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Neil Hannon, PopMaster and The Love Song

Neil Hannon, the lead singer and creator of The Divine Comedy picks his favourite songs in the Tracks of My Years. Plus Ken has another round of the PopMaster music quiz.

Neil Hannon, the founder and lead singer of The Divine Comedy picks his Tracks of My Years with songs from Peter Gabriel and Vince Guaraldi. Neil is considered one of the country’s most creative songwriters and has recently released his latest album from The Divine Comedy called Office Politics. The album is full of songs about characters and machines, synthesizers and songs about synthesizers. It also has guitars, orchestras, accordions and songs about love and greed. Neil says the songs and characters for the album emerged faster than he could keep track of them.

Neil formed The Divine Comedy in 1989 in Northern Ireland and he is the only consistent band member, and at times has played all the instruments himself. The band’s break-through album was Casanova in 1996, their fourth album which featured the single ‘Something For The Weekend’. Their highest charting single was ‘National Express’ which reached number 8 in the UK charts in 1999.

In 1998 Neil provided backing vocals with Neil Tennant of Pet Shop Boys for Robbie Williams’ single ‘No Regrets’. The Divine Comedy also supported Robbie Williams on his post-Millennium tour in the same year.

Neil also wrote the theme tunes to the hit TV series Father Ted and The IT Crowd and is currently working on the Father Ted musical with Graham Linehan and Arthur Matthews .

Ken's got another round of the legendary PopMaster music quiz and your dedications with today's love song. There's also the record and album of the week.
If you want to contact the show, just email - ken.bruce@bbc.co.uk

2 hours, 30 minutes

Music Played

  • Tavares

    Don't Take Away The Music

    • Wow That Was The 70's (Various Artists).
    • Disky.
    • 8.
  • Shawn Mendes & Camila Cabello

    ³§±ðñ´Ç°ù¾±³Ù²¹

    • (CD Single).
    • Fontana Island Records.
  • Frankie Valli

    Grease

    • Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons - Ve.
    • Polygram Tv.
    • 18.
  • Sheryl Crow

    Soak Up The Sun

    • (CD Single).
    • A&M.
  • Chaka Khan

    Ain't Nobody

    • (CD Single).
    • Reprise.
  • Vampire Weekend

    Stranger

    • Father Of The Bride.
    • Columbia.
  • Prince

    Rock & Roll Love Affair

  • Richard Ashcroft

    A Song For The Lovers

    • (CD Single).
    • Hut Music.
  • Status Quo

    Liberty Lane

    • Backbone.
    • Ear Music.
  • America

    The Border

    • Encore! More Greatest Hits.
    • Rhino.
  • Brenda Russell

    Piano in the Dark

    • And Then She Kissed Me Vol.1 (Various.
    • Debutante.
  • Westlife

    Dynamite

    • Spectrum.
    • EMI.
  • Tina Arena

    Sorrento Moon

    • This Year's Love (Various Artists).
    • Global Television.
  • Pink Floyd

    Money

    • (CD Single).
    • EMI.
    • 1.
  • Friendly Fires

    Silhouettes

    • Silhouettes.
    • Polydor.
  • Manic Street Preachers

    A Design For Life

    • Everything Must Go - 20th Anniversary Edition.
    • Columbia.
    • 16.
  • Mark Kingswood

    Strong

    • (CD Single).
    • 21k Productions.
  • Lionel Richie

    Running With the Night

    • Body & Soul: Heart & Soul II (Variou.
    • Polygram Tv.
  • Gabrielle Aplin & JP Cooper

    Losing Me

    • Dear Happy.
    • Never Fade Records.
  • ³¢Ã‰°¿±·

    Hope Is A Heartache

    • ³¢Ã‰°¿±·.
    • ³¢Ã‰°¿±· Recordings.
  • ABC

    The Flames Of Desire

    • (CD Single).
    • EMI.
    • 001.
  • Sam Smith

    How Do You Sleep?

    • (CD Single).
    • Capitol.
  • Peter Gabriel

    Sledgehammer

    • Now 1986 (Various Artists).
    • Now.
  • Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds

    This Is The Place

    • This Is The Place.
    • Sour Mash Records.
  • Chris de Burgh

    High On Emotion

    • Chris De Burgh - Spark To A Flame.
    • River Records.
    • 20.

Broadcast

  • Fri 16 Aug 2019 09:30