A Short Album About Love


A Short Album About Love is the fifth album by The Divine Comedy, released in 1997.

Accolades

The album was included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.

Track listing

All songs written by Neil Hannon except where stated.
  1. "In Pursuit of Happiness" – 3:31
  2. "Everybody Knows " – 3:48
  3. "Someone" – 5:58
  4. "If..." – 4:25
  5. "If I Were You " – 4:41
  6. "Timewatching" – 4:42
  7. "I'm All You Need" – 4:51
;Bonus tracks
  1. "Motorway to Damascus"*
  2. "Love Is Lighter Than Air"*
  3. "Birds of Paradise Farm"*
  4. "Make It Easy on Yourself"*
The tracks which are starred are bonus tracks which are on certain pressings of the album.
"Birds of Paradise Farm" is a studio recording, produced by Darren Allison and Hannon, during the Casanova album sessions, and as such, features a completely different line-up to the band heard on the rest of the album, with Allison playing drums and percussion, Hannon playing 'everything else', and strings/winds recorded at Abbey Road Studios. "Birds of Paradise Farm" had previously appeared as a b-side to "Something for the Weekend".
"Love Is Lighter Than Air" and "Motorway to Damascus" are also studio recordings, this time featuring the newly-formed, post-Casanova, core live Divine Comedy band. Both tracks had also appeared as b-sides to "Casanova"-era singles, "Something for the Weekend" and "Becoming More Like Alfie", respectively.
"Everybody Knows " was released as a single on three separate CDs, each one featuring an extra three live tracks. It became one of the band's biggest hits, reaching number fourteen in the UK charts.

In other media

The middle eight of "In Pursuit Of Happiness" was subsequently adopted as the theme for the TV series Tomorrow's World. The original version was used for one season of the show, with a specially-recorded version being substituted thereafter.

Personnel

The Divine Comedy:
The Brunel Ensemble:
Christopher Austin - conductor