The Divine Comedy (band)

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The Divine Comedy is a pop band from Northern Ireland fronted by Neil Hannon.

1 History
2 Discography
3 External links

History

Neil Hannon has been the only ever-present member of the band, being its founder in 1989 when he was joined by John McCullagh and Kevin Traynor. Their first album, the heavily REM-influenced and now-deleted Fanfare for the Comic Muse, enjoyed little success, though, and soon McCullagh and Traynor were to go their separate ways.

Hannon, however, was not deterred in his efforts and re-appeared in 1993 with Liberation. Featuring a fairly diverse musical outlook that goes from the tongue-in-cheek synth pop of 'Europop' to the classical stylings of 'Timewatching', it is also characterised by a plethora of literary references: 'Bernice Bobs Her Hair' recalls a short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald; 'Three Sisters' draws upon a play by Anton Chekov; and 'Lucy' is essentially three William Wordsworth poems abridged to music. This led to a degree of critical acclaim, but commercial success still proved elusive. Indeed, it was only some minor success in France that really enabled Hannon to proceed to his second effort Promenade.

Released in 1994, this was heavily driven by classical influences, with Michael Nyman's stylings particularly prominent. Hannon himself acknowledged this when he apparently sent a copy of his new album to the composer, jokingly asking him not to sue! Essentially a concept album about a day spent by two lovers, it also received similar critical acclaim to that which Liberation was afforded. Commercial success, though, was not forthcoming despite some of Hannon's best songwriting to date, including "Don't Look Down", "The Summerhouse" and subsequent live favourite "Tonight We Fly".

At around the same time, Hannon also wrote and performed the theme music for the TV sitcom Father Ted (which later formed part of the song "Songs of Love" on the album Casanova), and later wrote the music for the deliberately bad mock-Eurovision song "My Lovely Horse" for one episode. Hannon resisted widespread requests from fans to release the track as a single for the Christmas market, but it was eventually released in 1999 as the third track on the CD-single "Gin Soaked Boy". This would not be the only time they would be responsible for a TV theme, as "In Pursuit Of Happiness" was also used by the BBC science and technology show, Tomorrow's World. Hannon also recently composed the theme tune for "The IT Crowd".

The album Casanova (1996), and in particular the single "Something for the Weekend" led to the band's first major successes, with Neil Hannon becoming a distinctive, albeit unlikely, popstar in an immaculate suit, and always appearing the elegant dandy. At the height of their commercial success, the band put out A Short Album About Love, recorded live at soundcheck with the Brunel Ensemble in preparation for a concert at the Shepherd's Bush Empire, from which several songs were released as b-sides. It was aptly released on Valentine's Day in 1997. Subsequently, the band contributed a reworking of Noel Coward's "I've Been to a Marvellous Party" to a compilation of covers of the writer's songs, with Hannon affecting a Cowardesque lilt (albeit interspersed with an aggressive electronic musical backing).

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The foppish image, but not the suit, was ditched for the more sombre album Fin De Siècle in 1998, although its biggest hit, the jaunty "National Express", belied its more intimate, soul-searching tone. Maintaining the balance between these poles, 1999's Secret History - the Best of The Divine Comedy included a rerecording of Liberation track "The Pop Singer's Fear of the Pollen Count" and two new songs ("Gin-Soaked Boy" and "Too Young to Die") alongside the band's main hits. In the same year, the band also collaborated with Tom Jones on a cover-version of Portishead's 'All Mine', featured on his album Reload.

A serious side to the band was also in evidence in 2000's collaboration with Ute Lemper on her album Punishing Kiss, most of which featured The Divine Comedy as Lemper's backing band. Neil Hannon and Joby Talbot also contributed two original songs and an arrangement of Brecht and Weill's "Tango Ballad", whilst Neil Hannon sang two songs ("Tango Ballad", "Split") as duets with Lemper.

The 2001 album Regeneration attempted to remove the band still further from its association with comedy. Hannon hired famous producer Nigel Godrich to "remake" the band. Neil ditched the suit and donned the Britrock band image. However, the album was a greater critical than commercial success, and soon after its release it was announced that The Divine Comedy were splitting up. In 2004, Hannon returned, again using the name The Divine Comedy but as the only member of the band, with the album Absent Friends. Striking a balance between the occasionally earnest tone of the band's later releases and the lighter tone of the more commercial releases, it encapsulated the essence of The Divine Comedy. 2004 saw two dates of particularly acclaimed performances, one at the London Palladium (which was later released as a live DVD) and one at the Royal Albert Hall.

In January 2005, Hannon announced that he had acquired the worldwide copyrights to all of his recorded output with his former record label, Setanta Records. He declared on the band's official website that he would be launching his own record label Divine Comedy Records in order to re-release his 1990s output. It is understood that he will be re-releasing Liberation (1993) through to Fin de Siècle (1998) on his own label in 2006.

Neil Hannon also provided vocals for songs on the soundtrack for the film of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy released in 2005, working with Joby Talbot, the composer for the film and former Divine Comedy band member.

The line-up of the band has at times consisted only of Neil Hannon, but has also included: