Office Politics (album)

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Office Politics
Studio album by
The Divine Comedy
Released7 June 2019
Recorded2017–2019[1]
GenreArt pop
Length60:39
LabelDivine Comedy
ProducerNeil Hannon
The Divine Comedy chronology
Foreverland
(2016) 		Office Politics
(2019)
Singles from Office Politics
  1. "Queuejumper"
    Released: 3 April 2019
  2. "Norman and Norma"
    Released: 16 May 2019
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic77/100[2]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[3]
Clash7/10[4]
musicOMH[5]
Paste7.2/10[6]
The Skinny[7]

Office Politics is the twelfth studio album by Northern Irish chamber pop band the Divine Comedy, released on 7 June 2019 by Divine Comedy Records.[8] It is a concept album concerning the workplace and the ever-growing role machines play in it.[9] The deluxe edition of the album features a bonus disc of Divine Comedy singer-songwriter Neil Hannon's original piano demos for his songs for Royal National Theatre's 2007 musical adaption of Swallows and Amazons.

Hannon has said that the use of marimba was inspired by bands such as Blondie, on their single "The Tide Is High", and Siouxsie Sioux's second band the Creatures.[10] Hannon also cited the tribal drums of early Adam Ant music as another inspiration.[10]

Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, awarded the album an average score of 77, based on seven reviews, indicating "generally good reviews."[2]

Track listing[edit]

All tracks are written by Neil Hannon, except where otherwise noted[11]

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Queuejumper" 3:07
2."Office Politics" 4:02
3."Norman and Norma" 3:36
4."Absolutely Obsolete" 4:13
5."Infernal Machines" 3:05
6."You'll Never Work in This Town Again"Neil Hannon, Marion Sunshine, Obdulio Morales, Julio Blanco Leonard4:11
7."Psychological Evaluation" 2:40
8."The Synthesiser Service Centre Super Summer Sale"Hannon, Tosh Flood, Ian Watson, Andrew Skeet, Simon Little, Tim Weller3:51
9."The Life and Soul of the Party" 3:28
10."A Feather in Your Cap" 4:00
11."I'm a Stranger Here" 4:38
12."Dark Days Are Here Again" 3:15
13."Philip and Steve's Furniture Removal Company" 4:51
14."'Opportunity' Knox" 3:43
15."After the Lord Mayor's Show" 3:46
16."When the Working Day Is Done" 4:13
Swallows and Amazons – The Original Piano Demos bonus disc
No.TitleLength
1."Whistle for a Wind"6:04
2."The Swallow"6:21
3."The Conquering Heroes"4:24
4."Fighting Swallow"1:16
5."The Amazon Pirates"3:43
6."The Parley"3:49
7."Better Drowned Than Duffers"3:25
8."Let's Make the Best of It"4:01
9."Navy Stroke"3:00
10."Like Robinson Crusoe"3:48
11."Titty's Dream"4:10
12."Conquering Heroes, Victory Chorus"1:55
13."The Black Spot"3:23
14."The Parley – Flint's Apology"3:26
15."Swallows and Amazons Forever"2:57

Personnel[edit]

Credits adapted from Office Politics liner notes.[12]

Charts[edit]

Chart (2019) Peak
position
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[13] 159
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[14] 63
French Albums (SNEP)[15] 42
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[16] 51
Irish Albums (IRMA)[17] 9
Scottish Albums (OCC)[18] 2
Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE)[19] 33
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[20] 78
UK Albums (OCC)[21] 5

References[edit]

  1. ^ Hannon, Neil. "Napoleon's Last Hurrah – A Message From Neil *". Retrieved 11 June 2019 – via Facebook.
  2. ^ a b "Office Politics". Metacritic. Retrieved 2 September 2019.
  3. ^ Monger, James Christopher. "Office Politics – The Divine Comedy". AllMusic. Retrieved 22 March 2021.
  4. ^ Rowe, Felix (5 June 2019). "The Divine Comedy – Office Politics". Clash. Retrieved 22 March 2021.
  5. ^ Wylde, Nicoletta (7 June 2019). "The Divine Comedy – Office Politics". MusicOMH. Retrieved 22 March 2021.
  6. ^ Cudmore, Libby (10 June 2019). "The Divine Comedy: Office Politics Review". Paste. Retrieved 22 March 2021.
  7. ^ Wild, Pete (10 June 2019). "The Divine Comedy album review: Office Politics". The Skinny. Retrieved 22 March 2021.
  8. ^ "The Divine Comedy Office Politics". Rough Trade. Retrieved 11 June 2019.
  9. ^ "Memo: The Divine Comedy Announce New Album 'Office Politics'". The Divine Comedy. Retrieved 11 June 2019.
  10. ^ a b Purden, Richard (14 June 2019). "Divine comedian Neil Hannon discusses Office Politics, Adam Ant and Reggie Perrin". Irishnews.com. Retrieved 17 June 2019.
  11. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 25 November 2019. Retrieved 20 November 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  12. ^ "The Divine Comedy – Office Politics". Discogs. Retrieved 29 December 2020.
  13. ^ "Ultratop.be – The Divine Comedy – Office Politics" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 14 June 2019.
  14. ^ "Ultratop.be – The Divine Comedy – Office Politics" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved 14 June 2019.
  15. ^ "Le Top de la semaine : Top Albums Fusionnes – SNEP (Week 24, 2019)" (in French). Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique. Archived from the original on 18 June 2019. Retrieved 17 June 2019.
  16. ^ "Offiziellecharts.de – The Divine Comedy – Office Politics" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 14 June 2019.
  17. ^ "Irish Albums Chart: 14 June 2019". Irish Recorded Music Association. Retrieved 15 June 2019.
  18. ^ "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 15 June 2019.
  19. ^ "Top 100 Albumes – Semana 24: del 7.6.2019 al 13.6.2019" (in Spanish). Productores de Música de España. Retrieved 19 June 2019.
  20. ^ "Swisscharts.com – The Divine Comedy – Office Politics". Hung Medien. Retrieved 20 June 2019.
  21. ^ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 15 June 2019.
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