The Divine Comedy: "Fin De Siecle" (Setanta)

Who better to score the final movement of the millennium than our own precious pop laureate, Neil Hannon? Fin De Siecle is a Wagnerian epic, a full-blown orchestral orgasm to follow the chamber music charm of Casanova, and Hannon dives into the complex arrangements with undisguised glee, singing exuberantly about slight subject matters like commuting, bus journeys and gardening while The Brunel Ensemble and The Crouch End Chorus wax big and bold behind him. Generation Sex takes a swipe at the false freedom of Girl Power, and also gets in a dig at the tabloid-driven Cult of Di with lines like "Lovers watch their backs/ As hacks/ In macs/ Take snaps/ With telephoto lenses/ Chase Mercedes Benzs/ Through the night". Thrillseeker is strangely reminiscent of early Genesis - The Lamb Bunjee Jumps On Broadway, perhaps - while Sweden is a crisp, twisted Gothic tribute to the snow covered Scandinavian country. Eric The Gardener and The Certainty Of Chance are the two showpiece songs, co-written with the band's arranger, Joby Talbot, and both displaying a baroque brilliance which those weaned on traditional rock values might find difficult to digest. With only 10 tracks on offer, you might feel that the boy Hannon is being a bit sparing with his genius, but since he packs more ideas into each song than Embrace can get into an entire album, the overall feeling is of a rich, 10-volume encyclopaedia of life which should see us nicely into the next century.