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      : Victory For The Comic Muse
Year       : 2006
Label      : Parlophone
Genre      : Indie
Ripped By  : dogbowl on 11/12/2006
Post Date  : dogbowl on 13/12/2006

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 ~196K/s  44100Hz  Joint Stereo
ID3-Tag    : ID3v2.3

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Track Listing:

 1. To Die A Virgin                       (3:39)
 2. Mother Dear                           (3:47)
 3. Diva Lady                             (4:17)
 4. A Lady Of A Certain Age               (5:47)
 5. The Light Of Day                      (4:24)
 6. Threesome                             (1:10)
 7. Party Fears Two                       (4:02)
 8. Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious World   (3:58)
 9. The Plough                            (5:14)
10. Count Grassi's Passage Over Piedmont  (3:32)
11. Snowball In Negative                  (4:40)

Total Playing Time: 44:34 (min:sec)
Total Size        : 62.3 MB (65,335,355 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):

My final TDC post and it's the most recent studio album from Neil Hannon (aka The Divine Comedy)
and
as far as I'm concerned it's another superb collection of well composed, wittily observed and well
delivered intelligent songs. I mean... How many albums contain a reference to both Sysiphus
(Boulder
pushing bloke of Greek legend) and Emental (a rather tasty cheese of disputed origin) in just one
track.

Plenty of strings and a definite lack of electronic instruments sees these compositions more
arranged than
simply played... Excellent... plus a version of The Associates' Party Fears Two that is a worthy
version.

I saw TDC a few weeks ago and much of this material transfers well to a live environment... a
testament to
what a fantastic songwriter and composer Mr Hannon is... Long may the diminutive pop maestro reign
(and
talking of diminutive pop maestros TDC did a rather groovy cover of Raspberry Beret when I saw
them
a couple of weeks ago too... lovely)

Standout Track/s (if any):

Count Grassis, The Plough, Mother Dear

What's been and gone in this series...

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 <---Posted 13 December
Repost by request... Fanfare <---Posted 13 December

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Review / Notes (if any):

Neil Hannon has been treading water for far too long, and just when you were expecting him to
succumb
to the ocean, along comes the air ambulance. Hannon's diffident dabbling has become the hallmark
of
recent frustratingly pedestrian outings, but it's with 'Victory for the Comic Muse' that he puts
this
hesitancy to the sword and returns to writing simplistic and well crafted tunes that charm you
with
their wit and air of modest grandiosity. It's clear from the outset that this is a reinvigorated
Divine
Comedy, a reborn and newly confident acquisition. 

'To Die a Virgin' is a desperate tale of lust and incompetence that should ring true with anyone
who
has ever spent time in their bedroom alone, especially in their formative years; and sung by a man
born in 1970 it adds hilarity to an already eccentric topic for song. You'll probably have to have

been born not long after 1970 to remember 'Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious World'; Arthur was the
Derren
Brown of his time incarcerated in Henry Kissinger's lumpy body. This runs with the modern
predilection
for all things nostalgic, and toys with the idea that his girl might just be a bit of a fuck-loop,
though more Audrey Hepburn than Courtney Love. And on 'A Lady of a Certain Age', Neil gets all
frothy
about a posh quinquagenarian, such is his wont. Clearly this is an album made for the over
thirties,
though it batters regurgitated mythology in thrift store clobber, into a, er, porkpie hat. It's
not
rock & roll, but I like it. 

'Victory for the Comic Muse' is the Divine Comedy's finest album since their post-Britpop Chris
Evans-
approved heyday, when they were a band that (in spite of said ginger endorser), brought some
elegance
and intelligence to a self-congratulatory music scene all-too-often saturated in stupidity.
Perhaps
the moment of their return to form couldn't be timelier after all.

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...