Search - Divine Comedy :: Promenade

Return of the Concept Album

Crystal Eitle | Minneapolis, MN | 12/18/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Erudite lyrics, a crooner's voice that seems schmaltzy at first but which you'll gradually grow to love, strings and oboes, an ode to drunkenness, and the sexiest song about a rainstorm ever. "Promenade" chronicles a shared day in the life of two people in that giddy and uncertain phase of first realizing they may be in love. The first song is, appropriately enough, "Bath". Then "Going Downhill Fast", which is pure joy, speeding downhill on a bicycle while butterflies flutter inside. The couple goes to a bookstore, a seafood restaurant, get caught in a rainstorm, take a spin on a ferris wheel, go to the movies, and get drunk. Neil Hannon's unabashedly melodic voice and witty lyrics raise all these normal going-out activities to the level of the sublime.This album takes some getting used to at first because of the high schmaltz factor, but once you get over laughing at it, you'll adore it."