2019 Contenders: The Edited Version

Office Politics, the latest album by The Divine Comedy, is a great 12 track album.

Unfortunately, it's 16 tracks long.

I read an interview with Neil Hannon where he said that after the success of his last record (my favourite album of 2106), he was emboldened to experiment a bit more with this record and add the "mucking about songs" (my words, not his... I can't quite remember how he described them) that normally get cut. He should have left them cut.

Tracks like Philip & Steve's Furniture Removal Company (imagining a world where Philip Glass and Steve Reich run a... well, you can guess the rest... which apparently they did before becoming famous composers, but really, there's a better song to be written about this subject than the repetitive nonsense here... although that's probably the point) and The Synthesizer Service Centre Super Summer Sale (I abhor alliteration) really should have ended up on the cutting room floor. They work as mildly amusing skits, but after two or three (or less) plays become annoying disruptions to an otherwise witty and musically fabulous album.

I guess in this era of streaming and downloads we can all easily edit albums to the size and shape we prefer, but us old fogies who still buy the records are stuck with the CD skip button or the lever arm on the record player.

I don't think Office Politics will be my favourite record of 2019. Still, 12 great tracks on one record is better than a lot of artists manage these days.