‘Europop EP’ by The Divine Comedy

The Divine Comedy have a new album out in May, and the official press release regards it as their tenth. This is interesting – count back ten, and you are lost in the murky pre-history of the band in their pre-‘Liberation’ days. Album one would be the long deleted and largely ignored ‘Fanfare of the Comic Muse’, an album which Neil Hannon has done all he can to disown.

This EP comes from the slightly odd period between ‘Fanfare’ and ‘Liberation’, the second of two such records. It’s main point of interest is in the line up. For reasons best known to himself, Hannon stepped back from being front-man for this release, choosing to act as songwriter, musician and shadowy-backing-vocalist. Lead vocals on the ‘Europop EP’ were sung by John Allen, a man destined to be the smallest of footnotes in musical history. He’s not a terrible vocalist, though if someone told you he was, you probably wouldn’t bother to argue the case, but he adds little value. Hannon, of course, has a tremendous voice, and though it was still developing at this point, even his ‘Fanfare’ vocals were far better than this. As for the material, the songs on ‘Europop’ all sound like they were axed from ‘Fanfare’ for not being good enough, and ‘Fanfare isn’t that great. The early-REM influences are very much on display here, but there’s little in the way of quality. Of most interest, naturally, is the title track, which would go on to be re-recorded for ‘Liberation’. It’s an interesting listen from a historic point of view, and it’s intriguing to see how some of the more familiar arrangements were already in place – the backing vocals and the organ part in the bridge would be virtually unchanged in later versions, though the vocal delivery would be dramatically different, and the ‘Liberation’ ending is missing entirely, presumably unwritten at this point.

In all, the ‘Europop’ EP was a step backwards, not forwards. ‘Fanfare’ showed some promise, this doesn’t. Hannon’s decision to ditch the band and go it alone may have seemed harsh at the time, but there was no future in this. As such, it’s the only Divine Comedy record that can genuinely be regarded as rubbish, and it certainly isn’t worth tracking down for the ludicrous prices it now fetches on the second hand market. A curio, nothing more.