The Divine Comedy are a pop band from Northern Ireland fronted by Neil Hannon. 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 R.E.M.-influenced and now-deleted Fanfare for the Comic Muse, enjoyed little success.
A couple of equally unsuccessful EPs - Timewatch (1991); Europop (1992) were to follow, with newly-recruited member John Allen handling lead vocals on some tracks. After the commercial failure of the Europop EP, this line-up soon fell apart. 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' (nearly unrecognisable from the previously-released version) 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 clearly an influence. 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". Soon after the release of the album the Divine Comedy went on tour with Tori Amos, supporting her during her European dates.
Studio albums
* Fanfare for the Comic Muse (1990)
* Liberation (1993)
* Promenade (1994)
* Casanova (1996) #48 (UK)
* A Short Album About Love (1997) #13 (UK)
* Fin de Siècle (1998) #9 (UK)
* Regeneration (2001) #14 (UK)
* Absent Friends (2004) #23 (UK)
* Victory for the Comic Muse (2006) #43 (UK)
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