The Divine Comedy – Bang Goes The Knighthood (Remastered Deluxe Edition) (2010/2020) [Official Digital Download 24bit/48kHz]

Bang Goes The Knighthood was first released in 2010. Written in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, Bang.. took an acerbic look into the lives of the rich and powerful, and their impact on the rest of us “down in the street below.” It was described in the Sunday Times as “a collection worthy of Randy Newman at his best” while Pitchfork said, “Neil Hannon continues to quietly and effectively operate his own one-man niche, thanks to impeccable arrangements and tightrope-walking songwriting.” Includes the singles At The Indie Disco and I Like, and live favourites Assume The Perpendicular and The Complete Banker.

The CD release consists of 2 discs: the original remastered album, with a second CD of B-sides, demos and alternate versions lovingly curated by Neil Hannon, much of which has never been heard before.

Neil Hannon’s tenth full-length album under the Divine Comedy banner finds the jovial tunesmith expounding on the elegant, aristocratic chamber pop that has become his forte since the project’s inception over two decades ago. The lighter, more orchestral tone that began with 2004’s glorious Absent Friends is in full effect on Bang Goes the Knighthood, a breezy 12-song concoction of witticisms and laments populated with the usual assortment of hopeless romantics, ballers, and gadflys and clueless upper-class youth. Hannon’s fetish for Scott Walker/Burt Bacharach/Oscar Wilde-isms comes full circle on the theatrical opener, “Down in the Streets Below”; the jaunty “Neapolitan Girl” skips effortlessly through the city on a foundation of Serge Gainsbourg strings; and “The Lost Art of Conversation” celebrates the great orators of politics, philosophy, and literature with one of the more effortless piano-driven Beatlesque melodies that the artist has crafted to date. Not very powerful stuff, but Hannon’s built a career on being the tipsy and outgoing though secretly lonesome partygoer on the veranda with the best jokes, and while the whole affair can feel a bit slight, it’s certainly never dull. Cheers. – James Christopher Monger

Tracklist:
1-01. The Divine Comedy – Down In The Street Below (2020 remaster) (05:09)
1-02. The Divine Comedy – The Complete Banker (2020 remaster) (03:43)
1-03. The Divine Comedy – Neapolitan Girl (2020 remaster) (02:49)
1-04. The Divine Comedy – Bang Goes The Knighthood (2020 remaster) (02:48)
1-05. The Divine Comedy – At The Indie Disco (2020 remaster) (03:18)
1-06. The Divine Comedy – Have You Ever Been In Love (2020 remaster) (03:10)
1-07. The Divine Comedy – Assume The Perpendicular (2020 remaster) (04:06)
1-08. The Divine Comedy – The Lost Art Of Conversation (2020 remaster) (04:01)
1-09. The Divine Comedy – Island Life (2020 remaster) (04:38)
1-10. The Divine Comedy – When A Man Cries (2020 remaster) (03:54)
1-11. The Divine Comedy – Can You Stand Upon One Leg (2020 remaster) (03:32)
1-12. The Divine Comedy – I Like (2020 remaster) (03:49)
2-01. The Divine Comedy – Assume The Perpendicular (alternate version) (04:07)
2-02. The Divine Comedy – On The Barge (demo) (04:09)
2-03. The Divine Comedy – At The Indie Disco (demo 1) (03:12)
2-04. The Divine Comedy – Girl Overboard (04:17)
2-05. The Divine Comedy – Bang Goes The Knighthood (alternate version) (01:57)
2-06. The Divine Comedy – Beside The Railway Tracks (02:56)
2-07. The Divine Comedy – Have You Ever Been In Love (alternate version) (03:33)
2-08. The Divine Comedy – Oh Christina (03:35)
2-09. The Divine Comedy – Ya Sumeera (02:36)
2-10. The Divine Comedy – Down In The Street Below (demo) (04:52)
2-11. The Divine Comedy – Island Life (demo) (03:23)
2-12. The Divine Comedy – The Bitter End (03:55)
2-13. The Divine Comedy – When A Man Cries (demo) (03:50)
2-14. The Divine Comedy – The Loneliest Man In The World (04:17)
2-15. The Divine Comedy – The Circular Firing Squad (02:48)
2-16. The Divine Comedy – At The Indie Disco (demo 2) (03:26)
2-17. The Divine Comedy – What’s Wrong With You (alternate Lost Art Of Conversation) (03:40)
2-18. The Divine Comedy – Wide Open Spaces (demo) (02:22)
2-19. The Divine Comedy – I Like (alternate version) (03:31)