It's Divine! :)

 Bang Goes The Knighthood (1st June 2010)

1. Down In The Street Below
2. The Complete Banker
3. Neapolitan Girl
4. Bang Goes The Knighthood
5. At The Indie Disco
6. Have You Ever Been In Love
7. Assume the Perpendicular
8. The Lost Art of Conversation
9. Island Life
10. When A Man Cries
11. Can You Stand Upon One Leg
12. I Like







Bonus tracks:
13. Ya Sumeera
14. Beside the Railway Tracks
15. The Circular Firing Squad
16. Napoleon Complex


The Divine Comedy is a baroque pop band now based in Dublin, Ireland, fronted by Neil Hannon.

One of the overarching themes of Bang Goes the Knighthood: namely the private lives of the rich and the powerful, be they celebrities, aristocrats, politicians or financiers. Sometimes, as on the opening "Down in the Street Below", his technique is impressionistic, à la Jimmy Webb. Other times it's straight to the point. He comes on like a latter-day Lehrer on "The Complete Banker", a savage satire of the traders who precipitated the credit crunch.

Such flashes of anger are rare from Hannon, but when they come, they're always thrilling. He occasionally misfires: "Island Life" is a little too reminiscent of Pulp when they started singing about trees and sunrises, and the dated references of "At the Indie Disco" sound like the work of a man who hasn't been inside one for at least a decade. 

The oompah-reggae shuffle of the Duckworth Lewis Method project is gone, and Hannon reverts to the lush orchestral pop with which DivCom are most closely associated. Several times, he reminds us that he is a master of genre: "Have You Ever Been in Love" sounds like an instant Tin Pan Alley standard; "When a Man Cries" sounds like an expertly translated Brel (yes, that good) and you can imagine hearing the daft, kiddie-friendly "Can You Stand Up on One Leg" on Ed "Stewpot" Stewart's Junior Choice circa 1975.

Always misfits during their Chris Evans-approved chart heyday, the Divine Comedy are proving that their value has far outlasted that, and their 10th album sees Hannon comfortably embracing his elegant outsiderdom, bow tie, bowler, Labrador and all.