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

    Laika’s Theme

    It’s ok. But it’s no “Threesome”.

    2.5
     
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  2. A Tea-Loving Dave

    A Tea-Loving Dave Forum Resident

    Location:
    Northumberland, UK
    I've always rather liked this one - a peaceful and contemplative-feeling instrumental which manages to evoke a sense of heartfelt yearning.... at least for me, anyhow :p

    3.5/5

    ....but I'm not particularly keen on the demo-with-lyrics :p I think that lyrics (even ones actually focused on Laika) would always ruin this one.
     
  3. Zardok

    Zardok Forum Resident

    Location:
    Castle Cary
    Laika’s Theme 4.8

    I love this instrumental. The vocal version, fine as it is, takes away much of its beauty because it imposes the writer's images on you rather than give you the freedom to imagine it in relation to the title. In all honesty I cannot see it as anything else than what it is now, might have been a convenient rather than creative decision but it works perfectly. You wonder if he might not have linked more songs to the characters of the title song and made it a proper concept album.

    What I like about this is how the pretty melody floats delicately, as if depicting the spaceship circling the Earth and seeing the other celestial bodies, and as the music and Laika begin to fade you can hear celestial angels or a benevolent deity or something like that before the music stops and Laika's life is through. But there is still an electronic hum which carries on for a few seconds till it stops abruptly. Laika's life signs or the machinery which outlives her? Excellent touch. The spacecraft, incidentally, soon fell back to Earth with Laika's remains, they did not make very high orbits in those days.

    Laika ("barker" in Russian) was a stray dog. She probably died of overheating rather than in the peaceful fading-out imagined in the song. But then there's poetic licence for you. Undoubtedly one of the most famous animals in history.
     
  4. jon-senior

    jon-senior Forum Resident

    Location:
    Eastleigh
    That would have been interesting.
     
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  5. The Booklover

    The Booklover Forum Resident

    Location:
    Germany
    Sorry for the mix-up, @radiophonic and @Radiophonic_!
     
  6. The Booklover

    The Booklover Forum Resident

    Location:
    Germany
    Laika's Theme
    These are the elements I like about this track. On the whole, though, I have to agree with this:
    2
     
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  7. LivingForever

    LivingForever Forum Arachibutyrophobic Thread Starter

    “Laika’s Theme” scored 53.6 points from 16 votes, for a preliminary score of:

    3.35
     
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  8. LivingForever

    LivingForever Forum Arachibutyrophobic Thread Starter

    Today’s song is:

    Charmed Life

    The final song on “Absent Friends” (how did we get here so quickly?!)

    Here’s what Neil had to say in 2020:

    “ The life of a touring musician and the life of a dad have compatibility issues. I'd come home from tours when Willow was small and she'd be a different little girl to when I went away. Not ideal. During one of the Ben Folds support tours I did in the US, Ben actually brought his wife and young twins along. Respect! I could never have done that. Just looking after my own physical and mental health on the road is hard enough, without having to look after my nearest and dearest. Everyone's different of course, but for me the audience has to be the absolute focus of daily attention. Otherwise I wouldn't feel they're getting their money's worth. It's almost as if, for the duration of the tour, the audience are my children... eurghhh.

    The other side of the coin, however, is that when you're home you really are home. And Charmed Life always takes me back there, to my little bundle of joy at her most helpless. She's anything but helpless now. More sensible than her parents! Our flat backed on to Queen's Wood. To walk Leia you'd just hop over the fence and run down the leafy bank into the trees. One day I took this shortcut with baby strapped onto my chest. Unfortunately it had been raining and the wet leaves took my feet from under me. I plummeted down the bank, my head and **** bouncing off the rocks while I shielded my precious cargo. She didn't even flinch. I swore never to be such a dope again, and to definitely never tell Órla!”


    Here’s the song:

     
  9. LivingForever

    LivingForever Forum Arachibutyrophobic Thread Starter

    And here’s today’s alternate version - a version which would perhaps have fitted onto the same album as the synthpop “Sticks and Stones” / “Our Mutual Friend” or the disco “Come Home Billy Bird”...

    Behold, the “drum and bass” version of “Charmed Life”!

     
  10. LivingForever

    LivingForever Forum Arachibutyrophobic Thread Starter

    And then, because of course, here it is live at the Palladium.

     
  11. Vagabone

    Vagabone Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    Apparently so. Tainted by association.

    Charmed Life

    This is a lovely song. I used to underrate it but I've come round to it in a big way.

    On first listen to this album, I was thoroughly on board with side one (with slight reservations about "Billy Bird" and "Imaginary Friend"). Then side two starts with the awesome, brilliant, womderful "Our Mutual Friend". I really thought we were on course for the big comeback album I wanted so much from Neil. However. Then came "Happy Goth", which I was initially unsure about, and then two utterly (as I saw it) pointless songs that really killed the album dead in its tracks. The final track had to be something really special to get me back on board after this disappointment. I thought of great Divine Comedy album finales of the past: "Lucy", "Tonight We Fly", "The Dogs and the Horses", "Sunrise". I wanted drama, light and shade, a thundering big chorus. That's not what I got. I got a gentle, steady, undramatic song, without a chorus, and with a clichéd title. And the theme was, er, how lucky he is and nice and sweet his family life is. Big deal, I thought.

    As so often, the key is appreciating a song for what it is rather than regretting what it isn't. When I heard the song again live on live streamed concerts, I thought, "Oh, they're digging up that old thing?" And placed inbetween other quality songs, there is less pressure on it to be The Big Finale. It can just be the beautiful, heartfelt, loving song it is. If anything, sandwiched between more grand Divine Comedy songs, it can be a welcome relief.

    Never in my list of all-time favourites though, so : 4/5
     
  12. The Turning Year

    The Turning Year Lowering average scores since 2021

    Location:
    London, UK
    Charmed Life
    Now this for me is the epitomy of 'sounding gorgeous on your stereo with a nice glass of sherry, a roaring fire, and a dog at your feet'. The only problem is that I don't much like dogs and I only drink sherry at Christmas (for tradition's sake).
    Anyone with blessings to count can relate to this song in some way, and anyone with children wants this for their kids, so for me its too full of universal truisms and cliches for it to feel that it is truly personal to Neil, or that it is saying anything tryly prpfiubd (not that every pop song needs to be profound, but when its dressed up so beautifully you feel that perhaps it should!).

    I was all ready to write up a rather scathing review; Disney dream sequence orchestration, syrupy vocal, banjo, sickeningly sentimental lyrics, that 'yeah' that Neil does that always throws me out of a song.

    But then, right at the end, it goes all weird and minor. The song still feels like one of those psychedelic 1970s Disney technicolor dream sequences (Winnie the Pooh being swept away on a river of golden honey ...), with its picture perfect orchestration and swirling chromatic middle section, but...

    ...as the perfect dream fades he wakes to an imperfect reality filled with absent friends, nagging wives, 5am taxi rides, the competing ties of work and family, marital doubts, shipwrecked former lovers, and probably a crying baby.
    Perhaps there's a link here to the dreaming trucker in Freedom Road?

    This ending makes me want to listen to the whole album again from start to finish to see what I might have missed.

    I've always dismissed this record as Neil's 'syrupy Sinatra' album; sounding gorgeous but not having much beneath the surface; the first in a succession of 'Divine Comedy by numbers' albums. But perhaps I'm wrong...

    I still don't really like the song on its own, but I feel I may come to with time.
    3.5/5.0
     
  13. Zardok

    Zardok Forum Resident

    Location:
    Castle Cary
    Charmed Life 4.2

    I like this song precisely because of how understated it is. It is a paean not just to whatever Neil's personal happiness but to life itself for the many who lead a charmed life and often, unfortunately, don't realise it until it is too late. Me, I listen to this song and it reminds me of all the good times, the good people, the laughter and fun and it makes me think, "yes, this wasn't a bad ride after all". But of course we all know that Neil Hannon is a superficial clown who cannot evoke strong emotions in his listeners, only titters and fnarrs, fnarrs.

    You know, I am beginning to feel ambiguous about this thread. I love talking about Divine Comedy music but it gets to the point that you need to watch out - analyse everything, enjoy nothing. The picking of nits is an easy task, I see monkeys doing it every day with little training, the creation of great songs is a rather more difficult task and, actually, you can't learn it if you don't have those songs in you. I am reading a lot of criticisms, some make sense and some less so, and it begins to feel as if people who enjoyed his work seem to enjoy it less when they slice it up and put it under the microscope. Ah well.
     
  14. christian42

    christian42 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Lund, Sweden
    Charmed Life

    A lovely ending that finishes the album on a high, and left this listener wanting more. Neil eulogising the warmth of family life, definitely not edgy stuff. Though why lyrics have to be edgy is beyond me.

    Is this the first finale on a TDC to really satisfy me since "Tonight We Fly"? I think it is! ("The Beauty Regime" is a good song, but not as good as this one.)

    4.3

    (The alternative version has a nice string arrangement, but the intrusive drums are annoying.)
     
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  15. a paul

    a paul Forum Resident

    Location:
    London
    Charmed Life

    It’s ok. But it’s no “Laika’s Theme”.

    3.7
     
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  16. jon-senior

    jon-senior Forum Resident

    Location:
    Eastleigh
    Charmed Life

    I think, when the album was originally released, I saw this as a definite highlight. It's over-sentimental, yes, but this was the first TDC album to be released after I was married, so I guess I identified with that sentiment.

    I don't think it has quite the same effect on me now, but I'd still consider it an effective end to the album. It ties together some of the wider themes of the album, I think - that sense of searching for an identity that comes through Leaving Today, My Imaginary Friend, Freedom Road and, to a degree, the title track and Happy Goth, but it also does its own thing nicely. It's not the best thing he's ever done - it's not the best thing on the album - but it's sweet and seemingly sincere, and Joby’s orchestration makes up for any failings it might has. A satisfactory end to an album I've never quite been entirely sure about.

    3.5/5
     
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  17. Hazey John II

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

    Catching up: Laika's Theme - I also have resented this from time to time, wondering what could have been in its place, but on its own terms it really is a lovely thing, and I feel as @BobaMosfett and @Zardok re Laika. The fact that Neil just plopped this title onto something originally meant for something else, in order to give the album the illusion of a structure that it doesn't really have, should probably annoy me, but actually it makes me like it more. 3.5/5

    I also think it makes more sense in terms of this unloved idea, about Absent Friends being the end of the adventures of the man in the suit. Sunrise is that man reaching maturity; Absent Friends is about him coming to terms with it. Freedom Road is where he consciously accepts it; Laika's Theme is a moment of letting go, or perhaps a settling of the dæmon as per His Dark Materials; Charmed Life is rebirth, and back to the starting point.
     
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  18. Hazey John II

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

    Charmed Life is a Top 5 DC song for me; I can still rarely get through it without welling up. I never play it for people; made that mistake once and got an 'Oh f--- off!' when the arrangement kicks in. And yes, it's completely over the top in its syrupy Disneyness, and it's so aggressive about it - the see-saw piano and glockenspiel from the very start, and then, just as we might think we've settled into an acoustic number, the woodwinds blow in sharply, and yes, hang on lady, we're going for a ride.

    But of course that's the point - it's a moment of pure happiness captured in time, the kind of moment maybe we all crave, when absolutely everything is right with the world. And of course life is not like that, and Neil knows that, and we all know that, but just for these four minutes, maybe we can try... It doesn't deny suffering exists, as some Disney-like sentimentality can do; instead it shows us the value and joy of dealing with that suffering by being thankful for what we do have.

    The course of true love never ran smooth. They broke my heart, and I broke theirs too, and breaking up is so very hard to do. But I knew I'd find the one, and sure enough she came along, and not long after that along came you.

    Probably my favourite Hannon verse. It's not flashy, no clever inner rhymes or puns or anything. But the way it compresses the joy and pain of many years, the swinging back and forth of hope and despair, and a quiet faith or strength of character, and transmutes it into a moment of pure serenity and gratitude... by the time the orchestra kicks in on the modulation, I'm a mess.

    (Of course there is also the amusing textual game of whether he's addressing a woman or a baby, broken by the 'along came you', which makes the 'yeah, baby' a delight for me.)

    And yes, I'm deeply grateful my life is charmed enough that I have an hour or two every day to listen to and think about songs like this with all of you. Don't like 'em all of course, but this one - this one's special. 5/5
     
  19. James Cunningham

    James Cunningham Forum Resident

    Location:
    Edinburgh, UK
    Charmed Life

    A really postive finish to the album with this lovely song. It may be straightforward lyrically but the music is always interesting. There are some really nice chord changes, in the arrangement- and more banjo:D

    I agree that when this finishes I want to hear the whole album again. I forget about the tracks I am less fond of, and that's no bad thing.

    4/4

    P.S- the drum machine pattern on the alternative version is incredibly distracting...
     
  20. LivingForever

    LivingForever Forum Arachibutyrophobic Thread Starter

    4/5 or 5/5? Don’t confuse the scoring system even more! :D
     
  21. ericthegardener

    ericthegardener Forum Resident

    Location:
    Dallas, TX
    Charmed Life

    The only time I'm bothered by sentimentality is when it seems insincere. Not a problem here. I love the sound of Neil's voice on this song, much prefer the way his voice sounds from this album on to the earlier albums (even though he sounds great on those earlier albums). Always seemed like a song out of a musical to me, but if musicals had songs this good I'd be a lot more into musicals. I feel like there is a lot of drama in this song, especially in that final verse. I don't think I perceive Charmed Life as being quite as gentle as others do. 4.8/5

    Side note: I don't think I knew until just now that Neil's daughter Willow was also a musician. Did we already discuss that?

    Willow Hannon
     
  22. James Cunningham

    James Cunningham Forum Resident

    Location:
    Edinburgh, UK
    Doh!- 4/5:D
     
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  23. LivingForever

    LivingForever Forum Arachibutyrophobic Thread Starter

    Charmed Life

    I’ve always found this a lovely song, but being the parent of a similar-aged child to Neil when he presumably wrote this may have added an extra dimension.

    Yes, it’s sentimental and syrupy and “Disney” (like that’s a bad thing - is it the celesta or glockenspiel that gives it that feel?)

    But it’s a real roller coaster, from the cheerful opening chorus (where even the orchestra are swaying from side to side at the Palladium gig) to the slightly anxious sounding verses with their unexpected chords.

    And then, to cap it all off, there’s that triumphant instrumental middle 8 going into the gut-punching third verse: “sometimes this life is like being afloat / on a raging sea in a little row boat...” and the arrangement properly puts you out there on the ocean being battered by the storms of life.

    It might not be an epic closing track in quite the same way as “Tonight We Fly” or “Dogs and Horses”, or “Sunrise”, but it’s the perfect ending to this album, and I probably wouldn’t want to be the song that tried to follow it.

    5
     
  24. LivingForever

    LivingForever Forum Arachibutyrophobic Thread Starter

    As for the alternate version - that’s a weird one, isn’t it?

    Can’t work out whether it’s an early demo or something he did for fun at a later stage - but I quite like it. I wouldn’t want to replace the proper version with it but I’m kind of glad to have it. The drum and bass-type percussion doesn’t annoy me as much as it does some, and I really like those couple of extra beats between the chorus and the verse where it sort of falls down a bassy hole before starting up again...
     
  25. Linky53

    Linky53 Forum Resident

    Location:
    North Yorkshire UK
    Laikas Theme

    I see this piece as a prelude to the final track. It’s a slight instrumental, not a patch on Theme from Casanova but serves a purpose in the album sequence.
    2.5/5

    Charmed Life

    A wonderful closing song. This one always makes me feel slightly mushy inside. A proud father looking back on his life and wanting his child to have all the good things he has had, including being a father. Some may find this to sentimental and a little corny. It’s a song that marks a stage in Neil’s life, a happy song full of hope for the future and love for what he has.
    4.5/5
     
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