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      : Fanfare For The Comic Muse
Year       : 1990
Label      : Setanta
Genre      : Indie
Ripped By  : dogbowl on 09/12/2006
Post Date  : dogbowl on 09/12/2006

Groups  :
  alt.binaries.sounds.mp3.1990s
  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 ~200K/s  44100Hz  Joint Stereo
ID3-Tag    : ID3v2.3

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Track Listing:

 1. Ignorance Is Bliss  (3:42)
 2. Indian Rain         (3:24)
 3. Bleak Landscape     (3:39)
 4. Tailspin            (2:44)
 5. The Rise And Fall   (4:21)
 6. Logic Vs Emotion    (4:33)
 7. Secret Garden       (4:08)

Total Playing Time: 26:34 (min:sec)
Total Size        : 36.9 MB (38,666,336 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):

Now then... I've not done a series of posts for a while so I thought... why not.
So here's the first in a series of The Divine Comedy albums which will include all
10 studio albums released by Neil Hannon aka The Divine Comedy.

In my opinion Neil Hannon is one of the most talented singer/songwriters ever. His
songwriting has wit and charm and is full of surprises, twists and turns. I've seen him
live on a number of occasions and have never been disappointed. The most time before the
time before last he stripped down all of the songs for just piano, cello and acoustic
guitar and they lost none of their sparkle.

Fanfare For The Comic Muse was released in 1990 and is quite "indie" compared to later,
more orchestrated offerings but no less enjoyable. The CD is quite rare and this was
ripped from a "recognized" re-pressed bootleg version.

Coming up in chronological order now and over the next week are:

Fanfare For The Comic Muse
Liberation
Promenade
Casanova
A Short Album About Love
Fin De Siècle
A Secret History
Regeneration
Absent Friends
Victory For The Comic Muse

Standout Track/s (if any):

Ignorance Is Bliss, Tailspin

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Review / Notes (if any):

It would seem that Neil Hannon and Setanta Records want Fanfare for the Comic Muse
buried as an afterthought in the scheme of all things Divine Comedy, and that's a shame,
because it's a rather delightful early peek into Hannon's gifted abilities. Hannon has
been known to refer to the Fanfare for the Comic Muse incarnation of the band as being
of sub-R.E.M. quality, and while there are certainly early R.E.M. indie jangle tendencies
on display, there's a great deal to like about the album, as perhaps only one track out
of seven is anywhere near approaching throwaway status. Who cares if the album is lyrically
more naïve than later releases and if the band was limited musically by the number of
chords Hannon was capable of playing at the time? Who cares about the rather weak production
that confuses emotion with rock flare-ups? This is the Divine Comedy in an embryonic
state, and it's a fascinating thing to behold. Though Hannon later returned to a majority
of the songs after he partnered with Jobi Talbot, releasing many of them as B-sides,
hearing the songs in this early context is a true thrill for Divine Comedy fans. "Ignorance
Is Bliss" is the first standout, as Hannon and company affect a pleasant shuffle, tackle
earnest subject matter, and rock out with reckless abandon. "Tailspin" and "Logic Vs.
Emotion" are just as endearing; the former merging My Bloody Valentine's Isn't Anything-era
dynamics with Hannon's energetic, angry shouts of "I hate unhappy endings," and the latter
coming across like the Smiths in their early days miming the Kinks, with Hannon displaying
his amazing vocal range and rather accomplished vocal inflections. "Bleak Landscape" and
"Logic Vs. Emotion" would easily work on Liberation with just a few minor tweaks. The song
titles alone should compel Divine Comedy fans to track down Fanfare for the Comic Muse,
as they correctly summarize the literary and poetic leanings of the lyrics. Neil Hannon was
a dreamer from the get-go. Even the weaker songs have their moments, and a couple of them
are brought down only by momentary atonal passages where the band goes off key. And even then,
the flaws are rather charming. Fanfare for the Comic Muse is a necessary addition to die-hard
fans' collections, but since it works more like early demos and because its music differs
stylistically from later releases, passing fans looking only for the band's peak material
need not dig in earlier than Liberation.

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:

Never Lose That Feeling - cheers elboweyes and thenovelty
+/- - cheers mineral
The usual suspects posting good stuff and being nice.... 
and people with beards... 
and Father Christmas...
and Kristin Hersh...