Fin De Siecle

The Divine Comedy | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (December 8, 1998)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Setanta UK
• ASIN: B00000J75L
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #801,075 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Generation Sex

2. Thrillseeker

3. Commuter Love

4. Sweden

5. Eric the Gardener

6. National Express

7. Life on Earth

8. The Certainty of Chance

9. Here Comes the Flood

10. Sunrise

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Sixties Pop - 21st Century Style, August 5, 2000

By 

Ralph Quirino (Keswick, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fin De Siecle (Audio CD)

Make no mistake: this album, like the "band" that recorded it, is definitely an acquired taste. So, by means of explanation for those, like myself, who had previously never heard of the band, here's a bit of what I thought I heard when I played this the first time: Burt Bacharach, Francoise Hardy, The Pet Shop Boys, Roxy Music, Dusty Springfield, "I Am The Walrus"-styled Beatles, Tom Jones, Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel. This is very wry, very urbane pop, loaded with textures and sounds, rich in orchestration and choral work, framing Neil Hannon's oh-so-fey-yet-oh-so-winning voice gorgeously and effortlessly. It sounds like nothing you've heard yet cribs from the above shamelessly, unapologetically, successfully. Listen to it at the wrong time of day and you'll think it the worst indulgence by someone who's clearly gifted. However, listen to it at the right moment and you'll hear nuance and subtlety buried beneath a rich canvas of guitars, strings, trumpets and harpsichords. From the kick off of "Generation Sex" to the surrealistic lyricism of "Sunrise" (perhaps the only song about Ireland to dispense with the usual trappings of uillean pipes and pennywhistles and opting, instead, for an Eric Carmen "Boats Against The Current" feel) Fin De Siecle is a tribute to all that came before and a singpost of how pop can succeed in the face of rap, thrashcore punk, new country and pseudo-latino disco-pop. A noble album with plenty of style and panache.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stunning orchestrial beauty: Neil hasn't lost his touch!, June 2, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Fin De Siecle (Audio CD)

Generation Sex sets the tone for the album - one of stunning melodic beauty with bleak dark undertones.

Sweden is, I feel, a minor blemish. Its a blemish quickly forgotten, though, as the strings of Eric the Gardener sweep over... and then the trumpets proclaim the the arrival of one the tracks of the year; National Express (its a coach company for all you dear american friends). With the line "Its hard to get by when your arse is the size of a small country" empirically proven by the numerous times I've had a lady with an arse the size of Belgium barge past.

Then on, via some more sweetly delivered warnings of impending doom to a memory of past conflict. The album ends with this uplifting theme (sunrise); an autobiographical track about Neil's Northern Irish upbringing.

This album shows that Neil can write without hiding behind a sartorial sceptcal screen and is much the better for it.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Neil Hannon....He's All You Need!, February 9, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Fin De Siecle (Audio CD)

Its hard to sit here and write a review of an album that cannot be put into words, yes dear readers (and listeners)...it really is that good. Neil Hannon is probably the most underrated artist of our times...and these twelve tracks on Fin De Siecle do well to argue my point. "Fin..." is many things: a look at love in its most natural settings (Commuter Love), a desperate plea to end violence in Northern Ireland (Sunrise) even the desire to be Swedish (Sweden). However, as the album title suggest, this is basically a humourous and romatic look at this century and the problems we face as we walk into the unknown terrain that is the future. Neil takes us everywhere...sweeping us up and over with stirring orchestrated numbers and a vocal range that would have the three tenors in amazement. Definitely a pop album ahead of its time...for a world (I gather Neil seems to believe) lives behind the times.