Timewatching: The Divine Comedy Album-by-album thread

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

  1. LivingForever

    LivingForever Forum Arachibutyrophobic Thread Starter

    What’s really funny to me about this album is that we all agree it’s one of those patchy albums with some really big highs and crushing lows, and it that would benefit from losing some songs.

    I think most people now have given out at least one zero/one, and a 4/5… Trouble is none of us can agree which songs are the masterpieces and which should clearly be torched into oblivion!
     
  2. The Turning Year

    The Turning Year Lowering average scores since 2021

    Location:
    London, UK
    Maybe we should all offer up our own single album (11-13 tracks?) tracklist at the end of the album?
    Would be interesting to compare which songs get chucked out and whether there are any that all of us would lose!
    (Oh god, I can feel myself becoming an actual nerd... A year ago I really would not have described comparing a personalised album tracklist with a bunch of strangers on the internet as 'interesting!!:p;))
     
  3. TheLemmingFace

    TheLemmingFace Forum Resident

    Location:
    London
    Erm hi, it's Grinchworm here...

    Actually I think I Like (Alternate Version) is the best rock-ish track he's done in his later period - it's not balls-to-the-wall rock, but it's got an honesty that something like Dark Days Are Here Again, with its mannered construction and intense artifice just doesn't capture. I guess it depends on what you mean by 'rocking'!
    Yes, this has been fascinating me too. I'd genuinely thought there were objectively weak tracks on Office Politics - it seems I was wrong! So credit to Neil for, apparently, genuinely succeeding in the purpose of a double album and pleasing/disappointing everyone.
     
  4. DaniMoonstar

    DaniMoonstar Forum Resident

    Location:
    Staffordshire
    Dark days are here again
    The main sections sound a little like an outtake from ‘The Rocky Horror show’. I’m not sure if it’s meant to sound malevolent: it’s more silly than anything else. I do like the instrumental mid section, which could be located in a French cafe. It’s oddly camp and OTT. Not entirely sure what I make of it.

    2.5/5
     
  5. The Turning Year

    The Turning Year Lowering average scores since 2021

    Location:
    London, UK
    How could I forget - one of the highlights of the box set!! :D
    Is that rock and roll? Or just rocking back and forth in the corner or the room waiting for the world to recognise your irrefutable genius... :shrug::p
    :wtf:
     
  6. ericthegardener

    ericthegardener Forum Resident

    Location:
    Dallas, TX
    Do we all agree? I believe my lowest score has been a 3.2. Anything above a 3 is a song I generally like. My feelings about this album are quite positive without removing anything. I thought there a few others who generally like it, but I may be confused.
     
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  7. The Booklover

    The Booklover Forum Resident

    Location:
    Germany
    I agree with you that we don't all agree. I've got some catching up to do, but (spoiler alert!) I really enjoy the album overall and I may end up with no song below a 3 as well. Unlike with previous albums, I certainly wouldn't want to remove anything but rather add something as others have already suggested.
     
  8. LivingForever

    LivingForever Forum Arachibutyrophobic Thread Starter

    Ok, sorry chaps for putting words in your mouth!

    Let’s try again… *many of us* seem to think this album has extreme highs and lows :)
     
  9. christian42

    christian42 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Lund, Sweden
    That early version of ”Dark Days” I had almost forgotten. It’s a good one in its own right, though a bit too ponderous to be entirely successful, IMO. But I am of course one of those who enjoy the bombastic doom of the album version.
     
  10. The Booklover

    The Booklover Forum Resident

    Location:
    Germany
    Thanks for pointing towards this. I'll definitely watch the Cope episode (just had a brief look and I totally get that "Psychological Evaluation" reminded you of this programme), and there are several other artists I like.

    Ha, I know exactly how you feel, as it happened to me a few times, too, in the past year.

    A Feather in Your Cap
    It's a bit strange then that the song doesn't follow "The Life And Soul Of The Party" in the TV show. Then again, the whole programme could be seen as an office party. After all, it's a Release Party taking place in an office.
    I see where you come from. That said, the protagonist of that song is ridiculed pretty thoroughly, so it's not very convincing that the victim in this song would fall for this guy in particular.

    I think he does try to sound more fragile than usual. To me, it works.
    Which is why I can totally see this also from the perspective of a male who is sounding vulnerable.
    I feel the same way.

    Interesting, I don't get that effect at all.

    That's a fitting comparison, and I find both songs blander than other material from them.
    That's even more apt. I also found this quite boring at the time, so I totally get where @jon-senior is coming from here:
    Yes, it won't get top marks from me either, but I prefer this backing track to any orchestral flourishes. It ties in with the sound of most of the album and an orchestral version would have been too schmaltzy. So funnily I'm tending more towards this:
    I think I'll give it a 3.5.
     
  11. Linky53

    Linky53 Forum Resident

    Location:
    North Yorkshire UK
    Dark Days

    Not a lot in there that attracts me to the song. The middle section is inoffensive and fairly pleasant but before and after doesn’t appeal to me. No problem with politics in songs (Sunrise is a classic) but the raw, overbearing production is not my favourite. I know it goes with the sentiment of the song but I don’t find it a particularly enjoyable listen.
    2.5/5
     
  12. Hazey John II

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

    Sorry to say neither of these last two really connect with me. I like I'm A Stranger Here intellectually, and it's a very pretty arrangement, but I drift off... I get a refugee feeling from it too, but that doesn't square well with Neil feeling a bit out of touch, eg: "'Where has everybody gone?' It's like everybody's having conversations that I'm not party to." Maybe don't move to a nice house in the countryside? 3/5

    And Dark Days... the not-that-rocking arrangement masks (and the demo reveals) that it's basically the same French accordion thing again, and I was already a bit bored. And as bombastic as the final version is, it's still not really silly enough to throw the gruesome mood into any kind of relief. I do remember feeling this way, but I don't remember this song ever really working for me, and (thankfully I guess) I'm having great difficulty reconnecting with the same feeling now. 2/5
     
  13. Dalav

    Dalav Forum Resident

    Location:
    New Jersey
    I'm A Stranger Here

    Definitely agree that its natural home would be Bang, and in the vein of the title track of that album. I quite like the palpable dread felt by this character as I imagine he walks through empty streets at night in desperation. The bassoon solo is good, but equally effective are the uneasy strings behind it--a well done creeping and creepy atmosphere.

    3.9/5
     
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  14. Dalav

    Dalav Forum Resident

    Location:
    New Jersey
    Dark Days Are Here Again

    Whatever theme Neil had in mind is presented so vaguely that it simply breezed past me without alighting. Consequently, the force of the heavier sections has little context and sounds more overwrought than anything else. I guess I'm not diving in too deep into the theme of this one. Neil is angry here? Not quite getting any such personal investment from him. Just seems like another character he's taken on.

    Some of this may come down to my general aversion to the dystopian that @The Turning Year referred to. So, not finding as much to like in the heavier sections, somewhat predictably I do like the slower middle section, much as @DaniMoonstar does. But overall, for a song with such dynamics, it's falling a bit flat for me. The early version perhaps works better but lacks the positives of the punch and contrast of the album version, so neither get top marks.

    2.8/5
     
  15. Vagabone

    Vagabone Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    Yeah, 2/5 is my lowest score (for Psychological Whatdyacallit) and I don't mind that as an interstitial. I like the album pretty well as it is. Will gladly add my two cents on alternative tracklistings at the end when we've looked at all the songs.

    With "Dark Days" it looks like we're leading for the biggest travesty yet in this thread unless there are some last minute high scores to save the day!
     
  16. a paul

    a paul Forum Resident

    Location:
    London
    Dark Days
    So, that Brexit, ey? What were they thinking! :D

    I like this song, and the gospel big ending also. It's the music that appeals to me the most with this one again, but I quite like the sort of Dracula type singing. At least, it sounds like an elderly Dracula type person to me. 4/5
     
  17. LivingForever

    LivingForever Forum Arachibutyrophobic Thread Starter

    Sorry; am having a challenging day at work. Today’s song will be delayed a bit :)
     
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  18. The Booklover

    The Booklover Forum Resident

    Location:
    Germany
    Of course, you're entitled to your opinion that this is the worst song in TDC's catalogue, but from what you wrote your aversion seems to stem from the live version you experienced. It doesn't really sound as if it's the fault of the studio version, merely a poor performance. I mean, the backing track is what I (and other defenders here) enjoy most about the song, so turning it into an a capella rendition and then forgetting the words obviously doesn't seem to do the track justice.

    That's true, why shouldn't this be applied to concept albums, too.


    I’m a Stranger Here

    Yes, I think the second half of the album would have profited from the inclusion of a couple of uptempo songs. I've probably written it before, but I don't like tracklists where there's too many slow songs after one another. Suede have been guilty of that, ending a lot of their albums with at least three ballads. The problem is it lessens the impact of each ballad. Likewise, uptempo tracks lose their power without calmer moments inbetween. That's why I generally prefer a good mix of ballads, mid-tempo tracks and bangers.

    That's a good comparison, which makes me appreciate the song more, because I love that film even though I don't like musicals in general.

    3.5
     
  19. ericthegardener

    ericthegardener Forum Resident

    Location:
    Dallas, TX
    Dark Days Are Here Again

    I guess it's the kind of song that's right up my alley. Chords, melody, arrangement, subject matter all working for me. 3.9/5
     
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  20. LivingForever

    LivingForever Forum Arachibutyrophobic Thread Starter

    Alrighty then, today's song is:

    Philip and Steve's Furniture Removal Company

    An almighty dose of daftness, puncturing the somewhat melancholy feel of the second half of the album.

    2019 Neil:
    “A silly song with a great time signature. I heard that [American composers] Philip Glass and Steve Reich did furniture removal in the '60s to make some money. It might be an urban myth, I don't care. It means nothing to me whether it's true or not, it's basically just a brilliant idea.”[/]

    2020 Neil:

    In my life I've probably listened to more late twentieth-century minimalism than any other musical genre, including pop music. Especially the last two composers on the list you've just read. It's the only music I can listen to without constantly examining and deconstructing it. The only music that allows my mind to wander. It's my 'go to' soundtrack for travel boredom. One day I read in the paper that Messrs Glass and Reich had, in their early unsuccessful years, made a few extra quid moving furniture.It was a wonderful image. I mulled it over as I walked to our studio, forming the phrase “Philip And Steve's Furniture Removal Company”. It sort of rhymed with itself. I gave it a little tune. What if it was the theme for a sitcom based on the early lives of ... I quickly got out my phone and recorded a kind of pitch for the show. I hadn't a clue what it was for. When I got into the studio I recorded the tune - just sang it round and round and round. Now, what would Steve do? He would sing it again, but at a slightly different speed so it starts to overlap and create interesting syncopations. Separately I worked on a version using their favoured instrumentation; marimba, piano, squeaky organ, string ensemble, etc. All the while trying not to label it. Trying not to let it become a song. At some point when it was nearing completion I played it to Cathy. She shook her head in bewilderment and said, boys are weird ...

     
  21. LivingForever

    LivingForever Forum Arachibutyrophobic Thread Starter

    And here’s a live version from London on the tour. Featuring actual furniture removal :D

     
  22. LivingForever

    LivingForever Forum Arachibutyrophobic Thread Starter

    And lastly, here’s an “alternate version” from the boxset.

     
  23. jon-senior

    jon-senior Forum Resident

    Location:
    Eastleigh
    Philip and Steve's Furniture Removal Company

    Is this the oddest TDC album track there's ever been? Quite possibly. I'd imagine that, if you came to this album without any preconceptions, it'd be this track and Synthesiser that would define it for you - the ones that stand out the most against the more conventional work. This is far less annoying that Synthesiser, though. It is weird, but in it's own quite lovely way. The overlapping vocal part at the beginning is kind of hypnotic, the marimba (?) part in the middle is also quite hypnotic (though in a different way) and the choral part at the end allows the song to fully embrace the daftness that runs right through it. I wonder whether it would have made the cut if Neil had trimmed the album down to 11/12 tracks, or whether it would have been put aside for the eventual archive release, but I'm glad it's there, even if it doesn't really fit the themes of the album (or the narrative, if you embrace such a thing).

    I can't remember when it was, but I remember Stewart Lee getting a mention at some stage earlier in the thread - he comes to mind here as well. The repetition of a daft idea which starts funny, stops being funny through overuse, then stats being funny again because you've pushed through the pain barrier, for want of a better phrase.

    3.5/5
     
  24. The Booklover

    The Booklover Forum Resident

    Location:
    Germany
    Dark Days are Here Again
    Neither is the doom ratcheted up to epic proportions nor does this sound anything like Ian Curtis on "Heart And Soul", the effect on Neil's voice here actually sounds more akin to the one in "A Feather In Your Cap" (sorry, @LivingForever), especially on the early version.
    I'm puzzled by this as well. It's a nice flourish but nothing earth-shattering.
    I second all of the above. I guess everything is relative, and we have to take into account that (excepting early releases and demos) this is as edgy as TDC gets and an angry post-punk song is out of the question.

    Thematically, this speaks to me, too. Musically, it's another world-weary song that plods along.
    The occasional bursts of electric guitar don't make this a fast song. I would still call it slow, it's just that the quiet parts are broken up by louder parts, which still move along at a snail's pace.

    I agree with you, but taking on another character isn't out of place in context of the other songs on this album.

    Yes, it resonates more with me, too, but I prefer the final version musically.

    It's probably my favourite line (and could also be applied to the way children are exposed to corona in German schools), so it's a shame that he ditched it on the final version.

    In a way, the gospel chorus is taking what little edge there was off the track, but you're right that the title phrase sounds more forceful here than before.

    Exactly this. Unfortunately, I was never a fan of the French accordion thing, so it kind of dilutes the message. That said, it's certainly different to his usual derivative French dirges, and I empathise with the message, so I'll give it a 3.5.
     
  25. christian42

    christian42 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Lund, Sweden
    Philip and Steve's Furniture Removal Company

    I'm on the same page as @jon-senior here. It's silly and very out there, like Synthesizer, but at least it's a much better song. However, that doesn't mean that I like it much anyway. I'd really, really have liked if Neil had seen fit to just put the backing instrumentation on the box set as a separate track. Sure, a part of it is played without any voices going over the backing, but unfortunately not enough. But I'll consider extracting that part and adding that to my TDC playlist. The rest is pointless to me.

    The early version is more of a song and the middle bit reminds me quite a lot of "I Am", which we discussed quite some time ago. I'd probably have liked it better if this were put on the album, though that would have meant that we didn't get that lovely marimba backing...

    Let's settle for a 3.0 overall for this track in all its incarnations.
     
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