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
    This sums it up perfectly. I really love the lyric booklet and the well-written liner notes. If anything, I can't get enough of them: it would have been even better if lyrics and comments for all songs had been included. But given the price of the set, you can't really complain on that front.
     
  2. LivingForever

    LivingForever Forum Arachibutyrophobic Thread Starter

    You’re right; they were both unreleased. For some reason I thought “Girl Overboard” was one of the original “Bang” iTunes bonus tracks. I’d definitely include that in my list too, now.
     
    Last edited: Nov 30, 2021
    The Booklover likes this.
  3. The Booklover

    The Booklover Forum Resident

    Location:
    Germany
    Oh, it's only now I noticed that I crossed that threshold. Well, I'll say, "Well done, all of us. And thanks for being such a great host!"

    We could continue with our alternative tracklistings for the best-of album. I recall that someone proposed doing these (around the time we discussed A Secret History) once we reached the end of the Office Politics era.
     
  4. LivingForever

    LivingForever Forum Arachibutyrophobic Thread Starter

    You guys can do what you like afterwards, but I have two more songs and a couple of history lessons for you over the next day or so, and then I’m going to take an extended break from obsessive checking of this forum, I think! :D
     
  5. Radiophonic_

    Radiophonic_ Electrosonic

    Location:
    Royal Oak MI
    Yeah, I had suggested that. I believe my ground rules given by the imaginary label person were:
    - must include one track from each record
    - must include at least six singles of your choice
    - must fit on one CD (which means double vinyl as well)
    - otherwise be as idiosyncratic as you wish, or stick to the tried and true classics if you like
     
  6. LivingForever

    LivingForever Forum Arachibutyrophobic Thread Starter

    Wow that’s a terrible sentence…
     
  7. drykid

    drykid Forum Resident

    Location:
    Hereford, UK
    Here you go, should play in VLC on a PC at least; you might need to convert it to something else to play elsewhere:

    fgjkleoo - 1280x720 3785K.track_257.aac
     
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  8. LivingForever

    LivingForever Forum Arachibutyrophobic Thread Starter

    Divine Comedy History Lesson, Part 45

    By May 2020, the world is quite a different place, but Neil seems to be keeping himself busy.

    On the 3rd of May, a momentous event takes place - the first ever “Isolation Song Contest” - organised by comedian Tom Taylor as a charity fundraiser and unofficial replacement for the sadly cancelled 2020 Eurovision. (I say sadly because Iceland really REALLY deserved to win that!)

    The brief - 14 comedians and musicians have just a week to come up with a song and a video for the country they have been randomly assigned, with the videos premiering on May the 3rd and voting taking place over the next few weeks, with the winners being announced on May 22nd.

    Why’s this relevant? Well, Neil takes part, writing and performing what he himself describes as his fourth fake Eurovision song under the pseudonym of Eduardo Maldonado Castellano De La Cruz, as Spain’s entry.

    In the end he comes second, losing out on the public vote to Mel Giedroyc’s “Italian” entry, but still - lots of money is raised for charity and everyone has a flipping good time in the process.

    If you’re interested in the whole thing, you can watch the live show here:

    https://youtu.be/bJCGbIwuSvI

    And the results show here:

    https://youtu.be/E1FjP4MInXU

    But here’s Neil’s entry all by itself…






     
    Last edited: Dec 1, 2021
  9. Vagabone

    Vagabone Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    Fun song. Someone in the comments kindly posted the lyrics:

    Despacito, Oye como va
    Vino tinto, huevos tortilla
    Arantxa Sánchez Vicario
    Grab your flamenco guitaro

    Te amo, te amo España
    I am your number one fan, yeah
    The sun and the sea and the sand, yeah
    Te amo, te amo España
    Nine times out of ten your paella
    Does not make me feel unwell-a
    I take you as you are, you take me as I am, oh,
    Te amo, te amo España

    Manchego queso, pimientos de Padrón
    Una paloma blanca, jamón jamón
    Enrique y Julio Iglesias
    Taught me all these Spanish phrases
    And I just want to say, muchos muchos gracias

    Te amo, te amo España
    I am your number one fan, yeah
    The sun and the sea and the sand, yeah
    Te amo, te amo España
    If you are the man from La Mancha
    I will be you Sancho Panza
    I take you as you are, you take me as I am, oh,
    Te amo, te amo España

    Te amo, te amo España
    I don't always quite understand ya
    But I do the best that I can, yeah
    Te amo, te amo España
    One day when the lockdown is over
    We'll get on the ferry at Dover
    We'll drive down to Spain
    To say 'hola' again
    Oh te amo, te amo, te amo, te amo España
    ¡Te amo, España!
     
  10. LivingForever

    LivingForever Forum Arachibutyrophobic Thread Starter

    So, yeah, today’s song is:

    Te Amo España

    By Eduardo Maldonado Castellano de La Cruz.

    Neil’s fourth fake Eurovision song …

    (My Lovely Horse, The Miracle is Mine, Trafalgar, this one?)

     
  11. LivingForever

    LivingForever Forum Arachibutyrophobic Thread Starter

    Thank you for that - I didn’t quite catch them all the first time around!

    Obviously this is no masterpiece, but it does prove once again that Neil has a great knack for pastiche and parody!
     
  12. christian42

    christian42 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Lund, Sweden
    Te Amo España

    This one had passed me by completely, so it was nice to hear a new Neil/TDC song. It's more or less everything you would expect from an exercise such as this one, but it touches on all the right things and has an ingratiating melody that works well for what it is: Fun and listenable. (Can I say how much I dislike the common English mispronunciation of "paella"? No? Okay then.)

    3.8
     
  13. LivingForever

    LivingForever Forum Arachibutyrophobic Thread Starter

    You sure can! “Pie-ella”- ugh.
     
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  14. The Turning Year

    The Turning Year Lowering average scores since 2021

    Location:
    London, UK
    Te Amo Espana
    I do think this is in a way a work of genius, hesitant as I generally am to use that term!
    It is well done, funny and plays into every stereotype of the way Brits see Spai(including 'pie-ella';)). Of course it's basically another list of stuff with a chorus.
    I love this part:
    And the final verse relating it back to the lockdown adds a touch of poignancy which lifts it further.
    For what it was intended to do, and for nailing the brief 5/5
    As a song to listen to with any frequency 3.2/5
     
  15. jon-senior

    jon-senior Forum Resident

    Location:
    Eastleigh
    Amazing, thank you!
     
  16. Vagabone

    Vagabone Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    Sorry, if we're scoring, 3/5
     
  17. drykid

    drykid Forum Resident

    Location:
    Hereford, UK
    Don't Mention The War - first time I've heard this but I liked it a lot, probably more so than anything I did off Office Politics at first listen (at least as far as I remember from this distance.) It seems to have more of a classic TDC feel although it's hard to put my finger on what exactly that means in practice. Maybe there's a slightly more driving accompaniment on it than tends to be the norm these days. Is this the last song we're covering? If so I might as well push the boat out and give it 5 / 5 :)
     
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  18. drykid

    drykid Forum Resident

    Location:
    Hereford, UK
    That was my line of thought, but it depends on an intentional resemblance between the two songs that possibly only exists my imagination :)
     
  19. drykid

    drykid Forum Resident

    Location:
    Hereford, UK
    Te Amo España - Ahh apaprently that *wasn't* the last song (can I take back the 5/5?) That's what you get for writing about songs when you're still two pages from the end of the thread... musically this is fun, but those lyrics... sorry, I didn't get into TDC to hear dreadful Spitting Image-style comedy songs. This seems to be aimed at the kind of person who only turns up at Divine Comedy gigs in the vain hope that he'll play "My Lovely Horse" for them if they shout out for it loudly enough. I wonder what the young Neil who desperately wanted to be Scott Walker would make of this? Possibly best not to think about it... Well, I gave the last one 5 / 5 so it could only be downhill from there. I'm afraid it's 1 /5 for me (and that's only for the tune.)
     
  20. ericthegardener

    ericthegardener Forum Resident

    Location:
    Dallas, TX
    Is that the guy who does the voiceovers on Come Dine With Me?
     
  21. LivingForever

    LivingForever Forum Arachibutyrophobic Thread Starter

    Ha! Yes indeed it is.
     
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  22. LivingForever

    LivingForever Forum Arachibutyrophobic Thread Starter

    Nope, and we have one more tomorrow! (which actually now I look at it probably should have been discussed before this one... but I would prefer not to end on a joke/novelty song :) )
     
  23. Radiophonic_

    Radiophonic_ Electrosonic

    Location:
    Royal Oak MI
    So as has been discussed elsewhere on this board and web, Spotify’s yearly Wrapped summary has dropped, and among other stats, it tells me I’m in the top 0.05% of Divine Comedy listeners on the service, thanks in large part to this thread! Neil, the 80 cents or whatever you earned from my listens was well earned.
     
  24. DaniMoonstar

    DaniMoonstar Forum Resident

    Location:
    Staffordshire
    Te amp Espana
    Dreadful. In a good way. Would have won Eurovision in 1975, less so today. Fun to see Neil giving full welly to what has clearly been a simmering dream for at least 25 years. Makes me wonder if Ireland have ever approached him for an entry. It’s been even longer than the UK since IE won and he couldn’t do worse than that awful turkey (whose name has thankfully slipped my mind).

    2.5/5
     
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  25. DaniMoonstar

    DaniMoonstar Forum Resident

    Location:
    Staffordshire
    Ha! Me too! Neil’s doing alright by us…
     

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