With all this justifiable excitement about TBWTAS, let's not forget the other all-time classic album coming out in the next fortnight (what with the Salako and UNKLE albums as well, this has to be the best month for new releases I can remember...). I refer of course to the Divine Comedy. Thanks to one very kind soul I've heard it, so I thought some of you might like to know what it's like. Basically it's more like Casanova than the last mini-album. It's not quite as varied unfortunately, and there's nothing quite as wonderfully off-the-wall as ...Sleepless Night on it; but having said that it does contain a delightfully silly Wagnerian opus about wanting to live in Sweden... National Express does what most songs fail to do - be happy and cheerful without sounding corny and contrived. It's also very catchy, surely a Top 10 single before long. The other stand-out track for me is Sunrise, all about the Northern Ireland peace process, which makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end it's so powerful and motivating. A couple of the songs could have done with being a minute or so shorter, but that's a minor quibble when faced with such expansive orchestral arrangements and, as expected, great lyrics ("If the Lord had meant me to live in LA, I'd have been born with a machine gun" for example...). I'm not sure at first listen that it quite comes up to the standard of Casanova, but it is undoubtedly an extraordinarily good album. Don't be put off if Generation Sex is starting to irritate you, it's by far the poppiest thing there; and you have to applaud anyone who can get a hit single all about the public's hypocrisy after Diana died... Just my tuppence worth... The Hungover Git (Still desperate for somewhere to stay for the gigs...) +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ +---+ Brought to you by the Sinister mailing list +---+ To send to the list please mail "sinister@majordomo.net". To unsubscribe send "unsubscribe sinister" or "unsubscribe sinister-digest" to "majordomo@majordomo.net". For list archives and searching, list rules, FAQ, poor jokes etc, see http://www.majordomo.net/sinister +---+ Nee, nee mun pish, chan pai dee kwa +---+ +----------------------------------------------------------------------+