''Fanfare for the Comic Muse'' is the debut album by Irish

chamber pop Chamber pop (or Chamber rock; also called baroque pop and sometimes conflated with orchestral pop or symphonic pop) is a music genre that combines rock music with the intricate use of string section, strings, horn section, horns, piano, and voca ...

band

the Divine Comedy The ''Divine Comedy'' ( it, Divina Commedia ) is an Italian narrative poem by Dante Alighieri, begun 1308 and completed in around 1321, shortly before the author's death. It is widely considered the pre-eminent work in Italian literature an ...

, released in 1990 by

Setanta Records Setanta Records was a British independent record label led by founder Keith Cullen. Setanta published UK and Irish indie music in the late 1980s and in the 1990s. History Setanta Records was started in a Camberwell, London squat by former bicy ...

. Recording took place at Homestead Studios in May 1990 with producer Sean O Neill. Lorcan Mac Loughlann engineered the sessions, and Mudd Wallace mixed the recordings. The album has since been disowned by the band's lead singer/songwriter,

Neil Hannon Edward Neil Anthony Hannon (born 7 November 1970) is a Northern Irish singer and songwriter. He is the creator and front man of the chamber pop group The Divine Comedy, and is the band's sole constant member. Hannon wrote the theme tunes for ...

, due to its stylistic differences from the band's later works. "The Rise and Fall" was later re-recorded for the ''Timewatch'' EP (1991). In 2020, the album was re-released for the first time as part of the 23-CD box set ''Venus, Folly, Cupid & Time - Thirty Years of the Divine Comedy''. The tracks are featured on the second CD of the ''Juveneilia'' set, alongside remastered versions of the ''Timewatch'' and ''Europop'' EPs. On this reissue most of the tracks from ''Fanfare'' and ''Europop'' are damaged with glitches.

Track listing

All songs written by Neil Hannon.

Personnel

Personnel per booklet. The Divine Comedy *

– vocals, guitar * John McCullagh – bass, backing vocals * Kevin Traynor – drums, percussion Production * Sean O Neill – producer * Lorcan Mac Loughlann – engineer * Mudd Wallace – mixing

References

External links

* https://web.archive.org/web/20070928174934/http://eccentrick.co.uk/indulgence/dcbc.html {{DEFAULTSORT:Fanfare For The Comic Muse 1990 debut albums The Divine Comedy (band) albums Setanta Records albums Jangle pop albums