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(2016) The Divine Comedy - Foreverland [Deluxe Edition]
Review:
Deluxe edition comes with a bonus CD featuring a studio recording of “In May”, Neil Hannon and Frank Alva Buecheler’s acclaimed chamber opera, which explores the relationship between a dying son and his absent father through a series of letters. This is sung by Neil Hannon, with string quintet and piano.
…There are certain things you expect from a Divine Comedy album, some quarter century in to his illustrious career – self-deprecating love songs and a few historical references, all sprinkled with a huge dose of whimsy. It may be six years since we last heard from Neil Hannon – in his Divine Comedy guise at least – on the excellent Bang Goes the Knighthood, but only a couple of notes into opening track Napoleon Complex, it feels like slipping on an old pair of comfortable slippers.
The lead single Catherine The Great is, in its way, the perfect re-introduction to Hannon’s world – a flourish of strings, some beautifully arranged brass and lyrics full of wry humour about one of history’s most famous figures (references to her “great hair” and “powerful gait” plus a nod to that most famous myths about her – “she looked so bloody good on a horse”). The self-deprecating Napoleon Complex pokes fun at a man who “stands 5 foot 3 in Cuban heels” and who “gets all the girls… and then wakes up again” but Hannon is at his best when his arch-humour combines with heartfelt sincerity.
Foreverland is, rather like (most of) Bang Goes the Knighthood before it, an album about contentment. The beautifully orchestrated title track would be overtly slushy in anyone else’s hands, but Hannon’s conclusion that “everybody thinks it’s all lies until they can see foreverland” is so beautifully delivered that even the most cyncial heart would melt. Hannon’s partner (and long-time Divine Comedy collaborator) Cathy Davey also shows up for album highlight Funny Peculiar, a Cole Porter-style duet that stays just on the right side of cloying, while How Can You Leave Me On My Own is genuinely laugh-out-loud funny, as Hannon tells of being reduced to a “bad-smelling, couch-dwelling dickhead” who eats too many biscuits and looks at “too many naked ladies as I’m too weak to resist it” whenever Davey pops out for a few hours.
The lyrics never take a backseat to the melodies though – in fact, Foreverland may be Hannon’s most intricately crafted album to date. The lush arrangements of the gorgeous To The Rescue stand out, as do the dramatic flourishes of A Desperate Man or the brief Broadway-style interlude of Other People. Admittedly, a couple of the tracks fail to hit the mark as readily – I Joined The Foreign Legion (To Forget) may well be the quintessential Divine Comedy title, but the song itself – apparently inspired by Carry On Up The Khyber, yet sounding in its arrangement like an homage to John Barry – isn’t as memorable as some of the others on here, while The Pact, something of a list song, seems to float along without making too much of an impression.
Overall though, Foreverland is a blissful, heartfelt and often very funny paean to love and companionship. Some will no doubt dismiss it as too twee and theatrical for today’s musical landscape, but that is to misunderstand The Divine Comedy. Listening to this album, you’re transported for 50 minutes or so into a place more comforting, more welcoming and warmer. And, in this year above all years, we need Neil Hannon for that more than ever.
Tracklist:
Foreverland
101 - Napoleon Complex.flac
102 - Foreverland.flac
103 - Catherine the Great.flac
104 - Funny Peculiar.flac
105 - The Pact.flac
106 - To the Rescue.flac
107 - How Can You Leave Me On My Own.flac
108 - I Joined the Foreign Legion (To Forget).flac
109 - My Happy Place.flac
110 - A Desperate Man.flac
111 - Other People.flac
112 - The One Who Loves You.flac
May
201 - 6th of December.flac
202 - 11th of December.flac
203 - 13th of December.flac
204 - 23rd of December.flac
205 - 3rd of January.flac
206 - 13th of January.flac
207 - 15th of January.flac
208 - 30th of January.flac
209 - 7th of February.flac
210 - 22nd of February.flac
211 - 8th of March.flac
212 - 27th of March.flac
213 - 4th of April.flac
214 - 4th of April (Midnight).flac
215 - 3rd of May.flac
216 - 10th of May.flac
217 - 21st of May.flac
218 - 28th of May.flac
219 - 31st of May.flac
Summary:
Country: USA
Genre: chamber pop, indie-pop
Media Report:
Source : CD
Format : FLAC
Format/Info : Free Lossless Audio Codec, 16-bit PCM
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : ~ 662-925 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Sampling rate : 44.1 KHz
Bit depth : 16 bits |
