Regeneration - Divine Comedy (The) > Reviews > back down to earth - with style

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Definitely a cut above the rest
Lyrics	Sublime
Quality and consistency of tracks	A couple of weak links
How does it compare to the artist's other releases	Good
Value for Money

Advantages:	More of those unmistakable great numbers .
Disadvantages:	my dad described the album as "depressing !  ! " but what does he know?

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Neil Hannon told me on stage at Liverpool that the band wanted to get back to their old style and had got carried away during recent albums. Thus "regeneration" was born. Having got all their other albums, and having heard "casanova" and "fin de siecle" this is really quite placid and gentle in comparison. But that essential captivating quality is still there from the group who always seem to get it right no matter what they turn their hand too.

Indie fans will love this album and die hard fans such as myself will equally enjoy it. Don't expect full orchestral or heavy bass incidental music here, just the basics with some excellent guitar tunes. the best tracks are in my opinion "Bad ambassador", "perfect lovesong", "love what you do" and my favourite, "mastermind". The title track, "regeneration" is also a catchy and memorable song.

That dry sense of humour is still apparent though in the lyrics, especially in "bad ambassador" and "lost property". Though there are some excellent lyrics to the mesmerizing and haunting tune of "mastermind" including ".. Every nose is a vacuum cleaner, in this loved up London arena. Every eye flies a dollar sign for me..". I tell you, this song will be sung at many a gig in the future and at many a kareoke venue. Once you've heard this song, you just want to sing it yourself. It's fantastic.

Neil's favourite, "eye of the needle" is probably the weakest track on the album as its a bit slow and monotonous. But tunes like "love what you do" and "Bad Ambassador" are big numbers that are more catchy and memorable. "regeneration" starts slowly but ends with a bang and contains more of those great lyrics.

"perfect lovesong" is a great little number which should have ideally been on their other album "a short album about love" as its in the same vein. Its got lovely lyrics and anyone who's ever been in love will understand this song perfectly and is one of those tracks that you tape for your partner when you make them a smoochy tape to listen too (what do you mean you don't??? I'm not the only one surely!!).

All in all a break from what we've been used to recently from the group but still has that unexplainable beauty and originality about it to make it essential listening. There are only one maybe two weak links on it, but aren't there always? besides that is my opinion, yours maybe very different. You'll just have to listen to this album youself and let me know what you think!! But I do recommend it very strongly.