Timewatching: The Divine Comedy Album-by-album thread

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

  1. The Booklover

    The Booklover Forum Resident

    Location:
    Germany
    Take Your Drum
    I applaud your imagination in trying to link this to the concept of the album. Luckily, I'm not that fond of the track, so I don't have to.;)
    I agree with you regarding more synth tracks, but I prefer the three non-Moog instrumentals from the bonus disc plus "ARP Break".
    For me it's the other way round. I find the vocal here too annoying to warrant repeated listening, while the instrumentals let my mind wander and provide some breathing space on my expanded double album.

    This is my least favourite synth bonus track of the bunch, mainly because of the vocal effect and the repetitive lyrics outstaying their welcome. Also, because of the lyrics, I think this doesn't really work for me in the context of the album. I see that @christian42 also included the four synth instrumentals of the era in his version, but didn't bother with trying to fit this one in.

    2
     
    Last edited: Nov 24, 2021
  2. Dalav

    Dalav Forum Resident

    Location:
    New Jersey
    Where Have All The Milkmen Gone
    I could certainly see this on the album, possibly as an interlude between tracks--somewhat like various snippets on The Wall. And the sound fits the album. A great collage of piano, synths, and effects. Quite like both the rising "blasted into space" section leading into the pensive downshift at the very end. A perfect length for what it is.
    3.3/5


    Take Your Drum

    I do like the weight of the synths here and would like to have heard them applied elsewhere, but...
    ...pretty much this.
    1.75/5
     
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  3. christian42

    christian42 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Lund, Sweden
    Take Your Drum

    Quite right. It's a bit too silly for my version of the album. I probably like it a bit better than you do, though I can see how some of those robotic sounds can become annoying quite quickly. So I might use it in my TDC playlist, but it won't fit on the album (which is more of a serious affair, especially in my incarnation).

    3.5
     
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  4. LivingForever

    LivingForever Forum Arachibutyrophobic Thread Starter

    Next bonus track from the Office Politics bonus disc:

    Olivia, New Tron Song

    The first of several tracks which have been given names based on puns around the name of the featured instrument - the Mellotron (or most likely some sort of Mellotron plugin).

     
  5. drykid

    drykid Forum Resident

    Location:
    Hereford, UK
    Isn't it just a play on "Olivia Newton John"? It doesn't contain anything that sounds obviously like a mellotron to me, although those things came with quite a few sounds and I'm mostly familiar with the more frequently used ones like the flute setting used for Strawberry Fields Forever. So if it's one of the lesser-user sounds then it may be that I'm just failing to recognise it.
     
  6. drykid

    drykid Forum Resident

    Location:
    Hereford, UK
    Olivia, New Tron Song - maybe there's the makings of a song in there somewhere but it's buried fairly deeply. It's not even particularly played well, so I imagine Neil was improvising the lead part as he went along. Either that or he was having a bad day. If other people are going to tell me that this should've been on the album then frankly I'm baffled as to why anyone would think that. Sorry another 0 / 5 from me.
     
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  7. The Turning Year

    The Turning Year Lowering average scores since 2021

    Location:
    London, UK
    Olivia, New Tron Song
    It sounds like an improvised doodle or messing around to me. The kind of thing that something could possibly have emerged from but hasn't yet. Not sure it needs a score really.
    Does it have anything to do with Olivia Newton John? (I don't know her at all beyond Grease)
     
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  8. christian42

    christian42 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Lund, Sweden
    Olivia, New Tron Song

    I like the mellotron in small doses and when it's used to spice up recordings, but I find it hard to take when it's too intrusive or like here when it's on its own. There's not much of a melody either with this track, so for me this is eminently skippable.

    2.2
     
  9. LivingForever

    LivingForever Forum Arachibutyrophobic Thread Starter

    You clearly don’t listen to much Progressive rock! :D

    Seriously though, that string sound you hear throughout this track is one of the other classic Mellotron sounds as used heavily by King Crimson and Genesis and goodness knows who else.

    Having said that, yes of course it’s also a play on ONJ- I don’t think the track itself has anything to do with her, I reckon the track names of all these “Tron” doodles are just puns (much like all those “hilarious” book-related puns in the weird 2015 version of “The Booklovers”.)

    As for this track… I mean, it’s just him messing about with a mellotron plug-in, isn’t it. He seems to have found a chord progression he likes, and plays around with with for a bit, but it does sound quite improvised.

    Like “Take your Drum” yesterday I’m not even going to rate this because I don’t think there’s any universe in which it was intended as a completed piece.
     
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  10. drykid

    drykid Forum Resident

    Location:
    Hereford, UK
    Not really no, I've heard very little King Crimson and most of the Genesis I've heard is late seventies on, by which time they were using synths heavily. Now that you've pointed out it's the string sound specifically then I'm happy to go with your judgement on it :) I know Neil has an ARP Solina string synth - he mentions it in the booklet - but those have a very distinctive sound (I have one myself, kind of) and it's certainly not that I'm hearing on this track.

    Yeah maybe I shouldn't rate these things either ; they're all going to get very low scores from me I suspect. But I feel like I've rated everything so far (apart from "To Our Fathers In Distress" and "In May", which I skipped not because I didn't consider them worth rating, just because it seemed a bit too much to take on...) so maybe I should just keep going.
     
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  11. The Turning Year

    The Turning Year Lowering average scores since 2021

    Location:
    London, UK
    The Best Mistakes again
    I like it now.

    3/5
     
  12. The Booklover

    The Booklover Forum Resident

    Location:
    Germany
    Yes, he uses the Mellotron signature sounds from the likes of Genesis. Here's a golden 'oldie' from 1972:

     
  13. The Booklover

    The Booklover Forum Resident

    Location:
    Germany
    Julian Cope, being a Mellotron afficionado, also revived it in his later work. This closing track from Black Sheep (2008) sounds like him imagining what Joy Division would have sounded like if they had used Mellotrons:

     
  14. jon-senior

    jon-senior Forum Resident

    Location:
    Eastleigh
    Olivia, New Tron Song

    Yes, I think I'd agree. I like the idea of using some instrumental bits to segue between tracks on an extended version of the album, but there's a difference between 'idea for a track that is ultimately abandoned' and 'someone playing around', and this sound very much like it fits into the latter category. 0/5 seems harsh, but only because I don't really think it's worth a score at all.
     
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  15. drykid

    drykid Forum Resident

    Location:
    Hereford, UK
    Ahh ok :) I watched it to see what he was playing, but by the time there's a close-up of Banks (or of anything else for that matter; the camera work leaves something to be desired) he's switched to the organ instead so you can't really see what he was doing at the start.
     
  16. Vagabone

    Vagabone Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    Take Your Drum 1/5
    Olivia New Tron Song 2/5

    Judiciously discarded off-cuts from the great pop musik machine that's always switched on in Castle Hannon.
     
  17. LivingForever

    LivingForever Forum Arachibutyrophobic Thread Starter

    Here’s something a bit better from that perspective - in the opening song (Fountain of Salmacis) you can see Tony playing organ with his right hand and what I think is the mellotron with that lovely string chorus with his left!

     
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  18. drykid

    drykid Forum Resident

    Location:
    Hereford, UK
    Yep that's unmistakably a Mellotron; there's nothing else I can think of with a keyboard split in the middle with a gap inbetween like that has (well nothing that anyone is likely to be seen on stage with, anyway.)
     
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  19. LivingForever

    LivingForever Forum Arachibutyrophobic Thread Starter

    Shall we do another bonus track? There’s not a whole lot to say about poor old Olivia, really…

    The Erotic Dreams of Andrea Palladio

    Anyone know who Andrea is? Ahh wait, he was an Italian Renaissance architect…

    Andrea Palladio - Wikipedia

     
  20. The Turning Year

    The Turning Year Lowering average scores since 2021

    Location:
    London, UK
    He's only the godfather of classical architecture! If you're ever in Vicenza in northern Italy, do visit some of his villas there, they are lovely.

    I was excited to see there was a song about him on the box set.
    Less excited that it was about his 'erotic dreams' (which probably had to do with pediments and peristyles anyway:p).
    Even less excited once I actually heard it.

    It seems more formed than Olivia, and I might stick it in a long playlist of the album to break it up, but it's not doing much for me.
    For the title alone 4/5
    Actual song 2/5
     
    Last edited: Nov 25, 2021
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  21. TheLemmingFace

    TheLemmingFace Forum Resident

    Location:
    London
    I was so excited by all the titles on the Office Politics bonus disc when it was eventually revealed - Oliva New Tron Song a personal favourite. Was very disappointed to discover they're all just electronic doodles (The Erotic Dreams of Andrea Palladio is one of the only ones I've ever wanted to listen to more than once, incidentally. It's very pleasant).

    The bonuses for Foreverland and Office Politics seem noticeably weaker than for all the other discs in the box set - they are the only ones with basically no completed outtakes or new songs. And they weren't announced at the same time as the others: there was a long delay before their contents were shared. Now that the Charmed Life bonus disc has been revealed, I'd say it's fairly clear that all the good outtakes from the last two albums were held over for this: which makes perfect sense!
     
  22. LivingForever

    LivingForever Forum Arachibutyrophobic Thread Starter

    That’s what I’m really hoping is the case! I can’t imagine he’d put more nonsense doodles on the extra disc of a greatest hits compilation?
     
  23. The Booklover

    The Booklover Forum Resident

    Location:
    Germany
    Olivia, New Tron Song
    I've got nothing to add here.


    The Erotic Dreams of Andrea Palladio
    Yes, that's more like it. It's not a masterpiece but envokes a nice atmosphere. As explained upthread, I've added it to the album between "The Life And Soul Of The Party" and "A Feather In Your Cap". I'd like to replace the name in the title with one of the characters from the office. Any suggestions?

    3.5

    I actually really like both discs for several alternate versions that equal or better the album versions, most of the synth instrumentals, some fun covers, and the superior demo of "One Ear Up, One Ear Down". Moreover, I think "The Divine Comedy Ltd" is a completed outtake.
     
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  24. a paul

    a paul Forum Resident

    Location:
    London
    Olivia
    2.2

    Andrea
    2

    Think I prefer Olivia. Plus it's shorter. Although the second half of Andrea has a brief moment of a tune, and could grow on me.
     
  25. christian42

    christian42 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Lund, Sweden
    Andrea Palladio

    I like this one, it’s probably the best one of the synth instrumentals we got on this bonus disc. I’d agree that this is also the closest to an actual tune of the three I selected for my re-make of the album. Enjoyable.

    3.9
     
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