Sinister: Fin De Siecle

[Stuart Gardiner]

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...)

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