''A Short Album About Love'' is the fifth studio 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 strings, horns, piano, and vocal harmonies, and other compo ...

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 1997 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 ...

. It was recorded on 20 October 1996 at

Shepherd's Bush Empire Shepherd's Bush Empire (currently known as O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire for sponsorship reasons, and formerly known as the BBC Television Theatre) is a music venue in Shepherd's Bush, West London, run by the Academy Music Group. It was originally ...

, London.

Release and reception

"Everybody Knows (Except You)" was released as a single on three separate CDs, each one featuring an extra three live tracks. It became one of the band's biggest hits, reaching No. 14 in the UK charts. The album was included in the book ''

1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die ''1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die'' is a musical reference book first published in 2005 by Universe Publishing. Part of the ''1001 Before You Die'' series, it compiles writings and information on albums chosen by a panel of music critics ...

''.

Track listing

All songs written by

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 ...

except where stated. European edition bonus tracks *"Birds of Paradise Farm" is a studio recording, produced by

Darren Allison Darren Allison (born May 1968, Ashington, Northumberland, England) is an English record producer, musician, and audio engineer, best known for his production work with artists such as Spiritualized,Kempster, Chris "Studio secrets of the stars ...

and Hannon, during the ''

Casanova Giacomo Girolamo Casanova (, ; 2 April 1725 – 4 June 1798) was an Italian adventurer and author from the Republic of Venice. His autobiography, (''Story of My Life''), is regarded as one of the most authentic sources of information about the c ...

'' album sessions, and as such, features a completely different line-up to the band heard on the rest of the album, with Allison playing drums and percussion, Hannon playing "everything else", and strings/woodwinds recorded at Abbey Road Studios. "Birds of Paradise Farm" had previously appeared as a B-side of the " Something for the Weekend" single. * "Love Is Lighter Than Air" and "Motorway to Damascus" are also studio recordings, this time featuring the newly-formed, post-''Casanova'', core live Divine Comedy band. Both tracks had also appeared as B-sides to ''Casanova''-era singles: "Something for the Weekend" and " Becoming More Like Alfie", respectively.

In other media

The

middle eight The 32- bar form, also known as the AABA song form, American popular song form and the ballad form, is a song structure commonly found in Tin Pan Alley songs and other American popular music, especially in the first half of the 20th century. ...

of "In Pursuit of Happiness" was subsequently adopted as the theme for the TV series ''

Tomorrow's World ''Tomorrow's World'' is a former British television series about contemporary developments in science and technology. First transmitted on 7 July 1965 on BBC1, it ran for 38 years until it was cancelled at the beginning of 2003. The ''Tomorro ...

''. The original version was used for one season of the show, with a specially-recorded version being substituted thereafter.

Personnel

The Divine Comedy *Neil Hannon - vocals, guitar *Ivor Talbot - guitar *Bryan Mills - bass guitar *

Joby Talbot Joby Talbot (born 25 August 1971) is a British composer. He has written for a wide variety of purposes and an accordingly broad range of styles, including instrumental and vocal concert music, film and television scores, pop arrangements and wor ...

- piano, orchestral arrangements *Stuart "Pinkie" Bates - Hammond organ *Miguel Barradas - drums The Brunel Ensemble *Simon Baggs - violin, orchestra leader *Lisa Betteridge, Kate Birchall, Krista Juanita Caspersz, Emily Davis, Benjamin Harte, Mary Martin, Timothy Myall, Benjamin Nabarro, Juliet Warden - violins *Yannick Dondelinger, Zoe Lake, Jong On Lau, John Murphy - violas *Betsy Taylor, Robbie Jacobs, Douncan Moulton - celli *Peter Devlin, Philip Dawson - double basses *Max Spiers - oboe *

Charlotte Glasson Charlotte Glasson (born 1 March 1973, London, England) is a British multi-instrumentalist, bandleader, composer and session player, playing soprano, alto, tenor and baritone saxophone, flute, alto flute, piccolo, clarinet, bass clarinet, violin an ...

- saxophone, flute *Matthew Gunner - horn *Simon Jones - trumpet *Adam Howard - trumpet, flugelhorn *Jane Butterfield - trombone *Robert Farrer - percussion *Christopher Austin - conductor

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Short Album About Love, A 1997 albums The Divine Comedy (band) albums Setanta Records albums Orchestral pop albums