Liberation is a 1993 album by The Divine Comedy

The Divine Comedy (band)

The Divine Comedy are a chamber pop band from Ireland, fronted by Neil Hannon. Formed in 1989, Hannon has been the only constant member of the group, playing, in some instances, all of the non-orchestral instrumentation bar drums. To date, ten studio albums have been released under the Divine...

, released on Setanta

Setanta Records

Setanta Records is a UK Independent record label. The label was at the forefront of the indie Irish music scene in the late eighties and nineties as itchampioned young Irish groups.-History:...

. It was the second album to be released by The Divine Comedy, although the band's leader, Neil Hannon

Neil Hannon

Neil Hannon is a Northern Irish singer and songwriter, best known as the creator and frontman of the chamber pop group The Divine Comedy. The band's official website even goes so far as to say, "The Divine Comedy is Neil Hannon," and Hannon is quoted in an interview as saying, "The Divine Comedy...

, often refers to it as the first due to the stylistic differences of the earlier album, Fanfare for the Comic Muse

Fanfare for the Comic Muse

Fanfare for the Comic Muse is the deleted debut LP by The Divine Comedy, originally released in 1990. It has since been denied by the band's lead singer/songwriter Neil Hannon due to its stylistic difference from the band's later works, heading towards a more R.E.M.-styled jangle pop direction than...

. The album was recorded over the space of twelve days in March, 1993 by Hannon and Darren Allison

Darren Allison

Darren Allison , is a British record producer, musician, and recording engineer, best known for his work on the epic soundscapes of such artists as The Divine Comedy, Spiritualized, and ,more recently, Efterklang.-Selected Discography:...

. Hannon played most of the instruments on the album, while Allison was the recording engineer and drummer

Drummer

A drummer is a musician who is capable of playing drums, which includes but is not limited to a drum kit and accessory based hardware which includes an assortment of pedals and standing support mechanisms, marching percussion and/or any musical instrument that is struck within the context of a...

.

The album was released to much critical acclaim but little commercial success. It features harpsichord

Harpsichord

A harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It produces sound by plucking a string when a key is pressed.In the narrow sense, "harpsichord" designates only the large wing-shaped instruments in which the strings are perpendicular to the keyboard...

, violin

Violin

The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....

, viola

Viola

The viola is a bowed string instrument. It is the middle voice of the violin family, between the violin and the cello.- Form :The viola is similar in material and construction to the violin. A full-size viola's body is between and longer than the body of a full-size violin , with an average...

, cello

Cello

The cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...

, French horn, and a Hammond B3 organ. Several of the songs are inspired by (or refer to) works of literature: "Bernice Bobs Her Hair" is based on the short story of the same name

Bernice Bobs Her Hair

Bernice Bobs Her Hair is a short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald, written in 1920 and first published in the Saturday Evening Post in May of that year. It appeared shortly thereafter in the collection Flappers and Philosophers.- Background :...

 by F. Scott Fitzgerald

F. Scott Fitzgerald

Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was an American author of novels and short stories, whose works are the paradigm writings of the Jazz Age, a term he coined himself. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century. Fitzgerald is considered a member of the "Lost...

; "Three Sisters" is about the play of the same name

Three Sisters (play)

Three Sisters is a play by Russian author and playwright Anton Chekhov, perhaps partially inspired by the situation of the three Brontë sisters, but most probably by the three Zimmermann sisters in Perm...

 by Anton Chekhov

Anton Chekhov

Anton Pavlovich Chekhov was a Russian physician, dramatist and author who is considered to be among the greatest writers of short stories in history. His career as a dramatist produced four classics and his best short stories are held in high esteem by writers and critics...

; "Lucy" is an amalgamation

Amalgamation (fiction)

Amalgamation or amalgam, when used to refer to a fictional character or place, refers to one that was created by combining, or is perceived to be a combination, of several other previously existing characters or locations...

 of three of the Lucy poems by William Wordsworth

William Wordsworth

William Wordsworth was a major English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with the 1798 joint publication Lyrical Ballads....

; "Timewatching" is inspired by the popular song "When I Fall In Love

When I Fall in Love

"When I Fall in Love" is a 1952 popular song recorded by many artists.When I Fall in Love may also refer to:* When I Fall in Love , an album by Chris Botti, with a version of the 1952 song...

"; "Death of a Supernaturalist" is preceded by a quote from A Room with a View

A Room with a View

A Room with a View is a 1908 novel by English writer E. M. Forster, about a young woman in the repressed culture of Edwardian England. Set in Italy and England, the story is both a romance and a critique of English society at the beginning of the 20th century...

 by E. M. Forster

E. M. Forster

Edward Morgan Forster OM, CH was an English novelist, short story writer, essayist and librettist. He is known best for his ironic and well-plotted novels examining class difference and hypocrisy in early 20th-century British society...

, spoken by Julian Sands

Julian Sands

Julian M. Sands is an English actor, known for his roles in the Best Picture nominee The Killing Fields, the cult film Warlock, A Room with a View, Arachnophobia, Vatel, the television series 24 and as Jor-El in the television series Smallville.-Career:Sands began his film career appearing in...

 and Daniel Day-Lewis

Daniel Day-Lewis

Daniel Michael Blake Day-Lewis is an English actor with both British and Irish citizenship. His portrayals of Christy Brown in My Left Foot and Daniel Plainview in There Will Be Blood won Academy and BAFTA Awards for Best Actor, and Screen Actors Guild as well as Golden Globe Awards for the latter...

 and sampled from the Merchant-Ivory

Merchant Ivory Productions

Merchant Ivory Productions is a film company founded in 1961 by producer Ismail Merchant and director James Ivory. Their films were for the most part produced by the former, directed by the latter, and scripted by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, with the noted exception of a few films. The films were often...

 film of the same name

A Room with a View (film)

A Room with a View is a 1985 British drama film directed by James Ivory and produced by Ismail Merchant. The film is a close adaptation of E. M...

. More playfully, "Festive Road" is a tribute to the children's television programme Mr Benn

Mr Benn

Mr Benn is a character created by David McKee who appears in several children's books, and an animated television series of the same name transmitted by the BBC in 1971 and 1972. Whether in a book, or on television, Mr Benn's adventures take on a similar pattern...

.

Track listing

• All songs written and arranged by Neil Hannon
  Neil Hannon
  Neil Hannon is a Northern Irish singer and songwriter, best known as the creator and frontman of the chamber pop group The Divine Comedy. The band's official website even goes so far as to say, "The Divine Comedy is Neil Hannon," and Hannon is quoted in an interview as saying, "The Divine Comedy...
  
  
  • Additional lyrics on "Lucy" by William Wordsworth
    William Wordsworth
    William Wordsworth was a major English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with the 1798 joint publication Lyrical Ballads....
    
    

1. "Festive Road"
2. "Death of a Supernaturalist"
3. "Bernice Bobs Her Hair"
4. "I Was Born Yesterday"
5. "Your Daddy's Car"
6. "Europop"
7. "Timewatching"
8. "The Pop Singer's Fear of the Pollen Count
   The Pop Singer's Fear of the Pollen Count
   "The Pop Singer's Fear of the Pollen Count" is a song by The Divine Comedy. It was originally recorded for the Liberation album. A rerecorded version was released as the first single from A Secret History... The Best of The Divine Comedy...
   
   "
9. "Queen of the South"
10. "Victoria Falls"
11. "Three Sisters"
12. "Europe by Train"
13. "Lucy"

Personnel

• Neil Hannon
  Neil Hannon
  Neil Hannon is a Northern Irish singer and songwriter, best known as the creator and frontman of the chamber pop group The Divine Comedy. The band's official website even goes so far as to say, "The Divine Comedy is Neil Hannon," and Hannon is quoted in an interview as saying, "The Divine Comedy...
  
   - Vocals, guitars, bass guitar, piano, keyboards, harpsichord, and organ
• Darren Allison
  Darren Allison
  Darren Allison , is a British record producer, musician, and recording engineer, best known for his work on the epic soundscapes of such artists as The Divine Comedy, Spiritualized, and ,more recently, Efterklang.-Selected Discography:...
  
  - Drums and Percussion
• Lucy Castle - Viola and Violin
• Monica Scott - Cello
• Quentin Hutchinson - French horn