Yahoo! Music Album Review

Released on 19/06/06
Label: Parlophone

It's probably safe to say that the ninth album by the Divine Comedy (effectively Neil Hannon) isn't the most eagerly awaited record of 2006. Even amongst Hannon's immediate family. While his brand of arch, orchestral art pop made something of a splash in the Britpop years, his last two albums have seen Hannon explore a more sombre, introspective style in that all-too-often-fatal bid for credibility. And while they may have helped him shake off some of his smart arse, cold fish public persona, few bought the records - possibly because they were boring.

Perhaps inevitably, "Victory For The Comic Muse" is an attempt to return to past glories, a fact announced by the titles' reference to debut "Fanfare For The Comic Muse". And listening to opener "To Die A Virgin", it seems like Hannon may have pulled it off. It's the zestiest, most exciting song he's done since "National Express", all breezy brass and "sha la la" backing vocals, with a genuinely sparkling arrangement and lyrics as laugh out loud witty as "You don't know how much I need you / the handy Andys I've been through". It is a summery joy, and nearly matched by the spring-in-the-step jauntiness of the next two tracks, "Mother Dear" and "Diva Lady", the latter a withering comment on modern stardom.

Unfortunately, the rest of the album is about as consistent as the current England football team, occasional sparks of brilliance (the subtle, touching "Snowball In Negative") lost in extended periods of scrappy competence (the over-egged "Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious World" or the too-clever-by-half "Count Grassi's Passage Over Piedmont"). The nadir, however, is the cover of The Associates' "Party Fears Two", which takes the deranged catchiness of the fantastic original and smooths it out into a smug oompah oompah travesty. It makes you remember why so many people once wanted to punch Neil Hannon.

It's always been Hannon's essential contradiction that he can be so smug and self satisfied, yet also write songs as tender as "A Lady Of A Certain Age", a moving lament for a woman in her twilight years that joins "To Die A Virgin" as the best thing here. And it's that contradiction which means this record is neither wholly satisfying nor wholly great. So, yes, a victory. But quite a small one.

    by Jaime Gill