One of the best albums of all time? Divine Comedy - Promenade

Divine Comedy (aka: Neil Haanon) released Promenade in 1994 and it bombed amid the UK 'Britpop' wave of guitar music.

Listening again tonight it has stood the test of time more than any of the other artists around at the time.

Hannon's intelligent lyrics, Scott Walker-esque vocals and stunning Brian Wilson-ish grasp of melody and orchestral dramatic chord sequences are (to me) beyond compare.

For me, this album has every right to sit aside Pet Sounds. A forgotten masterpiece, excuisite music and lyrics that effortlessly swing from theology to seafood and drunken abandon.

An album that has truly slipped past the radar.

If you love music this is for you. As far as I'm concerned one of the best albums of all time.

Here's a snippet: A live version of Tonight We Fly -

And here's the album: http://youtu.be/eRiLbVC-7Bw

 

Joke thread, right?

I found Neil Hannon's voice incredibly irritating back in The Divine Comedy's heyday, managed to avoid him for probably 20 years, so just gave another listen to see if my memory is playing tricks on me, but alas no.

'Scott Walker-esque vocals'.

I love music, I truly do, but if this was all that was on offer, I'd give up.

 

It's a brilliant album, although I tend to merge this one and the previous album Liberation together in my head as I bought them at the same time and they have such similar covers. However I think the follow-up Casanova is their (his) masterpiece, it still stands up as one of the best albums of the 90s.

 

His first LP Fanfare For The Comic Muse is muck. I sold my copy after a week.

 

Thankfully, it's not all that's on offer so it can be enjoyed as a great album. I love it.

 

I like Divine Comedy, I've spent a long time listening to his cds. But bring it to the level of Pet Sounds is a bit too much IMHO.

I still have a live concert somewhere in a tape recorded on a French radio station and still should listen to Casanova (I stopped listening to the Neil Hannon with Promenade and well... my discovery of the Beach Boys and The Smile wizardry that didn't stop until now. Well those were my middles of the 90's).

It was like meeting the mentors after having listened to the disciples.

But thank you for your live youtube excerpt : it brings back nice memories of a nice tune !
Will dive back into Promenade, my Bowie break !

 

As a songwriter, on Promenade, I would easily put Neil Hannon in the same league as Brian Wilson.

Almost classical chord progressions; absurd, yet touchingly beautiful lyrics; surreal and poignant arrangements. An album that hits in all the same musical and emotional places as Pet Sounds.

I could be wrong... (as I'm sure I'm about to discover...)

 

All I’ve got is the excellent A Secret History... And “Gin-Soaked Boy” is one of the greatest pop songs I know.

 

I think Hannon would be the first to agree - he's pretty much disowned it hasn't he?

 

Fantastic record. Better than any Blur LP and streets ahead of quite a few post-1971 Kinks albums IMO.

 

I really like the Divine Comedy - especially Casanova - but I think you are setting yourself up around here comparing Promenade to Pet Sounds right out of the gate. And I'm not even that big a fan of Pet Sounds myself (prefer Wild Honey or The Beach Boys Today!).

 

Good on you. The first person to put Brian Wilson in the same league as Gerswhin was probably shot down in the flames. Audacious theories have to start somewhere.

 

I like 1 or 2 songs but I find the whole persona very annoying.
He's probably a nice bloke though.

 

To me, the masterpiece will always be Liberation.
Impossible to follow-up, but Neil was brave enough to go on.

 

I think it is an excellent album, although totally different in style to his later albums, sounds a bit like early R.E.M. to me .But even if you didn't like it, you should have kept it , it is worth quite a bit of money these days
http://www.discogs.com/The-Divine-Comedy-Fanfare-For-The-Comic-Muse/release/1210536

 

Have you heard it's B side, "My Lovely Horse"? Possibly the pinnacle of 20th century popular music. YMMV.

 

Now that's hard to argue with.

"We have to lose that sax solo!"

 

Please tell me that's true

 

His cover of Party Fears Two is worth a listen

 

I should get this. The only album I have is 'For Absent Friends' which is a superb thing.

 

Well I'll be the first to absolutely agree with you. It's a constant in my top 5 albums of all time, and it's criminal how underrated this album in particular is (the acclaim started with "Casanova", which is very nearly as good in a different way.)

In fact, I don't think the "persona" that some people find annoying really started until Casanova, so I'd urge anyone to give "Promenade" a chance.

 

Yes, he never plays anything from it and seems to want to do a Mick Jones on it (Cut The Crap)

 

I know, although the value has come down a bit since peak demand (late 90s).

But back in the summer of 1990 when I purchased the album, getting my money back (IR£8) by selling it to a friend seemed like a good deal at the time.

On a side issue, early Setanta releases seem to be very hard to find on CD. I'm looking for Into Paradise's Under The Water for ages.

 

Very good album from a great 'band'. I'd lap up a Divine Comedy box set, with all the albums remastered with bonus tracks.