A Short Album About Love

This should’ve been like 3 songs and maybe I could’ve stomached it as a short concept EP or something. Or maybe it could’ve just been like, without the lyrics. Maybe it just didn’t age well or something because its highly rated per Wikipedia and dude has had a crazy long career. I feel like he wants to be Sinatra, maybe. Or we’re all just jaded. Who knows.

"Baroque pop," very heavily orchestrated with heavy instrumentals and just... HEAVY overall. Not my fav, and don't think it's objectively super well done either. 2.

Wasn’t short enough.

pompous, smug, mannered, pseudo-dramatic - there is nothing here that was not done much better and much earlier by Scott Walker and by Jacques Brel one star

Can't stand his singing style or arch lyrics. Not funny, not clever.

No

нудная скукотень

Sounds like Willy Wonka, Neil Diamond, and Ben Folds had a threesome.

I can't imagine why this one is on the list.

Kanske lite bättre än förra, men ingen "Alfie" och gôrtråkig som helhet

Ett kort album som inte är kort nog (Someone undantaget).

This fascination with crooners and their orchestrated albums is going to drive me insane. I just don't care for this stuff. I do hope someone gets more out of it than I did, but one listen was more than enough for me.

Orchestral pop.

Actually awful.

This album really is exactly what it says it is, and I don't mean that in a good way. The fact that it's so short is actually a really good thing, it really just doesn't need to be any longer. Just front to back generic sounding, and generic lyrics about, well, you guessed it. It doesn't feel particularly meaningful or heartfelt, just singing about love because why not? Everybody else is doing it. There were a few moments that maybe I thought were kinda cool, but to be honest looking at it, I was really forcing myself to enjoy those parts, while trying to come across as epic and passionate, they end up just sounding more whiny than anything really. Real shame actually, I really liked the other Divine Comedy album on the list, but this one just doesn't do it for me at all.

This is the second album by this band in as many weeks. If this had been my first two weeks of this project I would have dropped this venture post haste.

What the fuck are these lyrics? Reminds me of a Richard Cheese album but this guy is being serious. Better than the last one but only because it was short.

The album name implies that this is either an ode to Shakespeare or a joke. I'm guessing the latter. I'm puzzled why this was included, there are other takes on standards that are done better. Favorite songs: Someone

No idea how this got on the list of 1001 albums to listen to before you die.

Scott Walker if he had an obession with horses or dogs, the lyrics are a turn off for me

no.

WHHHYYYYYY!!!!!????? 😭 WHY are there two albums by this person on the list?

I feel assaulted. Again.

With a meta album title like this, you already know it's not going to be good. Boring and bad. Coldplay but extra mind numbing. I cannot believe this artist got two albums on the list.

This album is way too long.

One of the toughest listens yet…

Utter self-suck dogshit!!!!!

This was a ROUGH listen. Maybe I just am not in the mood to listen to something like this, but I can't imagine a world I ever would be.

How did this make it to the list?

Sorry, I can't find anything appealing about this album.

Forgettable orchestral pop.

Hot fuckin' garbage

It definitely is a short album about love anyway. Really unique and different! Not really a bit of me tho tbh… Fav song is ‘In Pursuit of Happiness’.

I had not heard of Devine Comedy I had not heard A short album about love I had not heard any singles Yeah this ain't great. The songs are ok, but there not really anything memorable. Nope not worthy of the list.

Gelukkig is het kort. De definitie van een gezapig album. Ugh.

OK this is actual garbage music. It sounds like someone went to one of those recording booths in a shopping mall and recorded vocals from their spiral bound notebook. I can't believe someone paid to cut this album.

I’m convinced this album is only on here to make us appreciate those other records with the slightest resemblance of merit and artistic worth. What a steaming pile of horseshit.

I can't believe they were making bad 80's music well into the 90's.

Are you kidding me? Really? It’s like these guys were going for a humorous take on love similar to 69 Love Songs but without that album’s wit or musicality. The lyrics have to be heard to fully appreciate their atrociousness. Emphatically not for me. I added “In the Pursuit of Happiness” to my Generator playlist. It was the shortest track.

Groupe inconnu. Aucun intérêt pour moi. Je n'apprécie en général pas les accompagnements orchestraux, celui-ci ne fait pas ne fait pas exception.... Ennui complet, je ne suis pas allé au bout. =>1/5

It’s called a short album but lasted a lifetime. BORING.

Incredible album, yes, incredibly bad. What producer, what record company would accept lyrics like this? Horses, stables, dogs, leashes... we rhyme with a crowbar. And then the orchestration, truly brilliantly off-key. In what century was this recorded? It's no wonder I've never heard of the band "The Divine Comedy" or the album "A Short A about Love." I don't even bother asking myself why any critics saw anything in this album and even gave it such high marks. My verdict: awful! The album is truly awful! I sing better in the shower, and thankfully there's no orchestra there.

“Hey don’t be surprised if millions die in plague and murder. True happiness lies beyond your fries and happy burger.” Two lines from the first track. It doesn’t get much better from there

This album reminds me a lot of Roxy Music. I really hate Roxy Music. Also, I’m really uncomfortable with the sheer number of times the singer tells us how much he loves horses and dogs … like, REALLY loves them. I strongly believe the ASPCA should get involved. I really expected to hear that Sarah McLachlan song playing under a public service announcement begging me to donate to abused animals at the end of this album. Now, in The Divine Comedy, the Italian poet Dante famously outlined his Nine Circles of Hell within the Purgatorio canticle of the epic poem. Expanding upon the biblical description of the 7 Circles of Hell, Dante’s embellishments added 2 levels of increased severity … one for violence and the other reserved for everyone involved in the making of this pompous, self-important clusterfuck of an album.

This is the second album by The Divine Comedy that this site make me listen to. I didn't like the last one. It wasn't the worst thing I've heard, but it was boring and did not belong in the list. This one is not better, and since I had heard Casanova and knew what the band sounds like before I clicked play on this one, it not falling far from expectation just makes it a more unpleasant listen. Seriously, this band doesn't deserve two entries on the list. Great bands have showed up in my history, Sade, Fleet Foxes, The Strokes, Ride. They only have one album each, for god's sake.

Not to my taste.

This shit is awful.

A short album about how many times we can compare his love to a horse, dog, etc.

Another pile of nothing. Absolutely nothing special. This sounds like the random band playing in the background at a random 2 star restaurant when you are on vacation with your parents and waiting for your shitty pizza to come.

Tosh.

Um, what. This was just creepy and weird. If this album had been written about me, I'd be changing my name and moving out of state. You in danger, girl!

Train. Wreck.

Nah. I hate the wobbly vocals right off the hop. Skip. Ok I didn’t actually skip the first song but the vocals get worse. How is this a top album in the world… It’s like poorly executed show tunes. I heard Simon Cowell also hates show tunes. Yea this fucking blows. I’m out. Song 2 of the track was enough to know I can’t sit through the rest.

honestly, I couldn't stand this album. Hated the voice, the sound, everything. Not for me

I think this is the second album I’ve gotten of this band, and they truly are hot garbage. Wild how anyone must listen to this before they die.

Eh

There should be a T1001 for the UK and another for the US. This is yet another band no one has ever heard of outside the UK. Zero hits, his vocals suck and are too theatrical, most songs under 300K listens in nearly 30 years. Truly every song sounds like it was recorded within an hour of the previous song, dreary and rainy is how I'd describe it overall. Thankfully it was a merciful 31 mins from start to finish. The "hit" song in the UK was "Everybody Knows (Except You)", never hit the radio here as far as I remember. If that's the cream of the crop, why is is on this list of must hear albums?! It sounds so dated, even for 1997, it sounds like it should have been released in 1967. "Complete Shite" as they might say on the island. 1 star.

first track - wtf is this production? track 2- is this corny or ironic? this has the highest plays on the album? oh no. track 3 - better, but not by much. the whole thing is so gooey and warm I can't tell if it's trying to harken back to the sound of the 50's-60's or thumbing its nose at it. track 4 - so this is the horse song. . . horrible album, on this issue, there can be no debate

Not enough songs about buses.

What in the wants-to-be on the Lawrence Welk show bullshit is this? The target demographic for this was in their 60s and 70s when this was released in 1997. And even they probably didn't like it. Glad I looked up the original tracklist and stopped after the 7th. Oh shit, wait. There's still 2 tracks left... sigh.

Why on god's green earth is this the SECOND album by this artist on this list. I don't think he deserved to be on this list once, let alone twice. This is marginally better than the Divine Comedy but that ain't saying much.

Nothing divine or funny about this. Dante would be appalled.

it's never this dramatic

I'm not sure if the guy dialling back the wink-wink-nudge-nudge for attempted sincerity makes this album better or worse than 'Casanova'. But I do know they shouldn't be taking up *two* valuable spots on the list with this garbage parody of fourth-rate crooners who themselves were imitating better artists. I guess I owe Scott Walker an apology.

This is absolutely not for me but I have a really hard time deducing who exactly this is for. I’m fairly confident that this music is made for dinner parties hosted by high end vest salespeople and horses. This was annoying and I hated it so much, hated it even more on the second listen. 1 star

Not for me

wannabe sinatra

Big band emo

Ugh, everything seemed off

This is my second Divine Comedy album. Just like the first, this album seems convinced it is doing something great and important. All I hear is boring vocals over repetitive instrumentals.

It is short. It is about love. What it isn't is the usual Divine Comedy. Stick to clever lyrics. Like a politician who joins in a game of football in election week. Stop it, stick to your lane.

I hated this. Overwrought Morrissey-on-Broadway vibes. It's just not for me.

Rage bait comedy album? "If you were a horse, I would clean the crap out of your stable"......whaaaaaaaaaat? "If you were a dog I'd feed you scraps from off the table Though my wife complains If you were my dog I am sure you'd like it better Then you'd be my loyal four legged friend You'd never have to think again And we could be together till the end" Ok, bro......you do you I guess. I hope I never hear this stinking album again.

Best Song: Everyone Knows (Except You) Well, this sucked. I wish I could give some sort of positive spin to something here but really I don't have much. I guess I can say this isn't for me. I just don't know who this is for, it would be no one I have ever met. This is kind of like if aliens had a full catalogue of human music and they tried to make music similar and this is it. 1/5 because 0 isn't an option.

People actually listen to and enjoy this bullshit? Yuck.

No. No, this doesn't need to be on the list.

NEIGH.

I'm gonna real time comment on this one. Song 1: Fuuuuck, not another baroque pop turd in the music punchbowl. Song 2: Everybody knows that I want to smash my phone. The brief episode of guitar sucks. The vocals suck worse. Song 3: My dad would LOVE this. Song 4: A bright spot! I think he really wants the object of this song to be a horse. I can almost overlook the horrible oboe. But then he starts imagining the object is his daughter/sister/dog and it starts getting fucking weird. I like it. Song 5: Premise is promising, song doesn't live up to its promise. Song 6: No. Song 7: All I need is to never, ever, ever hear this again. So, in sum, one song is just weird enough to be interesting, and the rest are garbage. I'm sure this music appeals to some people (fans of that Wainwright guy?), but I just don't appreciate anything about it.

I had to turn this album off after what he said about his sister... also it was not very good up until that point anyway.

One od the strangest and least appealing albums I've listened to. Horrid vocals, shoddy production, and some truly baffling arrangement/lyric choices for a "love" album. Only redeeming quality is the shorter runtime. Wholly terrible

If I already wasn’t into this, “If” put the nail in the coffin for sure. 1/5

Nicest thing I can say about this album is that it's not very long

If I could vote negative stars, this one would get a few. This is the worst piece of crap I have hear, how do these people get record deals?

Painful. Confusing.

Not good

meh.

Wannabe Burt Bacharach with saccharine arrangements. Why try to be a pale imitation of freaking Burt Bacharach? This was so dull I let my daughter change the music to Kpop Demon Hunters.

Never got this lot. Nope. Music for MELT centrists.

p810. 1997. 1 star. Not as clever or as funny as it thinks it is. There is something about Neil Hannon and his annoying faux-Scott Walker vocals that makes me want to punch him every time he opens his mouth. On the plus side it's short.

1. Overwrought 2. Even worse 3. I'm starting to think that because a rock outfit has strings and orchestral backing, people assume a band is deep and meaningful...well, no. (Suede, Blur, hell, even Oasis are NOT this overwrought. Please stop them from embarrassing themselves and all of us who love "Britpop" This is just crap....) 4. If you were a horse (at first I thought they were singing "whore" which at least might have been a bit edgy)? This is getting ridiculous. Please kill me.... 5. If I were you, I'd not have made this crappy song and worse album. I would've put away the strings and the pretense, I definitely would've galloped off...away from you because you're a hack whacker. (Luckily, this might be last time I will ever listen to this crap. I'm going to make the whole 7 songs, but I vote this as one of the worst experiences of Britpop I've ever experienced. Embarrassing.) 6. Puerile. Dammit, it keeps getting more horrible. 7. This guy keeps singing about animals...maybe he is really a pervert who thinks he's funny? This is not cute, nor clever, not even particularly witty. This might be the worse "best" album ever put on vinyl, plastic, etched anywhere at any time. I'll need to purge this bad bad britpop with some truly excellent stuff by Blur, Suede, Verve, hell even Oasis. Please shoot this guy...the best thing I can say about it was that it was thankfully short and did end before I killed myself. This album went to -11. I need some better Britpop music. I'll start with Blur (1997)...just about 1 minute in I'm feeling better (Beetlebum, thank you.) And Woo hoo!!!!

Ah, I get it now! This album is all about a guy creepily staring at an unsuspecting woman through her window while hiding in the bushes!

Why?

Truly awful. Time I'll never get back.

I’m not quick to give out 1 stars but my god I thought that was awful, nothing appealed to me and it just didn’t work

Yeaaaah didn’t like this one. It was sooo ssslllooowww. I had to stop and come back to it a few times, which is bad considering the entire album is just over half an hour. Nothing made the playlist.

Listening to The Divine Comedy is like going to an orchestra's summer pops starlight dinner concert: I'd almost always prefer to hear classical music or the actual pop artist instead of a boring mashup with mediocre vocals while I eat bland catered meat loaf or whatever. Lyrics 1/10 only because I laughed at "if you were a horse, I'd clean the crap out of your stable." Instrumentation 0/10 Vocals 0/10

I assume the album is a send-up mockery of love songs? Even at that, it’s super-over the top. The arrangement is all drama & the lyrics/vocals are all schmaltz. There’s occasionally some interesting music happening in the background. But it’s too much. The music could be a 2 but the overdramatic lyrics and singing make it, clearly, a 1. One song i thought was going to be good, devolved into silliness, with lyrics like “if you were a horse, i’d clean the crap out of your stable; if you were horse I could ride you through the fields at dawn…through the day, until the day was gone. I could sing about you in all my songs as we rode away into the setting sun.” 🤮 And “if you were a dog I’d feed you scraps off of the table, though my wife complains...” This is one of the better songs. In other words, it sucks. It’s a one.

Didn’t really grab me

How in the actual fuck is this essential listening? The wikipedia article couldn't even find more than two sentences to say about it. This is music made for high school theater kids. They will outgrow it in under a year and be embarrassed they ever listened to it too. God damn this is absolute crap.

Le sigh. I suppose this is this challenge's attempt to claim unbiased legitimacy by including a(nother) token entry from this subgenre (though "Punishing Kiss" by Ute Lemper was MORE than sufficient representation). 2/1001 = .1998%; which is proportionally more than the population listening to this crap; so, can we please consider it "represented" and move on?

The Whores of Yawnsville

The joke’s on us.

Chamber Pop? Really? I mean, I can appreciate a good sub-genre now and again, but this just isn't one of those times. It is an inexplicable combination of The Smiths/Morrissey (brilliant) and 70's mediocre singer/songwriter constructs (Harry Nilsson et al - not brilliant) to greater negative effect. It's not that it is bad or unlistenable, it is just wrong. It reminds me of a great quote from Jurassic Park when talking about the irresponsible science around growing dinosaur... "you were too busy asking whether on not you could instead of asking wether you should."

Showtune music without a show (and mixed like one too). Full of vamping, crooning, and bellyaching. It’s only 7 songs long and I kept checking to see if it was almost over. “If you were a horse I’d clean the crap out of your stable.” What this album is trying to do, Magnetic Fields’ “69 Love Songs” (released two years later) did so much better it makes Divine Comedy sound like a retroactive imitation.

just... so... boring. why is this on here?

What a stupid album

I'd clean the crap out of your stable. Honestly, better than Casanova, but still really bad. At least it was shorter. I really hope this is the last Divine Comedy record on this list.

Pretty terrible if I’m being honest

is this a satire album? this shit is CHEESE and a snoozefest

Rank Sinatra

I feel like this is a joke. Like, who said “Yes, chamber pop! Let’s make an album!” Awful

Shocked there are two Divine Comedy albums on this list...must have hit harder in the UK. Nothing I would ever choose to listen to. 1.5/5

Jesus, this is a more pretentious, less skilled Father John Misty.

“If” is really for the real yearners. Other than that most of the songs were more or less the same. Not great but not awful

Not short enough. Did we really have to hear from this clown TWICE?!

Not sure how this made it. Nothing redeemable whatsoever

Wow, I really hated this. Out of curiosity, I looked up the lyrics to If on Genius, and now I feel like I'm kink shaming by hating this album and those lyrics. But there's nothing about any of this that's for me, and the general tone for almost every song gave me the ick. Everybody Knows (Except You) is major stalker vibes, like no means no, man.

The Good: It’s a short album… The Bad: One would hope that love would get more attention The Ugly: This is album isn’t short enough, divine enough, and it made me cry… What a heaping pile of absolute horseshit. If I would want to listen to music that emulates, in the worst possible way, crappy ‘70s music, I would play crappy ‘70s music, instead of this pile of excrement. I am seriously starting to doubt the fucking sanity of the author of this list, or his taste… Overlooking some massive albums from the ‘90s, yet including things that are “different” in the hopes that 4 people will actually like it and maybe go visit a show in a bingo-parlor when The Divine Comedy has paid for the right to make us want to gauge our ears with sharp-ended pencils… Should not come as a surprise that I give this 1*

Tretti minutter med endimensjonal og drøv smørsang. "If" fikk meg i det minste til å trekke på smilebåndet.

Not funny enough to be satire. Not good enough to be this far up its own ass. Whole thing feels like a theater geek’s wet dream of the album that will finally make regular people appreciate musicals. Worthless.

Nope

I've been at this for exactly a week now and this is already the THIRD boring Euro-pop band that's come up! Enough with this late 90's crap, too! I hope I'm getting front loaded with all this garbage and the good stuff is coming later. Also, I assume the douchey, pretentious cover is supposed to be an homage to Blue Note Records. Is it an homage, though, if it's a blatant rip-off? Lyrically, this album is some of the most vapid songwriting I've ever heard: "If you were a dog, I'd feed you scraps from off the table though my wife complains." Musically, it sounds like a cheap, off-off-Broadway theatrical production, and the lead vocalist wishes he were David Bowie so hard but falls well short of getting the imitation quite right. If it were possible to give 0 stars, this album would deserve it (or worse). As it is, however, they should find themselves fortunate that I begrudgingly award them 1 star.

Not sure if I'm missing something from the big picture, but it just seems overly corny and too overproduced for it's own good.

Grown up theater kid makes Niel Diamond/Morrissey crossover in the worst way possible. I was relieved this was a short album. At multiple points I questioned if this was supposed to be satire, I still think it may be, especially due to the name of the artist? I don't know, but I won't be relistening

David Fonseca

No.

1 stern

At least it was short

I really like comedy albums. When I was a kid, my favorite albums were Weird Al Yankovic in 3-D and Monty Python's Contractual Obligation album. This album is funny, but you can tell that they didnt really mean it as a joke or maybe even bitter Irish irony. Its pretty bad, and I have no idea how this ends up on a list like this. 1/5

Everybody Knows (Except You)

Trying to sound like making a James Bond theme but failing spectacular. Dreadful stuff.

Thankfully it was only 30 minutes!

Really wanted to like the Divine Comedy if for no other reason than National Express, which I never get tired of listening to. But this is just shite.

Ambitious orchestral and cinematic a bit like Nick Cave or Tom Waits, but with a 90s indie sensibility. Slow and melodramatic songs with a big crooning baritone vocal. The best songs, at root, are blues piano & guitar based rock dressed up to sound like an opera, the worst ones ditch the rock and go fully orchestral arrangements and composition. Respect for the songwriting and performances, but this really has 0 appeal to me and I can't understand who the audience for this maudlin grindingly dull bloated stuff is? A few good lines though - "If you were a horse, I'd clean the crap out of your stable" - that have enough of a sense of humor to save it from being the most up itself thing imaginable. And the trumpets are pretty cool. Favorite: I'm All You Need

It’s like a homage to Nick Cave, without his wit or talent.

It's like the worst Neil Diamond but mixed with shit.

This is bad music. So bad it’s almost funny. Almost. Instead, it made me angry.

I went from finding this bland to actively disliking it at track 4. I hope there's no more of this band on the list.

There should not be two albums by this artist on the list. This one doesn't even have Songs of Love on it, so it's completely useless.

It was ok. Kind of forgettable

WTF was this BS

- the joke is good ..... once. -

Awful! Worst album I've listened to so far. Made a conscious decision to listen to every track on every album but this one was a tough one to get through. Very droney and miserable without any real meaning or emotion.

Ok?

If any album convinces me that overblown production, an excessive swelling string section and over the top vocals don't convey much in the way of emotion, it's this album. It comes across like a pastiche of the kind of performance characteristic of 1960s/1970s light entertainment TV shows. I'm not familiar with The Divine Comedy - maybe this is a deliberate pastiche?

Not for me. 1/5

One album by the Divine comedy was more than enough. The second one in two weeks.

Not for me

Alternative/ Jazz/ Song writer. Not sure the genre. But, ok.

I didn’t expect this to be more depressing than Morrissey (which was the pick I got before this one) but here we are. Tough going, life is hard enough without suffering through this.

This is the 2nd divine comedy album that has come up and it’s worse than the other one. No idea why this is in the list!

A tad boring, isn't it?

Don't get the hype

Please. Why do I hate this man? Are there more than two albums on the list? Please, you’re ruining everything. (ntm.)

My god what utter rubbish. If you’d like to hear some actually successful chamber pop, do yourself a favor and go listen to Rufus Wainwright’s “Want One”. This album, on the other hand, should be consigned to the dustbin of history.

Glad it was short. It wasn't my jam. It's funny how close it is to, and yet also how far away from, The Magnetic Fields 69 Love Songs that this short album about love really is. Same topic, proximate vocals, some dry-ish humor and yet one has all the charm, wit, and magic mix of sparkle and darkness I could ask for while the other just feels dumb. If you haven't figured it out by now, you'll be able to tell which this album is in my opinion by the rating.

Horrible

Ekki fyrir mig

The joke is on us.

Ugh. No.

It sounds like the singer from Floater doing a bad impersonation of Frank Sinatra. The lyrics are so comically bad that I genuinely had to check and see if they were joking. They were not.

Really, really disliked this. Aesthetically, sonically, lyrically. Oof.

I would ask why and how this album got on this list, but I'm guessing it has something to do with the repeat references to Scott Walker I found in reviews.

Liian myhäilevää. Tavoitellaan satumaisuutta (musikaalimaisesti) pelkäämättä korniutta, vaikka pitäisi. Pitkästä aikaa tekee mieli inhota, vaikka ihan niin voimakkaita tunteita tämä ei herätä. Onneksi oli lyhyt.

Huonoa Disney-musiikkia aikuisille.

Cansionsita de amor no pls

a boring album about love

absolutely dreadful, irredeemable, it’s existence on this list is a confounding mystery to all with ears

Is he stalking this girl or does he just really love horses? The world may never know.

Sweet, enamel-eating love songs. Even if you're not diabetic, it will kill you. Boring. 1/5

I tried, but I really couldn't get into this. It had no appeal to me in any way.

Not my jam

Not for me

Just don’t like his voice. I’ve tried.

I have never heard of this band and had zero expectations. Unfortunately, it is one of the worst albums I've ever heard.

It never made me care about anything he sang.

made me irate

This feels like They Might Be Giants met Jonathan Coulson, went to England and wrote the wackiest lyrics about love they could come up with, and then performed with an eye rolling, muscle pulling, wink as Frank Sinatra for hipster chamber pop, but demanded to be taken seriously, even though the word Comedy is right there in the band's name. Not funny enough to be funny and not serious enough to be taken seriously. Just more terrible Nick Cave-ous stuff. The Divine Comedy feels like an acquired taste that I cannot seem to acquire. Or an acquired disease I need penicillin for. I understand what they are doing, but it just seems like a pointless exercise in juxtaposition and irony. "If" is an uncomfortable creep fest. It's like Hannon heard Radiohead's "Creep" and said "Here, hold my tea." The difference being that I think Cannon is trying to be earnest. Not here for the Schmaltz. What circle of hell am I in? This is another one of those albums that makes me feel like we are being trolled by the list maker.

Really unlistenable, just not my style at all

Seriously, a second bizarro album from this artist? Art thou sane? Or you trying to drive us crazy?

I can’t stand this stuff.

Icky

I did not enjoy this album. I am glad it was short. It was like Frank Sinatra, but not as catchy. Also, not in the 50s, this album is from 1997! So many greats in this decade, and this album is not one of them. Favorite Song(s): N/A

Insipid music

Not for me. Couldn’t get past song #2

"The friend who claims he can sing who had enough cash to hire an orchestra - The album". Sounds very dull and boring.

Neil is talented as a lyricist, but I find the music boring and moaney. This album is better off on someone else's shelf than mine.

You didn’t miss anything with this one. Move along

Not a fine of the guy’s lounge singer voice.

No thanks

Tarkoituksella awkward sanoitukset haha hauskaa.. Vituttaa vaan kun ei kunnolla hauskat kun pitää keskittyä rakkausteemaa eli tulee semmone paskasekotus joka ilmesesti haluttu saada aikaan melodiat täysin samaa koko 36 minuuttia hohhoijaaa.. Hauska näinhän se menee rakkausalbumeissako heh.. Ensimmäisen ironiakerros annetaan ilmaiseksi eli heh ei olekkaan perusrakkauslaulu eriskummaliset sanat hahah awww... rakkaus.. Toinen ironiakerros pitää katsojan yrittää löytää päänsä sisältä. Hän voi esimerkiksi ajatella että albumi pilkkaa rakastavaisia jotka kuuntelevat albumia ja naurahtavat välillä kun tulee höpsön söpö lyriikka.. Tämä ei kuitenkaan ole tarpeeksi cope... Sen takia tarvitaan kolmasironiakerros, harmillisesti tämä kolmaskerros, vaikka olisi ihan hauska konseptualisoida päässä, ei riiittäisi tekemään tästä albumista mitään spesiaalia niinkuin esim röökiä vetänä albumi jossa jo toinen ironiakerros ylsi viiteen tähteen. Korkeampien ironiakerrosten tutkiminen voi olla tarpeellista mutta on todennäköistä että tästä albumista ei voi tarpeeksi älykäs ihminen nauttia...

Really not my thing

This ain't it, I certainly appreciate that it was a short album about love. Such lame lyricism god damn. 1.5/5 Fav track: If I were you

Drek.

Fuckin yuck

Complete garbage. At least it was short

Not even funny, just toxic. And a symphonic orchestra cannot save lackluster music. This makes me lose hope for humanity.

Could not find any joy with this one.

Nice but sooo boring

This was like a parody of… something bad.

AJ: I like the album title. Strings and horns sounded good. This mostly sucked. There are more than a few “what the fuck did he just say!?” lyrics. Some had me questioning if it was some botched attempt at a comedy album. I don’t get it at all. Wikipedia called it “baroque pop.” Who’s fucking idea was that? I am not a happy burger. Cat: this sounds like the soundtrack from a one man off Broadway musical

Blueh, noiosi

Hard pass.

unbelievable that these bozos got two albums onto the list

The best part about this was that it was the shortest album I've heard so far on this 1001 list. Good god was this a difficult listen. Crap lyrics and some of the worst singing ever - it reminded me of something who thinks they can sing like Sinatra except they're a 2 time divorcee doing karaoke at his local bar trying to pick up chicks half his age. How did this group win a record contract!? 2/10.

Reading Stevie's review informing me there are no other James Brown albums on this list at the same time that I start listening to this one is not a good combo. In fact, it's a recipe for disaster. I don't think I would have given them even 3 stars but I sure as hell won't be now. This wasn't a great album and I found it boring, and now wanting compared to a JB album.

Dunce of an album. Bland, boring, forgettable. The spiritual successor to that really lame baroque pop Scott Walker album that I couldn't stand. It's an unearned attempt to make a Frank Sinatra's "My Way" seven times in a row. Never heard of this group (or guy, if it's a Tame Impala situation), but I certainly don't think I was missing much. British bias to the maximum degree here, replace this shite with a James Brown album ASAP. Soundtrack of a man refusing to die. Favorite tracks: If... Album art: Based on this cover/title, I had high expectations. It looks cool and mysterious, and it suggests an inspired concept. The music is just so lame. 1/5

Comedy or not, comedibly bad from my perspective

so awful and terrible it was like hearing the only straight man in your high school theatre department wax poetic about his horrid love life. God I wish I could give it a 0/10

Oh no, not again. First time I ran across this fucker on the list I was too nice and gave him a 2. We'll, today you're getting a 1 my man. Not because it's an entirely unlistenable monstrosity - that would be much more interesting - no, it's because it is an emotionally disingenuous piece of mediocre melodrama. Just shameless watered down Scott Walker. And, and, and... It simply does not belong on the list. Just look at the skeletal Wikipedia entry for this one, it tells you everything you need to know: nobody gives a shit. This had goddamn well better be the last time we meet here Divine Comedy. The fact that you are taking up 2 spaces on this list, while Neutral Milk Hotel doesn't even get one, is preposterous.

Wasn't short, didn't feel the love, nor did I get the humor 1 because it was music

1.5 So, his schtick is he does a poppier, strings-heavier take on Sinatra? But coupled with some of the worst lyrics I've ever heard? "If you were a horse I'd clean the crap out of your stable And never once complain" What? Apparently there's room for filler in a list of 1001 greatest albums of all-time. This album is musically mediocre and lyrically painful, and I'm really not sure why this is something I "must hear before I die". On to the next one.

yeah idk tbh, dece sunday tho

I can hear how good he is but I'm just not too into crooning or whatever the right term is for this style of music.

What a bunch of nonsense. I thought that this was satirical halfway through the first listen as this was just too ridiculously bad. On the second listen it was pretty unbearable hearing how dumb the lyrics were. There are some albums that may make sense being on this list even though they aren’t the most enjoyable. This one did not seem to have any importance. 1.8/10

boring

The "crooners with a dreary orchestral background" genre is the last genre that needs to be revisited. Overall I wasn't a fan of the 60s / 70s recordings that were this style. I do enjoy some of those older recordings where the singer was something special but this genre got very tired by the mid 70s and Burt Bacharach et al. were handed their fedora and shown the door. By the late 90s the genre went from being tired to being boring.

Not my style

Too mellow

What a snooze

Tego jeszcze wyspiarze nie grali, popowy album w aranzacjach orkiestrowo synfonicznych, czyli takie brytylskie rubiki, tylko ze klaskania nie ma, ale za to sporo innych dzwiekow przewija sie przez ten krotki, nie tylko z nazwy album o milosci, bo material to 31 na 7 trakach, daj slabemu spiewakowi 20 osobowa orkiestre za plecami a i tak nadal bedzie spiewal o jakis milosnych glupotach, dawno zaden album mnie tak nie znuzyl w tak krotkim czasie, na plejke nic nie leci, bo stawialbym w ten sposob mine losujac traki

Skipped through it. All pretty dull to be honest.

Clearly Neil Hannon is nostalgic for a bygone era in which albums were elaborately arranged and scored for a small army of musicians, with nary a synthesizer in sight. He also tries to resuscitate a style of songwriting which is all about melody. Nothing wrong with either of those two things. But in order for this to work, you have to have the talent to write memorable melodies, and a great deal of taste in orchestration. Neil Hannon has neither. The arrangements are hamhanded and suffocating. His melodies are crap, like a Broadway musical that flops on opening night. Finally, I find his baritone unpleasant, utterly without charm, interpretative skill or nuance. A Short Album About Love may indeed be short, but not short enough for my taste.

I only like one or two songs by The Divine Comedy, and neither of them are on this album. One positive is it's length.

Some of these lyrics are... insane? This is indeed an album of love

i em a stacker

Fav tracks: everybody knows, if i were you, timewatching Es una voz peculiar, a ratos no me gusta mucho Me gusta la dinámica