Comments, Reviews, Requests and Thanks at the Bottom... Easy to trim off if you want to keep
the technical info but dispense with any of my self opinionated rambling and bullshit ;-)

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Artist     : The Divine Comedy
Title      : Absent Friends
Year       : 2004
Label      : Parlephone
Genre      : Indie
Ripped By  : dogbowl on 12/12/2006
Post Date  : dogbowl on 12/12/2006

Groups  :
  alt.binaries.sounds.mp3.2000s
  alt.binaries.sounds.mp3.indie

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Technical:

Source     : CD
Encoder    : Exact Audio Copy 0.95b4 (Secure mode)
Codec      : LAME 3.97b2
ACLO       : -V 2 --vbr-new
Bitrate    : VBR ~186K/s  44100Hz  Joint Stereo
ID3-Tag    : ID3v2.3

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Track Listing:

 1. Absent Friends              (3:40)
 2. Sticks And Stones           (4:48)
 3. Leaving Today               (4:18)
 4. Come Home Billy Bird        (4:07)
 5. My Imaginary Friend         (2:43)
 6. The Wreck Of The Beautiful  (4:58)
 7. Out Mutual Friend           (5:58)
 8. The Happy Goth              (3:36)
 9. Freedom Road                (3:55)
10. Laika's Theme               (3:07)
11. Charmed Life                (4:41)

Total Playing Time: 45:56 (min:sec)
Total Size        : 60.9 MB (63,886,604 bytes)

As Standard    : .nfo / .sfv / .m3u
Extras (if any): 
 

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Reposts:

Requesting a segment? - I'll see what I can do right away
Requesting a repost? - I'll see what I can do in a couple of days
For either of the above you should reply to this .nfo file...


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Comments (if any):

Penultimate studio album from TDC... and, possibly, The Divine Comedy's greatest
album (according to some sources). It's certainly a very polished affair with some
cracking tunes and a return to the form that made me a devoted fan

Standout Track/s (if any):

Leaving Today, Our Mutual Friend, Happy Goth (spot the Staw Wars reference in this one)

What's been and gone and still to come:

Fanfare For The Comic Muse <---Posted 09 December
Liberation <---Posted 09 December
Promenade <---Posted 09 December
Casanova <---Posted 09 December
A Short Album About Love  <---Posted 10 December
Fin De Siècle <---Posted 11 December
A Secret History <---Posted 11 December
Regeneration <---Posted 12 December
Absent Friends <---Posted 12 December
Victory For The Comic Muse
Reposts

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Review / Notes (if any):

With Absent Friends, Neil Hannon returns to the glorious whimsical form of his crooning
pop masterpieces. While Regeneration seemed mired in murkiness and awkwardly styled
angry tunes, and some wondered if Hannon would recover from sacking his bandmates,
Absent Friends sees Hannon blending the finest themes of his previous albums into a
gorgeous, mature tapestry of musical adventures. Longtime associate Jobi Talbot lends
his usual magic and Regeneration producer Nigel Godrich stays on as mixer, allowing
Hannon to expertly man the production boards himself. Album closer "Charmed Life,"
which marries twinkling pianos with airy orchestration and a thoroughly jolly sense
of self-discovery, is perhaps most indicative of Hannon's rediscovered optimism. The
song perfectly blends the light, literary style of Promenade and Liberation, but with
the added crunch and bombast of Hannon's West End-leaning Casanova and Fin de Siecle.
"Sticks & Stones" also traverses Casanova territory, while "Come Home Billy Bird,"
"Absent Friends," and "The Happy Goth" all feel like souped-up versions of Promenade
and Liberation tunes. "Come Home Billy Bird" seems like the mature artist's version of
"Bernice Bobs Her Hair." Where Hannon sang of schoolgirl pettiness on the latter, he
moves onto the problems business travel causes family life on the former. Thus, Hannon
has found a way to mix semi-autobiographical subject matter with the witty pop melodies
that are his bread and butter. As always, it's Hannon's superb wit and impeccable sense
of timing that allow him to mingle delicate and simultaneously revelatory turns of
phrase for maximum emotional and musical effect. Who else could pull off a touching
yet hilarious song like "The Happy Goth," where Hannon sings of lonely yet happy young
lady "who wears Doc Martens and a heavy cross"? It is perhaps "Our Mutual Friend" that
really drives home the confidence and sublime nature of Hannon's songwriting and
execution at this stage of his career. Hannon had mined the orchestral strings and
minimalism of composer and associate Michael Nyman in the past, but "Our Mutual Friend"
is his finest stab at merging Nyman-like strings and rhythm with devastating, dramatic
vocals. Singing of infidelity and the damage it causes, Hannon sounds absolutely floored.
In an interview with Kitty Empire talking of his aspirations going into the album's
recording, Hannon claimed he simply wanted to create a beautiful album, one that "sounds
gorgeous on (his) stereo, with a roaring fire and a glass of sherry and a Labrador at
(his) feet." With the thrilling and poignant Absent Friends, he has more than succeeded.
It ranks high among his finest albums.

Links (if any):


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Requests:

Hot Hands compilation (Throwing Muses and Kristin Covers...)
Jóhann Jóhannsson - Dis
Anthony Burr & Skuli Sverrisson - A Thousand Incidents Arise
Skuli Sverrisson - Seremonie
HI-FI SKY - Music for Synchronized Swimming in Space
Delaney And Bonnie - Home
Justice For Jimbob - My Fathers Handbag Tattoo
Bitch Sniffer - Take Off Your Suicide Shorts
Acetone High - A Fascination With Elbow Licking (My Own)
Various Artists - Like A Daydream (The Story Of Shoegazing)
Various Artists - They'll Have To Catch Us First (Domino records Compilation)
The Men They Couldn't Hang - Majestic Grill
The Men They Couldn't Hang - The Mud, The Blood & The Beer
The Men They Couldn't Hang - Cherry Red Jukebox

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Thanks To:

Spear Of Des... cheers everyone :-)
The usual suspects posting good stuff and being nice.... 
and people with beards... 
and Father Christmas...
and Kristin Hersh...