Casanova

Product Information

The LP release consists of the original remastered album, cut at Abbey Road, packaged with a download code for the album and bonus tracks. The song was later covered by Ben Folds on his EP Sunny 16 in 2003 and Peter Bjorn and John as part of Under the Radar's Covers of Covers album in 2022.

When not doing that, you can find him making music nobody listens to, dancing like everybody is watching, or playing a Greek God on stage. Il faudra beaucoup jouer à cache-cache entre l'éprouvante démesure du son et l'étroitesse des sentiments trop humains (lubricité, jalousie, rancœur, etc. Its central theme is sex, around which all songs on the album centre, except "The Dogs and the Horses", which is the last song on the album and whose theme is death.The album has been remastered from the original tapes at the legendary Abbey Road Studios by mastering engineer Frank Arkwright (Blur, The Smiths. Casanova is the fourth studio album and features the singles: Something For The Weekend, The Frog Princess and Becoming More Like Alfie, plus Songs Of Love (the theme from Father Ted).

And it always sounds fantastic, because, besides the brash orchestra in the background (and sometimes at the forefront), Hannon can really sing. Seen here in a more stripped down version and with a beautiful set of harmonic vocals playing blissfully over the harpsichord melody it's certainly one of the highlights of the album. To mark the release, The Divine Comedy play five nights at the Barbican in London in early September and then later the same month, five nights at the Cite de la Musique in Paris. I listen and content myself knowing that someone out there is still carrying the mantle of Walker’s style.

Taken from the same session 'A Woman Of The World' was also a contender for the show's theme tune but ultimately became the jaunty deep cut seen here, proving that Hannon is no stranger to recycling creative ideas across his career. The remastering work, on my copy, really does make such a huge difference in the definition of the sound, when compared to the OG pressing. Also a scratch right at the beginning of the side to dead wax that creates a nasty pop for the first five or six seconds. When the bass gets slinky and busy during passages on “Charge” and “A Woman of the World” there are echoes of Climate of Hunter to be heard. The program was devised by The Divine Comedy, and was produced in our London studios by Darren Allison.

Thanks to orchestral arranger Joby Talbot, Hannon sounds truly like a timeless icon here, and that that icon is Scott Walker makes the album all the more enjoyable.I had this on a TDK cassette and played it over and over flying from London to Japan on the way to Australia in early 1997. Casanova is Hannon at his best, showing his range, his talent, and his inventive mind as he takes in the world around him. Recorded at the famous Abbey Road Studios the song is the most grandiose of 'Casanova' and may even have you shedding a tear as Hannon plays out the record's last goodbye. Walker might be gone, but the ways in which Hannon emulates him, captures his nuance and style, is like having someone putting out B-sides to Scott 1-4 across their own career.