer. He has written for a wide variety of purposes, with a broad range of styles, including instrumental and vocal concert music, film and television scores, pop arrangements and works for dance. He is known, to sometimes disparate audiences, for quite different works.
Liberation is the second album by Northern Irish chamber pop band the Divine Comedy, released on 18 August 1993 by Setanta Records. Following the unsuccessful Fanfare for the Comic Muse, the group started improvising on their new album which was recorded in Fundamental, London in March 1993. Although it was the band's second album, the band's leader, Neil Hannon, often refers to it as the first, due to the stylistic differences from their debut album, Fanfare for the Comic Muse.
Promenade is the third album by Northern Irish chamber pop band the Divine Comedy, released in 1994 on Setanta Records.
Casanova is the fourth studio album by Northern Irish chamber pop band the Divine Comedy. It was released in 1996 by Setanta Records, and it happened to be the band's commercial breakthrough. It was certified Gold in the UK in July 1997, aided by the release of the album's first single, "Something for the Weekend", which reached No. 13 on the charts. Two other singles released from the album, "Becoming More Like Alfie" and "The Frog Princess", charted at No. 27 and No. 15, respectively.
Absent Friends is the eighth studio album by Northern Irish chamber pop band the Divine Comedy, released in 2004 by Parlophone in the UK and Nettwerk in the U.S. Two singles were released from the album in the UK: "Come Home Billy Bird", which features former Kenickie vocalist Lauren Laverne on vocals, and the album's title track.
Victory for the Comic Muse is the ninth studio album by Northern Irish chamber pop band the Divine Comedy, released in 2006 by EMI.
A Secret History... The Best of the Divine Comedy is a greatest hits compilation album by Irish chamber pop band the Divine Comedy, released in 1999 by Setanta Records.
Regeneration is the seventh studio album by Northern Irish chamber pop band the Divine Comedy, released in 2001 by Parlophone/EMI. Three singles were released from the album: "Love What You Do", "Bad Ambassador" and "Perfect Lovesong", the latter failing to make the top 40.
Fin de Siècle is the sixth album by Northern Irish pop band the Divine Comedy. It was released on 31 August 1998 by Setanta Records. Following the release of fifth studio album A Short Album About Love (1997), frontman Neil Hannon demoed new material at his flat in Clapham. During this time, the relationship between the band and their label Setanta Records was straining as a result of heated discussions over tour costs and studio sessions. They recorded their next album in three studios with Jon Jacobs as the main producer and Hannon co-producing. Fin de Siècle is a chamber pop concept album that details living in the 20th century.
A Short Album About Love is the fifth studio album by Northern Irish chamber pop band the Divine Comedy, released in 1997 by Setanta Records. It was recorded on 20 October 1996 at Shepherd's Bush Empire, London.
Fanfare for the Comic Muse is the debut album by Northern Irish chamber pop band the Divine Comedy, released in 1990 by Setanta Records. Recording took place at Homestead Studios in May 1990 with producer Sean O Neill. Lorcan Mac Loughlann engineered the sessions, and Mudd Wallace mixed the recordings.
"The Pop Singer's Fear of the Pollen Count" is a song by the Divine Comedy. Written by Neil Hannon, it was originally recorded for the Liberation album and was issued as the B-side of "Lucy".
Punishing Kiss is a studio album by German singer Ute Lemper, released in 2000 by Decca Records. It is the product of a collaboration between Lemper and the Divine Comedy and includes songs by the latter artist, as well as Nick Cave, Elvis Costello, Philip Glass, Tom Waits, Scott Walker and Ute Lemper's signature artist, Kurt Weill.
"Gin Soaked Boy" is a song by Irish chamber pop band The Divine Comedy. It was the second single from the album A Secret History... The Best of the Divine Comedy, released in 1999 on Setanta Records. The song peaked at No. 38 on the UK Singles Chart and stayed on the chart for two weeks.
Andrew John Skeet is an English musician, composer and music producer. He has written scores for television and film and worked with many well-known composers and artists as an arranger, orchestrator and conductor.
"Lucy" is the debut single by the Divine Comedy, released in October 1993. Written by Neil Hannon and William Wordsworth, it is the only single from the album Liberation.
"Something for the Weekend" is a song by the Divine Comedy, produced by Darren Allison and Neil Hannon. It was the first single from Casanova and reached number 14 in the UK Singles Chart. The song subsequently became a hit when Chris Evans heard it at a friend's party and had it played on his radio show the following Monday.
The discography of Northern Irish chamber pop band the Divine Comedy consists of twelve studio albums, two live albums, two compilation albums, five extended plays and twenty-six singles.
Wonka (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) is the soundtrack to the 2023 musical fantasy film of the same name co-written and directed by Paul King, and co-written by Simon Farnaby. Based on the origin story of Willy Wonka, a character in the 1964 novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl, the film stars Timothée Chalamet in the lead role, with an ensemble cast. The album features seven original songs composed by Neil Hannon and written by King and Farnaby, further accompanied by the cues from the original score composed by Joby Talbot. The songs are performed by the cast members, including Chalamet (in his singing debut). The soundtrack was released by WaterTower Music on 8 December 2023.
References
↑ Hawkins, Stan (2015). Queerness in Pop Music: Aesthetics, Gender Norms, and Temporality. Routledge. p.193. ISBN978-1-317-58972-3.
↑ Walshe, Frank (24 August 2001). "LIVE: V2001 FESTIVAL". Chart Attack. Archived from the original on 16 December 2001.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
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