Divine Comedy - Regeneration
Divine Comedy have grown up! Once known for their little dittys that had brass bands, and exaggerated dynamics, they've signed to a grown up label, and produce an album that's full of grown up things like string sections. This isn't to say that Neil Hannon's gift for song writing has completely disappeared. The songs are still there, for example in Bad Ambassador, but for the majority the album just washes over you, perfect backgroud music.
The special thing about Divine Comedy before was the quirkiness of the songs, how every song was different, but also similar. If they hadn't composed such amazing songs before, we probably wouldn't feel so let down, but because we know what type of compositions Neil Hannon is capable of, this is a disappointment.
But the other thing to ask is whether this change of direction was one thought up by the band, or by people at the top? The type of songs on here appear to be more like tracks aimed at the MOR audience, so maybe the record company just decided to enlarge the target audience of the group. But what is proved true most of the time, in the music industry, business decisions usually aren't the right ones.