A Short Album About Love - Divine Comedy

Now that the Divine Comedy (DivCom hereafter) have become the sultry, biting, cynical band we perhaps always wanted them to be, the albums before Regeneration have a certain nostalgic quality about them. They are best remembered for The Frog Princess, Generation Sex, National Express and Something for the Weekend. Although all fairytale-like pastiches on British life, there was a serious almost sardonic criticism inherent in the work of the DivCom but it is the jolly hostess with an arse the size of a small country that persists. Regeneration shouldn’t have been the surprise it was to so many. The themes have always been there A Short Album about Love does ...  Read the complete review

After having ignored the Divine Comedy for a while, with the recent release of their new album 'Regeneration' I decided to get a few of their older albums off the shelf and dust them off a little and play them again. The first one I started listening to again was 'A short album about love'. It's possibly the album in their back catalogue that matches the mood of the current album most accurately. It's happy and sad in roughly equal measure, being about being in a relationship, falling out of relationships, getting into them and trying to get into them. Trying to describe this album, or indeed any Divine Comedy album is a difficult task - ...  Read the complete review

Conceived as an antidote to CASANOVA's concentration on sex (or "the other thing" as Neil Hannon called it), A SHORT ALBUM ABOUT LOVE is a deeply, achingly romantic record. Only seven songs in length, it was recorded as-live with a 30-piece orchestra, and contains some of Hannon's finest compositions. One of the catchiest songs is the single from the album, 'Everybody Knows (Except You)', and 'Timewatching' is another near-classic. But for a sheer, unfettered declaration of deep love, try listening to 'If...' The brevity of A SHORT ALBUM ABOUT LOVE is probably one of its strengths, as a longer album might have ...  Read the complete review

It was the quirky pop music of tracks like 'Generation Sex' which first interested me in The Divine Comedy, but it's this album that stands out as their strongest in my mind. There's no pop here and the frequently irreverant lyrics are gone to be replaced with beautiful and honest songs about love. The album is, as its title claims short, but each of the seven tracks is near to perfection. The music reminds me at times of some of the classics of easy listening, but raised above this by a stronger classical influence. The band is joined by an orchestra, giving a broader backing to Neil Hannon superb, deep singing voice. Simple, thoughtful and ...  Read the complete review

In some ways, this is both the strongest and worst DC album at the same time. It nods to the darkness and twisted lyrics of Casanova and Fin de Siecle, but there is a sweetness that somewhat undermines this. Hannon was a man in love when he wrote this; apparently, it was intended for his then-girlfriend, Orla, who is now his wife. He was on a roll when it was recorded (live, incidentally) with the success of Casanova, and there's a confidence lacking in his earlier work. However, it is far too short, with only 5 tracks that you won't hear anywhere else (4 if you've got the best-of). In Pursuit of Happiness and Everybody Knows... are typically ...  Read the complete review