Casanova

Product Information

Casanova is the fourth studio album and features the singles: Something For The Weekend, The Frog Princess and Becoming More Like Alfie, plus Songs Of Love (the theme from Father Ted). The CD release consists of 2 discs: the original remastered album, with a second CD of B-sides, demos and alternate versions lovingly curated by Neil Hannon, much of which has never been heard before. I bought this because I heard the track 'Songs of Love' (based on the theme tune of Father Ted) on a radio programme and loved it. Seen here in a more stripped down version and with a beautiful set of harmonic vocals playing blissfully over the harpsichord melody it's certainly one of the highlights of the album. The album is “inspired by the writings of the eighteenth century Venetian gambler, eroticist, and spy” (which Hannon himself details in the penultimate “Theme From Casanova”, using his best BBC voice as he ushers in a contrastingly gentle and ambling instrumental piece).

This album is also more complex than I think it seems at first, with lyrics both frothy and deep, light and intense. On a related note, my slightly racist, second cousin Terrance often tells a story about when he went into a portaloo after Neil Hannon, at the Glastonbury Festival once. The fact that the song also shares a title with a track from Scott only drives home the deliberate Walker emulation. And it always sounds fantastic, because, besides the brash orchestra in the background (and sometimes at the forefront), Hannon can really sing. As the Father Ted theme song was my entry point, it’s only predictable that I first found the original song where the theme appears, as part of the track “Songs of Love”.By far the tightest of the band's earlier works it paved the way for not only more ambitious music from Neil Hannon over the course of the next few years but also left a permanent mark on the Brit-Pop genre, making The Divine Comedy a must have to many an indie lover. Two other singles released from the album, "Becoming More Like Alfie" and "The Frog Princess", charted at No. The rest of the album is not at all like that, and has definite echoes of Bonzo Dog Doodah Band wackiness about it. In 2014, NME included the album in its list of "30 Glorious Britpop Albums That Deserve a Reissue Pronto," saying "Gawky Neil Hannon as smooth loverman was a conceit that actually worked and it produced two of Britpop's least obvious classics in the hilarious Cold Comfort Farm-inspired tale of 'Something for the Weekend' and the movie fantasy of 'Becoming More Like Alfie'.

There will be others who can relate to that, but it’s by no means a requirement for enjoying Casanova.With the vast majority of it's runtime made up of songs themed around the act of fornication, it was Divine Comedy's first toe dipped into the blossoming Brit-Pop genre adding to it's style by way of Hannon's sharp suits and odd appearance. This is a brilliant album, it features The Divine Comedy's best songs such as Something for the weekend and Songs of love which was the theme tune from Father Ted.

The Divine Comedy's Casanova - a collection of songs for bass baritone and ensemble, inspired by the writings of the eighteenth century Venetian gambler, eroticist and spy; and performed for us there by the composer, Neil Hannon. No doubt the fame from Father Ted helped make the album a commercial success (making it a gold record as well as boasting two Top 20 singles in the UK charts), but the strength of Casanova is earned in its own right – something all the more obvious in hindsight. Casanova featured more musicians than on the band's previous two albums, Liberation and Promenade, but like those two albums, Neil Hannon performed the majority of the instrumental parts himself, with co-producer/drummer Darren Allison directing proceedings. Jeremy Lee of ABC News considered that this record brought Neil Hannon "closer to the orchestral pop sound he'd been dreaming of.He can turn an unsuspecting phrase into a magnificent weapon on a whim; the kind that can strike you both immediately and decades later with the same force.

We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. The program was devised by The Divine Comedy, and was produced in our London studios by Darren Allison.When Scott Walker died in 2019, I honestly felt despair over losing an artist like I had felt for no other before.