Foreverland

I think reviews of music are fascinating. Totally differing views and reactions to exactly the same sounds! So, for the record, here’s my opinion:-Foreverland is the same old story from the Divine Comedy – but that’s a good thing!For the last half dozen or so D.C. albums, on first listen I’ve thought ‘Yeah, it’s OK but it’s not as good as the last album’. Then it happens. After a few more listens, it starts getting to you. After a few more listens, you start loving it. After a few more listens, the songs are ingrained in your brain and your bones! And it’s great!I recently saw the D.C. on Jools Holland. At first watch, I thought ‘How can you leave me on my own’ was a repetitive, bit of a joke song - but now I love it. They also played a song that I instantly forgot which, when I watched it again a few weeks later, turned out to be ‘To The Rescue’. A song that I am now completely in love with!Foreverland is great. Well done and thanks to all involved!Bonus CD – Having said all of the above, I’m afraid I’m not a fan of the bonus CD.The music is great and there is nothing wrong with Mr Hannon’s voice but the subject matter is just too dark for me.It’s very worthy and bad things do happen in real life but I find the story depressing and I doubt if I’ll listen to it again.But don’t take my word for it. Buy it and make up your own mind.

By anyone else's standards, this is a five star album, but Neil Hannon has set a very high bar and I feel that Foreverland doesn't quite reach the standard of his best work. Like Victory For the Comic Muse, there are some corkers, but the sum isn't equal to its parts. However this is only my opinion. Some have said they feel that Foreverland is a return to form after the disappointment of Bang Goes the Knighthood, but as BGTK is my favourite album (next to Liberation), I would beg to differ. It's interesting how equally passionate fans can listen to the same music and have such different opinions.For me, the most successful songs were the haunting title track, the two singles, To the Rescue (with its sublime string arrangement and Regeneration-style intro) and Other People. I wasn't so keen on the saccharine whimsy of Funny Peculiar, the Piafery of The Pact and the helium-induced backing vocals on Napoleon Complex (although the song itself is a corker). But it seems churlish to complain - I'm just very glad to have a new Divine Comedy album after such a long gap. I can fully appreciate that as an artist, Neil Hannon wants to explore other genres, but he was born to do this and six years is too long a wait.The bonus CD is a beautiful but harrowing song cycle that tips a nod to the Nymanesque sound world of Promenade and at times, it felt as if some of the best of Hannon's music ended up here rather than the main attraction.

I listen to most of my music in the car these days, driving alone, with the luxury of a quality stereo system up loud. I have played through the album itself several times. I know that there are so many growers in there, even though I have to confess not much has really taken root yet. There are some divine arrangements, and some very good comedic lines too..Catherine "she had great hair" the Great.But what really moved me to write the review was the CD that accompanies the deluxe edition. Creeping in pretty much under the radar, I was surprised to see that reviews so far hardly mention it. I think it may just possibly be Neil Hannon's finest work to date. I can't spoil it by saying explicity what it is about, beyond being a stupendously heart rending narrative told in letters over the period of 5 months from a son to his father. Neil Hannon has such a way with finely drawn descriptions and images, and his vocals carry as much emotion as the incredible string arrangements, weaving beneath and over the narrative. I have played it through from start to finish more times than the main CD, and it leaves me wrung out and in a different space. Beautiful stuff. Maybe not everyone's cup of tea, who came here for a cheery upbeat National Express, but those with whom it does resonate will hopefully be as appreciative of what Hannon has done here as I am.

A masterpiece from beginning to end. Witty,insightful and very touching in parts. The production and orchestrations are wonderful and without doubt in my opinion, this is the very best of Neil Hannon's work. Every song paints a picture, some in a wonderfully filmic or theatrical fashion and although It feels rather like enormous big love letter from start to finish, but never gets corny or whimsical. It's been a very long time since I've heard any new album that has captured my imagination and admiration in the way this one does.Along with 'Foreverland' comes an extra disc of a song cycle called 'In May' for which Hannon wrote the music and adapted the lyrics from a German text. This isn't something you can dip into. It's written in the form of 18 letters from a dying man to his father, which sounds mawkish, but it isn't. I think it needs to be heard in one sitting, rather than piecemeal. It's a really special piece of work which left me so deeply moved and emotional that after listening to it in its entirety on a long car journey (and not really knowing what to expect), I had to remain in the car and take a few minutes to pull myself together before getting out at my destination. It won't be everybody's cup of tea, but I thought it was a work of genius. It's hard to think of any other modern day 'pop star' (for want of a better word) being able to produce these two very different, but equally brilliant discs. Highly,highly recommended.