The Light of Venus

In 1990 Neil Hannon started recording and releasing under the name The Divine Comedy. Thirty years and twelve great albums later, Hannon is rightly adjudged one of the finest singer songwriters of his generation. To celebrate, Divine Comedy Records are remastering and reissuing nine of the band's classic albums.

In their early days, saxophonist Jay Beckenstein molded Spyro Gyra into an ersatz fusion band that truly watered down the jazz-rock of the '70s, making way for the smooth contemporary instrumental sounds that followed. Some may have considered them pioneers, or an aberration. This 11-track CD from their early years is bookended by their best commercial tunes, "Morning Dance" and "Shaker Song." In between is the filler that rarely got radio airplay, although the light, breezy Caribbean sounds of "South Beach" and especially the robust funk of "Breakfast at Igor's" always hinted that good musicianship was behind a hollow exterior. This can be recommended to those admirers who likely already have this material, but jazz fans should search for the real thing, or explore the discography of Michael Brecker.

Although there are those who nail their spirals to Vertigo as the prog label of choice, EMI’s Harvest certainly vies with it for pole position. With Harvest, the detail was everything. Loaded with the bizarre, striking and the strange, turns abounded like the Third Ear Band, Kevin Ayers and The Greatest Show On Earth. From the bad acid of Edgar Broughton’s There’s No Vibrations, But Wait through the squiffy majesty of Dave Mason’s You Shouldn’t Have Took More Than You Gave, to Be- Bop Deluxe’s future pop of Jet Silver and the Dolls Of Venus, this collection is impressive and nostalgic – its very lack of a house style providing its consistency.