Casanova - The Divine Comedy

Casanova is the seedy sequel to Promenade. Gone is the romantic, naive young lover and in his place is the randy, cynical womaniser; the Casanova of the album title. It is very much an album of it's time, sitting comfortably in the Brit pop era, yet there's something timeless about it too. Something for the Weekend: This opens with our Casanova flirting with some giggly young girls, setting the tone for the rest of the album. It's the story of a young man trying to get his leg over, but the object of his affections is put off by something in the woodshed. Realising he has to show her there's nothing there in order for him to get his shag, he goes into the ...  Read the complete review

Only one opinion about Casanova? We'll soon put that right. In my mind, this is the greatest album ever to flow from the mind of Neil Hannon, and was the one that got me interested in the first place. I'm sure many other people recall hearing "Something For The Weekend" on Chris Evans' breakfast show and thinking "I have to get that album!" Those, like me, that did, will not have been disappointed. Opening on the wonderful "Something..." the album continues in a similar vein with "Becoming More Like Alfie", in the video for which, Hannon gets to act like no man should ever be allowed and play the part of the ...  Read the complete review

The Divine Comedy's breakthrough album, commercially speaking, is probably not their best musically (PROMENADE is better). But it is still a very fine record, and certainly contains a few of the most instantly recognizable songs of the 1990s. Thematically, as its title would suggest, the album is largely concerned with lust and seduction and loveless sex. Yet nearly every song Neil Hannon tinges with gentle, mildly self-mocking humour that makes it less abrasive than it might otherwise have been. CASANOVA begins with the absurdist 'Carry-On'-style 'Something For The Weekend', a weird but undoubtedly memorable way to start an album, ...  Read the complete review