Timewatching: The Divine Comedy Album-by-album thread

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by LivingForever, Nov 5, 2020.

  1. TheLemmingFace

    TheLemmingFace Forum Resident

    Location:
    London
    Psychological Evaluation
    B-side fodder. It’s not awful and I enjoy it as a listen once in a while, however it disappointed me when I heard the album for the first few times - I don’t think the rest of the material on this record is strong enough to justify the inclusion of this kind of nonsense, really. 1/5

    That said...
    I completely agree with this thought from a few days ago. My favourite double album is Fleetwood Mac’s Tusk, where the weird scrappy recorded-at-home tracks make up about 50% of the songs. That sets the tone as one of eccentricity, and the more traditional songs then shine as diamonds in all the weirdness. In Office Politics, the weirder tracks stand out badly against the rest of the material and drag down the mood. So perhaps the inclusion of even more weird tracks, making it into a proper 90min monster, would have massively improved it. As it is, I immediately cut it down to a 12 track playlist which is what I play when I want to hear the album. Though it will be interesting to assemble a proper double album using the Charmed Life bonus tracks - and, perhaps, a weirder double album using the instrumental bonus tracks from the box set (might try that now, actually...).
     
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  2. The Booklover

    The Booklover Forum Resident

    Location:
    Germany
    D'oh, that should've been a "who's" instead of "whose"! I sometimes wish the edit function would last a bit longer.

    I may have exaggerated a little. That said, I would have expected more of a bad reception here if it had been set to rock music.

    I hope we do get some of the unreleased synth stuff next year. Adding some of the synth instrumentals to spice things up (especially in the more ballad heavy half) is something I also thought of. You would have to come up with some alternate titles for them, though, to fit the Office Politics theme. As they're instrumentals, that shouldn't be a problem.
     
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  3. LivingForever

    LivingForever Forum Arachibutyrophobic Thread Starter

    I realised earlier that the Arte TV Show moves “Life and Soul of the Party” to the penultimate track, presumably for that very reason!
     
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  4. ericthegardener

    ericthegardener Forum Resident

    Location:
    Dallas, TX
    Psychological Evaluation

    Not necessarily a "great song" (I do enjoy it though), but once again I like what it does for the album. Adds to the playful nature. I think that by the time we get to the end, it will be clear (to myself) that I like the cumulative effect of the entire album more than any of the individual songs. Some of my favorites "song" songs are still to come though. I'd much rather that Neil use album space for an indulgent experiments than for fruitless stabs at the charts. I don't know what my average score for Foreverland was, but so far I'm enjoying Office Politics a lot more. 3.5/5
     
  5. ericthegardener

    ericthegardener Forum Resident

    Location:
    Dallas, TX
  6. LivingForever

    LivingForever Forum Arachibutyrophobic Thread Starter

    Unfortunately not … :(

    There are two official Divine Comedy DVDs - the 2004 Palladium show, and the 1996 Shepherd’s Bush one (now released on the ASAAL bonus disc.)

    edit - having said that; connecting up my laptop to the big TV and sound system and watching them on YouTube in HD is frankly better than a DVD!
     
    Last edited: Nov 12, 2021
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  7. jon-senior

    jon-senior Forum Resident

    Location:
    Eastleigh
    I've started to work on one. I'm attempting to see if I can put a narrative together. I may be going slightly mad?
     
  8. Hazey John II

    Hazey John II The lyrics are fine, there's no problem there

    @A Tea-Loving Dave will know...
    Ya Sumeera?
    I tried this today, which was pretty good, not great. There's some kind of story there but it's quite a harsh listen, turns out Norman and Norma on Side One does a lot of heavy lifting.
    Side One: Queuejumper / Office Politics / The Life and Soul of the Party / A Feather In Your Cap
    Side Two: Infernal Machines / Psychological Evaluation / TSSCSSS / 'Opportunity' Knox
    Side Three: Absolutely Obsolete / You'll Never Work In This Town Again / I'm A Stranger Here / Dark Days Are Here Again
    Side Four: Philip and Steve / Norman and Norma / After The Lord Mayor's Show / When The Working Day Is Done

    (I will catch up with songs soon...)
     
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  9. The Turning Year

    The Turning Year Lowering average scores since 2021

    Location:
    London, UK
    Haha, I sympathise having attempted this a few months ago...
    (I gave up and ended up adding some random other songs in, creating a different narrative and resulting in something I didn't think possible; a truly miserable emotional trainwreck of a TDC playlist!)
    Will be interested to see yours! ;)

    Interesting; I'd forgotten this was a 'double album' so has four sides on the vinyl...
    Think I can see your narrative there :)
     
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  10. jon-senior

    jon-senior Forum Resident

    Location:
    Eastleigh
  11. LivingForever

    LivingForever Forum Arachibutyrophobic Thread Starter

    I have to say, I don’t know if it’s just watching that French TV show doing this to me, but it does seem that there’s some kind of narrative in the first half of the album as it stands - there’s a general tale of office life going on (Office Politics) with one particularly obnoxious character (Queuejumper), some quite dull regular people (Norman and Norma), then someone who gets laid off (Absolutely Obsolete) and laments about the rise of machines causing them to lose their job (Infernal/You’ll Never Work), before having to go for a degrading assessment as part of trying to find a new job (Psychological) and then (and this comes mostly from watching the film, where Neil by this point is on the floor looking rather unhappy) having some sort of breakdown and hallucinating about the machines taking over (SSCSSS - ok it’s a stretch but the music of this next track is very much all technology and very little human involvement…)
     
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  12. LivingForever

    LivingForever Forum Arachibutyrophobic Thread Starter

    Talking of which… today’s song is:

    The Synthesiser Service Centre Super Summer Sale

    The first song to be jointly credited to another member of the band since “Fin De Siècle”? In this case, all of them!

    Here’s 2020 Neil:

    “Let's talk about synths bay-bee
    Let's talk about A-R-P
    Let's talk about all the real synths and the fake synths on OP
    Let's talk about synths ...


    I have never hidden my love of synthesisers from the world. Nor of synth pop of the early '80s British variety. Brilliant, simple songs set to an entirely original impossibly cool soundscape. I'd grown up in the '70s watching people wielding electric guitars on the TV. They were all right, I suppose. Then suddenly TV was full of black-clad weirdos prodding at strange metal boxes, making sounds we never thought possible. I do not have a room full of synthesisers at home. It pains me to admit, I probably never will have one. The synths I desire are of the rare and expensive kind. I could afford another couple I suppose, but I really ought to fix the roof first. The three analogue originals I own - a troublesome Prophet 5, a beautiful if one-dimensional Solina String Ensemble, and a pretty rancid Korg Delta - are all I really need. Especially with the spectacular array of virtual synth apps you can get quite cheaply now. For example, I used Arturia's version of the Mini-Moog to create the ever-changing random arpeggio on The Synthesiser Service Centre Super Summer Sale. Some people find this track rather a challenging listen. Really? I don't hear it.”


    And 2019 Neil:

    “The Synthesiser Service Centre Super Summer Sale”
    “This is bonkers. And for once, the messing around was too good to leave off the record. We were driving through the Alps on tour, and I said to the guys, ‘I’ve put these two phrases together, and so I’ve got to write this song.’ Alastair, our backline roadie, said, ‘Oh, you're going to use the synthesizer service center that I told you about?’ ‘Oh.’ And then Andrew, keyboards, said, ‘Oh, you're going to use the synthesizer sales thing that I sent you?’ And I went, ‘Oh, ****, I don't have an original idea in my head. I just steal.’”


     
  13. christian42

    christian42 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Lund, Sweden
    The Synthesiser Service Centre Super Summer Sale

    This song and its predecessor hammers home the fact that I won't actually be the one giving this album the highest average score, because this is the absolute pits. I guess some of those farting synthesizers sound a bit amusing, but as a listening experience with Neil's talk/rapping and discordant ending it's one of the worst things I've heard from an artist I like. The album has come to a screeching halt right at the middle of the record, and I remember thinking when I first heard it: "oh dear, is this what Neil meant by being experimental?" Luckily, the album will improve soon.

    1.0 (this is my lowest score, I don't hand out zeroes)
     
  14. LivingForever

    LivingForever Forum Arachibutyrophobic Thread Starter

    Yep, I can’t disagree with much here.

    Yesterday’s track survived being bonkers/experimental by virtue of being somewhat melodic and not actively unpleasant to listen to.

    I cannot say the same today! Honestly the music is just completely irritating to me, like nails down a chalkboard. But then I wonder if this was deliberate - trying to portray a sort of dystopian world where the machines have taken over and run amok? (Maybe I’m crediting this track with a bit too much thought here :D)

    Luckily I do think the lyrics are quite clever, and would make a very good and/or funny poem on their own. That’s the thing allowing me to give this track 1 measly point.
     
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  15. The Turning Year

    The Turning Year Lowering average scores since 2021

    Location:
    London, UK
    Synthesiser service centre...
    I agree with what @christian42 and @LivingForever have said. I don't really mind this being on the album as at least it continues to show that Neil is happy to experiment and put it out there; I can always skip it.
    However I do give out zeros, and unfortunately I don't think the lyrics are very clever, nor would they make a very good and/or funny poem on their own. That’s the thing preventing me from giving this track 1 measly point.
    0/5
     
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  16. TheLemmingFace

    TheLemmingFace Forum Resident

    Location:
    London
    The Synthesiser Service Centre Super Summer Sale
    Oh Neil, this is awful. It’s such a good title, too. 1/5
     
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  17. jon-senior

    jon-senior Forum Resident

    Location:
    Eastleigh
    The Synthesiser Service Centre Super Summer Sale

    I'm hoping that someone out there is going to show some love for this track, because it's always interesting to read a range of views but, unfortunately, that person won't be me. If yesterday's track was this album's 'Fitter Happier', this track is the album's 'Revolution No 9'. I admire Neil having the audacity to put it on the album - right in the middle, no less, where you can't escape it, and after another very experimental track, and I want to like it because it's so easy not to, but I really can't.

    My head says it's an extremely bold artistic move, but my heart says "yeah, but you don't ever want to listen to it, do you". And my heart is right. I'm not a track skipper, generally, when I listen to an album, but this one sorely tests that position. It's not just the lack of melody, or the fact that, like @The Turning Year, I don't find the words especially interesting (it would have raised a slight smile first time round, I think, but that's about it) - it's more the sound of the synths itself which, by the end, are so deliberately abrasive, they genuinely start to hurt to listen to.

    My final thought on it - I said a week ago (or whenever it was) that it was Queuejumper that first actively caught the attention of my children. Before that, they'd have heard and enjoyed Bang Goes The Knighthood and Foreverland on car journeys; since then, they've become genuinely quite interested in Neil's back catalogue. Whenever I play Office Politics, however, this track is the one that makes them say "this album's not as good as the other ones is it?" I don't agree with the judgement in broad terms, but I can see where they're coming from.

    1.5/5 for me, just for the courage in using it.
     
  18. The Turning Year

    The Turning Year Lowering average scores since 2021

    Location:
    London, UK
    Yes! Well put.
     
  19. jon-senior

    jon-senior Forum Resident

    Location:
    Eastleigh
    On another note entirely, I'm currently sat in a coffee shop while my son is at band, and I'm listening to version one of Office Politics (the jon-senior edit). I think it'll undergo a few more revisions - I might shuffle around while I'm listening, and I'd like to get some of the instrumental synthy stuff from the bonus disc onto the list - and when Charmed Life comes out, there might be some others to add in.

    The aims here:
    - to expand the album into the ridiculous double album is could have been
    - to construct some kind of narrative (one that works in my head, if nothing else)
    - to still end up with an album that feels like it's got some kind of flow when you listen to it

    So, for now...

    PART ONE

    1. The Divine Comedy Ltd (from the Office Politics bonus disc)
    2. Infernal Machines
    3. You'll Never Work In This Town Again


    A kind of prologue to the album - track one introduces the workplace we're spending the album in, though we never get a very clear sense of what this company does. The two tracks that follow set up the themes of automation replacing humans which will be sort of unpicked later on. I thought about splitting these two up, but they go together too well.

    4. Queuejumper

    We meet our first character, a worker who we'll only ever know as 'the Queuejumper' - an unpleasant individual who will stop at nothing to get what he believes he deserves.
    [Edit - in fact, we won't only ever know him as the Queuejumper - his surname, at least, is Knox. Thanks @Vagabone.]

    5. Office Politics
    6. Girl Overboard
    (from the Bang Goes The Knighthood bonus disc)
    7. The Life And Soul Of The Party

    It's the office party, and we meet some of the other workers of The Divine Comedy Ltd, including William Bird (who we've met before, of course). One worker (we might know her as the Girl Overboard, but it could be Christine who enjoys 'Martini after Martini' has fallen under the thrall of the Queuejumper who, of course, considers himself to be the life and soul of the party. They will leave the party and spend the night together. It's entirely possible that, at the party, the Queuejumper forms his plan to murder William Bird and take his position.

    8. Pop Muzik (from the Office Politics bonus disc)
    9. Turning Japanese (from the Office Politics bonus disc)

    The Queuejumper has 'every song there's ever been' on his iPod - here are two well known examples.

    10. A Feather In Your Cap

    Following the night of the office party, the Girl Overboard (Christine?) is cast aside.

    PART TWO

    1. Beside The Railway Tracks (from the Bang Goes The Knighthood bonus disc)
    2. Where Have All The Milkmen Gone (from the Office Politics bonus disc)
    3. Dark Days Are Here Again

    We get a bit metaphorical here. Three songs that deal in themes of isolation and general despair about the state of the world: this is the point in the narrative where William Bird is murdered by the Queuejumper. We don't know the details of the murder, but we know that William's body is buried ("to own a shovel isn't odd"), perhaps by the railway tracks (why not? I like the idea of starting this half with a synthy version of the tune we'll finish with later). Is he observed by the character who lives by the railway tracks? Does this figure report what he saw to the police? Is that how they catch up with him later, maybe. Either way - dark days.

    4. The Synthesizer Service Centre Super Summer Sale

    Back at the Office, we meet another character - Norman - for the first time. He's a man who's grown steadily more dissatisfied with his job - perhaps he's a friend of William's, and now William has disappeared, he dreams of doing the same? At this stage, I'm suggesting that The Divine Comedy Ltd is, at least in part, a marketing company. Norman has put together a campaign for the Synthesizer Service Centre, but his heart isn't really in it.

    5. Philip And Steve's Furniture Removal Company

    Instead, Norman spends more and more time daydreaming about abstract ideas. Maybe he's always wanted to write sitcoms, or maybe he's just searching for a fantasy window outside the mundane nature of his job.

    6. I'm A Stranger Here
    7. Psychological Evaluation
    8. Absolutely Obsolete


    Things come to a head for Norman. Increasingly isolated, he is referred to the HR department of The Divine Comedy Ltd for an evaluation and, as a result, he is dismissed from his position.

    9. After The Lord Mayor's Show

    As Norman prepares for a future beyond The Divine Comedy Ltd, he realises that the real work of building his life begins now.

    10. 'Opportunity' Knox

    Meanwhile, events catch up with the Queuejumper - his crimes are discovered and he is carted off by the police.

    11. Norman And Norma

    Norman and his wife, Norma, look back over the seemingly ordinary life they've lived to discover that things haven't been so bad - despite the hurdles they've had to overcome, they've made it, and they now have the opportunity to develop new interests together as a couple as a result of Norman's forced retirement. A grounded, but happy ending which contrasts with the outcome for the Queuejumper.

    12. When The Working Day Is Done

    And an epilogue - we zoom out from Norman, Norma, Christine and the Queuejumper, and we reflect on some of the themes from our prologue.
     
    Last edited: Nov 13, 2021
  20. jon-senior

    jon-senior Forum Resident

    Location:
    Eastleigh
    Even to me, it's not perfect - I'd rather have had the two covers later in the tracklist, and I'd have liked to have introduced Norman a bit earlier, but it doesn't sound too bad so far. I think using the instrumental synth bonus tracks will help divide the blocks a bit, but I don't know them well enough to place them properly yet. That'll be version 2.
     
  21. Vagabone

    Vagabone Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    The Synthesiser Service Centre Super Summer Sale
    Love this. I love the sound of analogue synths so much but I don't have one or know much about them. This is like a Half Man Half Biscuit song where they pick a very niche subject but one with a rich seam of lore, and give the subject the song it richly deserves, even though it flies in the face of received wisdom that lyrics should be relatable for the largest audience possible. This song really feels like a labour of love, and it's much more interesting and exciting than a lot of other songs on the album. I love the rhymes too. A very funny and cool-sounding song. 4/5
     
  22. LivingForever

    LivingForever Forum Arachibutyrophobic Thread Starter

    Wow, I think this deserves the description of “bonkers genius” just as much as the album does!

    Fantastic work…
     
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  23. Vagabone

    Vagabone Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    Amazing work, but I thought Knox was the murderer?
     
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  24. jon-senior

    jon-senior Forum Resident

    Location:
    Eastleigh
    As in, the murderer is named Knox? I hadn't picked up on that, but they could still be the same person if so, I think.
     
  25. jon-senior

    jon-senior Forum Resident

    Location:
    Eastleigh
    Well, that's very kind. Unfortunately, it means I haven't planned any of my English lessons for next week, so well done me. :sigh:
     
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