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Trollheart · 06-16-2011, 01:27 PM

Casanova --- The Divine Comedy --- 1996 (Setanta)

The biggest problem with the Divine Comedy is categorising their music. It's pretty hard, well nigh impossible, due to the many different influences and styles used on the albums, and “Casanova” is no exception. Everything from barqoue classical to Britpop is there, and you would think with such a varied amount of styles and songs it would all get horribly messed-up, but the genius of the Divine Comedy is that it doesn't: somehow, it all fits and a song about a ballet dancer played by a chamber orchestra can sit comfortably beside a song about going on a bus played in a pop style.

Kicking off with “Something for the weekend”, it's a nice slice of pop, jogging along at a decent lick, with some of the most absurd lyrics you will have ever heard --- unless you've listened to other DC albums! ”Get it through your sweet head/ There's nothing in the woodshed/ Except maybe some wood.” The song actually starts off with a Kenneth Williams-like voice saying “Hello” as girls giggle in the background. This is the sort of thing you will come to expect of The Divine Comedy, which is essentially created, driven and given life by singer/songwriter/musician/all-rounder Neil Hannon. His distincitive voice is strong, cultured, upper-class-sounding, and definitely not the sort of thing you would expect to hear on a “popular music” record! The songs are generally short, snappy, and about as different to each other as is possible, with “Becoming more like Alfie” a case in point. The songs on the album are all loosely linked by a general theme of sex (hence the title), but really, no two songs are alike.

“Middle class heroes” again begins with a cultured voice speaking, this time saying “Hello, what have we here? A young lady? How may I be of service this dark and wintry night?” Turns out to be a fortune teller, who goes on to tell the girl what she can expect in her future life. ”I see oriental paperglobes hanging like decomposing cocoons/ While exotic candles overload/ The musty air with their stale perfumes.” The song is carried on a slow, almost jazzy beat, trumpets, trombones and tubas painting a sad and bitter tale of the realities of life for the “middle class heroes”.

Hannon tends to see love as it is, and his sarcastic and acerbic comments on the “happy ever after” envisaged by starry-eyed couples shines through on each of his albums. This is not to say he does not believe in love, but he does have harsh words for those who think it's all hearts and flowers. You get the impression in his songs of a lot of knockbacks, failed romances and lessons learned. It's quite refreshing, and for perhaps his most acid “lovesong” you should check out “If...” on his “A short album about love”. But back to this album, and on to the next track, “In and out in Paris and London”, a sort of grungy rock arrangement, with Hannon's mellifluous voice almost incongruous against this melody. The song is an unashamedly brazen report of romantic conquests, as is “Charge”, this time against the backdrop of a tango beat, likening the sexual act to a battle --- ”Cannon to the left, cannon to the right/ They'll go bang-bang-bang/ All night!”

“Songs of love” you may find naggingly familiar, so I'll put you out of your misery and tell you that it's the theme tune for “Father Ted”, which Neil re-arranged specially for that show. It's a great little tune in its own right, almost entirely on acoustic guitar, with some great lyrics: ”Their prey gather in herds/ Of stiff knee-length skirts/ And white ankle socks./ But while they search for a mate/ My type hibernate/ In bedrooms above/ Composing our songs of love” You'll hear the “Father Ted” theme right there in the instrumental section near the end. Then, after a fairly innocent and heartfelt ballad, it's back to satire and sniping attacks with “The frog princess”.

It starts off with a riff from the “Marseilleise”, the French national anthem, then becomes a nice little ballad, but with a hidden message, as the princess in the tale declares ”You don't really love me/ But I don't really mind/ Cos I don't love anybody/ That stuff is just a waste of time/ Your place or mine?” But the best line is reserved for near the end, when Neil sings ”I met a girl/ She was a frog princess/And yes, I do regret it now/ But how was I to know that just one kiss/ Would turn my frog into a cow?” and then, with some glee”And now I'm rid of her/ I must confess/ To thinking of what might have been/ And I can visualise my frog princess/ Beneath a shining guillotine!” complete with the sound of a guilloine blade falling down!

This really serves to illustrate Neil Hannon's peculiar talent for poking fun --- often savage fun --- at love and its foibles, and that his characters are almost always flawed, in one way or another, whether the prodigal Alfie, the stuck-up and self-absorbed frog princess, or the heartbreaker in “In and out”. More philandering occurs in “A woman of the world”, with its carefree whistling intro and jaunty melody, its 40s/50s chorus ”She's a fake/ Yeah, but she's a real fake/ On the make/ Making up for lost time/ Just you wait/ Hey give the girl a break/ And a fistful of dollar bills will see to that!”

One of the most powerful tracks on the album comes next, and Neil really has saved the best for last. “Through a long and sleepless night” is a searing, heart-pounding, almost terrifying journey through one man's psychosis (*), with an almost breathless vocal describing a descent into madness and isolation, possibly to link in with the final track. ”It's four o'clock and all's not well/ In my private circle of Hell/ I contemplate my navel hair/ And slowly slide into despair.” His acerbic humour again comes through even here as he sings ”You deserve to be horsewhipped/ But I've no horse/ That joke's so sh1t/ And whips would only make it worse/ Don't tempt the lonely and perverse!” You can hear the rage and frustration in Neil's voice as he spits out the lyric, and the music tries to keep up with him. An acoustic passage about two-thirds of the way through has him sing ”Bored with normality?/ Why not go mad?/ It's easy to do if you try.” The song picks up again then for its thundering conclusion as Neil slides into madness and perhaps close to death.

Before the closer we have a really weird track, called “Theme from Casanova”. Introduced like a radio programme that has just ended, credits are read and the instrumental plays out as “one extra item”. In of itself, that could have been a good enough closer, but eager to outdo himself, Neil hits us with a parting shot, the amazingly powerful and emotional “The dogs and the horses”, which looks at a man on his deathbed (the same man from “Through a long and sleepless night”?) and notes that as he dies, all the dogs and horses he has had, who have passed on before him, gather round to say goodbye. ”Sing a happy song”, he advises, ”For spring does not last long/ A flower blooms and then it's gone.”

It starts off very very gently, with piano and acoustic guitar, and Neil singing very quietly, but when he gets to the chorus the orchestra kicks in and the song simply soars to new heights, and becomes a real powerhouse. ”So the only thing to feel sad about is/ All the dogs and the horses you'll have to outlive/ They'll be with you when you say goodbye.” The orchestration on the track is immensely moving, and when the track finally ends on a last “Good... bye...” you really feel like you've been through the wringer.

I can go on and on about how great the Divine Comedy is, but there's no way I'll ever have the words or the skill to do them justice. You simply have to take the plunge and listen to the recordings to properly appreciate the breadth of this man's genius, and “Casanova” is not a bad jumping-off point. It was mine, and I've listened to all his output since, and not looked back once.

(*) = Of course, that's what I THINK it's about, but Hannon's lyrics are so obscure and ambiguous at times that it's virtually impossible to say for certain what he means in any of his songs.

TRACKLISTING

1. Something for the weekend
2. Becoming more like Alfie
3. Middle-class heroes
4. In and out in Paris and London
5. Charge
6. Songs of love
7. The frog princess
8. A woman of the world
9. Through a long and sleepless night
10. Theme from Casanova
11. The dogs and the horses

Suggested further listening: "Promenade", "Liberation", "A short album about love", "Fin de siecle"

06-16-2011, 01:27 PM	#37 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,970	Casanova --- The Divine Comedy --- 1996 (Setanta) The biggest problem with the Divine Comedy is categorising their music. It's pretty hard, well nigh impossible, due to the many different influences and styles used on the albums, and “Casanova” is no exception. Everything from barqoue classical to Britpop is there, and you would think with such a varied amount of styles and songs it would all get horribly messed-up, but the genius of the Divine Comedy is that it doesn't: somehow, it all fits and a song about a ballet dancer played by a chamber orchestra can sit comfortably beside a song about going on a bus played in a pop style. Kicking off with “Something for the weekend”, it's a nice slice of pop, jogging along at a decent lick, with some of the most absurd lyrics you will have ever heard --- unless you've listened to other DC albums! ”Get it through your sweet head/ There's nothing in the woodshed/ Except maybe some wood.” The song actually starts off with a Kenneth Williams-like voice saying “Hello” as girls giggle in the background. This is the sort of thing you will come to expect of The Divine Comedy, which is essentially created, driven and given life by singer/songwriter/musician/all-rounder Neil Hannon. His distincitive voice is strong, cultured, upper-class-sounding, and definitely not the sort of thing you would expect to hear on a “popular music” record! The songs are generally short, snappy, and about as different to each other as is possible, with “Becoming more like Alfie” a case in point. The songs on the album are all loosely linked by a general theme of sex (hence the title), but really, no two songs are alike. “Middle class heroes” again begins with a cultured voice speaking, this time saying “Hello, what have we here? A young lady? How may I be of service this dark and wintry night?” Turns out to be a fortune teller, who goes on to tell the girl what she can expect in her future life. ”I see oriental paperglobes hanging like decomposing cocoons/ While exotic candles overload/ The musty air with their stale perfumes.” The song is carried on a slow, almost jazzy beat, trumpets, trombones and tubas painting a sad and bitter tale of the realities of life for the “middle class heroes”. Hannon tends to see love as it is, and his sarcastic and acerbic comments on the “happy ever after” envisaged by starry-eyed couples shines through on each of his albums. This is not to say he does not believe in love, but he does have harsh words for those who think it's all hearts and flowers. You get the impression in his songs of a lot of knockbacks, failed romances and lessons learned. It's quite refreshing, and for perhaps his most acid “lovesong” you should check out “If...” on his “A short album about love”. But back to this album, and on to the next track, “In and out in Paris and London”, a sort of grungy rock arrangement, with Hannon's mellifluous voice almost incongruous against this melody. The song is an unashamedly brazen report of romantic conquests, as is “Charge”, this time against the backdrop of a tango beat, likening the sexual act to a battle --- ”Cannon to the left, cannon to the right/ They'll go bang-bang-bang/ All night!” “Songs of love” you may find naggingly familiar, so I'll put you out of your misery and tell you that it's the theme tune for “Father Ted”, which Neil re-arranged specially for that show. It's a great little tune in its own right, almost entirely on acoustic guitar, with some great lyrics: ”Their prey gather in herds/ Of stiff knee-length skirts/ And white ankle socks./ But while they search for a mate/ My type hibernate/ In bedrooms above/ Composing our songs of love” You'll hear the “Father Ted” theme right there in the instrumental section near the end. Then, after a fairly innocent and heartfelt ballad, it's back to satire and sniping attacks with “The frog princess”. It starts off with a riff from the “Marseilleise”, the French national anthem, then becomes a nice little ballad, but with a hidden message, as the princess in the tale declares ”You don't really love me/ But I don't really mind/ Cos I don't love anybody/ That stuff is just a waste of time/ Your place or mine?” But the best line is reserved for near the end, when Neil sings ”I met a girl/ She was a frog princess/And yes, I do regret it now/ But how was I to know that just one kiss/ Would turn my frog into a cow?” and then, with some glee”And now I'm rid of her/ I must confess/ To thinking of what might have been/ And I can visualise my frog princess/ Beneath a shining guillotine!” complete with the sound of a guilloine blade falling down! This really serves to illustrate Neil Hannon's peculiar talent for poking fun --- often savage fun --- at love and its foibles, and that his characters are almost always flawed, in one way or another, whether the prodigal Alfie, the stuck-up and self-absorbed frog princess, or the heartbreaker in “In and out”. More philandering occurs in “A woman of the world”, with its carefree whistling intro and jaunty melody, its 40s/50s chorus ”She's a fake/ Yeah, but she's a real fake/ On the make/ Making up for lost time/ Just you wait/ Hey give the girl a break/ And a fistful of dollar bills will see to that!” One of the most powerful tracks on the album comes next, and Neil really has saved the best for last. “Through a long and sleepless night” is a searing, heart-pounding, almost terrifying journey through one man's psychosis (), with an almost breathless vocal describing a descent into madness and isolation, possibly to link in with the final track. ”It's four o'clock and all's not well/ In my private circle of Hell/ I contemplate my navel hair/ And slowly slide into despair.”* His acerbic humour again comes through even here as he sings ”You deserve to be horsewhipped/ But I've no horse/ That joke's so sh1t/ And whips would only make it worse/ Don't tempt the lonely and perverse!” You can hear the rage and frustration in Neil's voice as he spits out the lyric, and the music tries to keep up with him. An acoustic passage about two-thirds of the way through has him sing ”Bored with normality?/ Why not go mad?/ It's easy to do if you try.” The song picks up again then for its thundering conclusion as Neil slides into madness and perhaps close to death. Before the closer we have a really weird track, called “Theme from Casanova”. Introduced like a radio programme that has just ended, credits are read and the instrumental plays out as “one extra item”. In of itself, that could have been a good enough closer, but eager to outdo himself, Neil hits us with a parting shot, the amazingly powerful and emotional “The dogs and the horses”, which looks at a man on his deathbed (the same man from “Through a long and sleepless night”?) and notes that as he dies, all the dogs and horses he has had, who have passed on before him, gather round to say goodbye. ”Sing a happy song”, he advises, ”For spring does not last long/ A flower blooms and then it's gone.” It starts off very very gently, with piano and acoustic guitar, and Neil singing very quietly, but when he gets to the chorus the orchestra kicks in and the song simply soars to new heights, and becomes a real powerhouse. ”So the only thing to feel sad about is/ All the dogs and the horses you'll have to outlive/ They'll be with you when you say goodbye.” The orchestration on the track is immensely moving, and when the track finally ends on a last “Good... bye...” you really feel like you've been through the wringer. I can go on and on about how great the Divine Comedy is, but there's no way I'll ever have the words or the skill to do them justice. You simply have to take the plunge and listen to the recordings to properly appreciate the breadth of this man's genius, and “Casanova” is not a bad jumping-off point. It was mine, and I've listened to all his output since, and not looked back once. () = Of course, that's what I THINK it's about, but Hannon's lyrics are so obscure and ambiguous at times that it's virtually impossible to say for certain what he means in any of his songs.* TRACKLISTING 1. Something for the weekend 2. Becoming more like Alfie 3. Middle-class heroes 4. In and out in Paris and London 5. Charge 6. Songs of love 7. The frog princess 8. A woman of the world 9. Through a long and sleepless night 10. Theme from Casanova 11. The dogs and the horses Suggested further listening: "Promenade", "Liberation", "A short album about love", "Fin de siecle" __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018 Last edited by Trollheart; 11-04-2011 at 09:15 AM.