Album review: The Divine Comedy , Bang goes the Knighthood

NEIL Hannon, the sharp-suited and sharper-tongued Nol Coward of orchestral indie pop, returns for his tenth outing as The Divine Comedy with the knives out on a couple of tracks. The Complete Banker spares no stockbroker's blushes, although the title track is an unexpectedly empathetic, tragicomic portrait of an Establishment figure with pervy proclivities.

But Hannon's wit is not so keen when he strays to other topics. At The Indie Disco is a lame homage/satire (ineffectual enough not to be distinguishable either way), while Can You Stand Upon One Leg is throwaway kids' stuff which Hannon possibly did write standing on one leg.