The Divine Comedy (Milla Jovovich album)

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The Divine Comedy is the debut studio album by American actress and model Milla Jovovich, released on April 5, 1994, by SBK Records. She was billed as simply Milla for this release. The album is named after Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy.

The Divine Comedy was met with positive reception by critics and peaked at number 23 on the Billboard Heatseekers Albums chart, while its lead single, "Gentleman Who Fell", reached number 21 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart. Jovovich toured North America throughout 1994 to promote the album, opening for Crash Test Dummies and Toad the Wet Sprocket, as well as playing smaller acoustic sets.

Background and production

Milla Jovovich began working on a music album as early as 1988, when she was signed by SBK Records after the company heard a demo she had recorded.<ref name="Music">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> After some scrapped early recording sessions with producers under whom Jovovich found her creative input limited, Rupert Hine and Richard Feldman were ultimately enlisted to produce,<ref>Template:Cite interview</ref> and SBK acquiesced to Jovovich's demand for creative control over her own album.<ref name="Paper">Template:Cite magazine</ref> Jovovich was the album's primary lyricist and songwriter, while the music on four songs was co-written with Feldman and Mark Holden.<ref name="Notes">Template:Cite AV media notes</ref> Jovovich also collaborated musically with longtime friend Chris Brenner, who, in addition to co-writing one song,<ref name="Notes"/> later served as a musical coordinator and member of Jovovich's backing band for the album's supporting tour.<ref name="Music"/>

Jovovich titled the album The Divine Comedy after the 14th-century epic poem by Dante Alighieri of the same name, widely considered the preeminent work of Italian literature. She chose the title after seeing Russian artist Alexis Steele's proposed cover artwork sketch for the then-untitled album, explaining: "When I was first working on the sketch for the album cover my mom introduced me to a young Russian artist named Alexey Steele. I looked at his sketch for the cover and I saw that struggle—all the struggle that I'm singing about. It Template:Em the divine comedy."<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

Music and lyrics

In August 1990, Jovovich asserted in an interview that the then-forthcoming album would be "a mix between Kate Bush, Sinéad O'Connor, This Mortal Coil and the Cocteau Twins".<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> After it was initially presented by SBK strictly as a pop album, Jovovich protested, insisting on using her personal poetry for lyrics and recording her own instrumental material.<ref name="Music"/> Drawing inspiration from philosophy readings and her own Slavic background,<ref name="AllMusicBio">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Jovovich had written the songs when she was 16,<ref name="LAT">Template:Cite news</ref> with the exception of a Ukrainian folk song, "In a Glade", that she covered in her native tongue.<ref name="EO">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Three songs were written by Jovovich during the period she spent shooting the film Dazed and Confused (1993);<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> one, "The Alien Song (For Those Who Listen)", would be incorporated into the film itself, which features Jovovich performing a short rendition of the song.<ref name="SM"/> Describing her lyrics on The Divine Comedy as reflecting a mixture of "youth and experience", Jovovich said: "I was confused like any other 16-year-old is. There's this young woman just fighting to get out, but there's still a kid, you know—an experienced kid that's gone through a lot, that's read a lot of books and that knows a lot more than a lot of 40-year-olds do."<ref name="LAT"/>

Musically, The Divine Comedy is predominantly acoustic,<ref name="AllMusicBio"/> coupling Jovovich's "strong, emotional" vocals with guitars, flutes, mandolins, and dulcimers, among other instruments.<ref name="EO"/> Chris Willman of the Los Angeles Times called it an album of "acoustic-oriented, airy, folk-pop tunes",<ref name="LAT"/> while Razor journalist Bret Love noted its "largely acoustic folk-rock" sound and "philosophical lyrics and earnest melodies", which earned Jovovich comparisons to musicians such as Tori Amos and Kate Bush.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

Release and promotion

For The Divine Comedy, Jovovich was billed mononymously as Milla, which she attributed to her surname frequently being mispronounced.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Before the album's release, SBK Records issued a promotional EP called Music from the Forthcoming Album Template:'The Divine ComedyTemplate:', featuring five songs from the album: "Gentleman Who Fell", "It's Your Life", "Bang Your Head", "Clock", and "In a Glade".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The Divine Comedy was released on April 5, 1994,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> peaking at number 23 on the Billboard Heatseekers Albums chart.<ref name="BillboardHeatseekers">Template:Cite magazine</ref>

"Gentleman Who Fell" was released as the first single from The Divine Comedy.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> It reached number 21 on BillboardTemplate:'s Modern Rock Tracks chart.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In the United Kingdom, where The Divine Comedy was released on June 6, 1994,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> "Gentleman Who Fell" peaked at number 65 on the UK Singles Chart,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> while in Canada, it reached number 72 on RPMTemplate:'s singles chart.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> A music video for the song, directed by Lisa Bonet and featuring Harry Dean Stanton, was produced, but Jovovich was unsatisfied with the results and decided to film another version. The second video paid homage to Maya Deren's short film Meshes of the Afternoon (1943) and was filmed in black and white.<ref name="Music"/> Later in 1994, "Bang Your Head" was released as a promotional single to radio,<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> as was "It's Your Life" the following year.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

The supporting tour for The Divine Comedy comprised three legs and 50 shows in total. The tour began with a small concert at the Borderline in London on February 1, 1994. The tour resumed in July with a first leg consisting of 22 shows at bars and cafés across North America.<ref name="Tour">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Jovovich had opted to perform in smaller and more intimate settings, turning down a musical appearance on Saturday Night Live.<ref name="Paper"/> The second and third legs consisted of 14 North American shows each, during which Jovovich opened for the bands Crash Test Dummies and Toad the Wet Sprocket.<ref name="Tour"/>

Critical reception

The Divine Comedy was released to positive reviews from music critics.<ref name="EO"/> In Rolling Stone, John McAlley praised the album as "remarkable" and "strikingly mature and rich in invention, counterpointing Milla's lovelorn, angst-laced poetry with vivid melodies and arrangements that find a common spirit in synth pop, European folk and psychedelic dream rock."<ref name="RS"/> Entertainment WeeklyTemplate:'s Dimitri Ehrlich highlighted Jovovich as a gifted songwriter and melodist, noting "an ear for delicate, medieval tunes and aching drama that would make Tori Amos envious."<ref name="EW"/> Dan O'Kane of CD Review called her "a decent songwriter with a poetic style (in the Kate Bush vein) and a smoky, provocative voice", adding that the album's various "exotic flavors—pipes, panflute, Eastern strings, and chants—make this first effort interesting and different from the onslaught of grrrl rock."<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> San Diego Union-Tribune critic Mikel Toombs stated that Jovovich "impressively keeps both her imagery and her import-implying vocals in check" and "supplies just the right touch of the dark drama suggested by the album's unnecessarily pretentious title, and gives all indications of a bright future."<ref name="SDUT"/>

Mike Joyce of The Washington Post wrote that Jovovich "is forever struggling with words and emotions onTemplate:Nbsp... The Divine Comedy, forever trying to make sense of love or the lack of it. She never succeeds, of course, but her tenacity is what makes the album worth hearing. Evoking a curious combination of childlike innocence, Harlequin romance and hippie sentimentality, her songs are tone poems of a sort, inspired by vulnerability and wariness, sung in a small, plaintive, unguarded soprano. At times she seems hopelessly lovesick, a prime candidate for any heartbreaker's ruse, but on 'You Did It All Before,' 'Clock,' and 'Don't Fade Away' she sounds a lot older and wiser, no stranger to hurt and disillusionment."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Let It Rock commented: "Her songs take form in fairytale poetry, as if she were some medieval storybook princess, held captive against her will in a Dragon's Lair. Authentic Russian acoustic instruments create a soundscape of delicate beauty, ethereal, yet soulful and heartfelt. An original."<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

Johnny Cigarettes was more ambivalent in NME, writing that The Divine Comedy lacked "a decent tune" despite Jovovich's "fine voice" and "intriguingly whimsical lyrics".<ref name="NME"/> In his Microsoft Music Central review, Ian Cranna said: "At times it's all too ethereal for its own good (though the second half is brighter and catchier), or a tad adolescent (she's still only 18). Milla already floats like a butterfly; now she needs to sting like a bee. Better will come."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Legacy

Following The Divine Comedy, Jovovich expressed interest in releasing a second album, having had ten songs ready for a future recording that was intended for a summer 1997 release.<ref name="EO"/><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> However, Jovovich has yet to formally release a second album. Her 1998 studio album The People Tree Sessions was reportedly unauthorized, and Jovovich launched legal action in order for it to be taken off the market.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In recent years, Jovovich has opted to release her new songs for free on her official website.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> With these demos, she extends to all listeners the right to remix the songs, but reserves the right to sell the songs, preventing unauthorized resale of her material.

"While it's now common for models and actors to try their hand at music," wrote Tom Demalon in a review for AllMusic, "the good results of The Divine Comedy are not as commonTemplate:Nbsp... Milla has a pleasant voice and above-average songwriting ability, and the songs are organic, light, airy concoctions that work well in their understated settings."<ref name="AllMusic"/> In 2003, Slant Magazine named The Divine Comedy to their list of "50 Essential Pop Albums".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Slant critic Sal Cinquemani said:

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"Gentleman Who Fell" appears on the soundtracks for The Leading Man and The Rules of Attraction; "It's Your Life" appears on the soundtrack for the Randal Kleiser film It's My Party. "In a Glade" plays on many of the in-game radios in the Oblivion Lost mod of the game S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl, which takes place in Ukraine.

Personnel

Credits are adapted from the album's liner notes.<ref name="Notes"/>

Template:Columns-start Musicians

• Milla Jovovich – lead vocals, backing vocals (tracks 9, 10)
• Eric Bazilian – guitar (tracks 2, 7, 11), mandolin (tracks 2, 5), hammered dulcimer (tracks 5, 11), bouzouki (track 11)
• Curt Bisquera – percussion (track 7)
• Chris Brenner – backing vocals (track 10)
• Paul Buckmaster – string arrangement (track 3)
• Martha Davis – backing vocals (track 2)
• Richard Feldman – keyboards (tracks 2, 3, 5), arrangement (track 11)
• Rupert Hine – keyboards (tracks 1, 4, 6, 8, 9, 10), keyboard bass (tracks 1, 4, 8, 9, 10), percussion (tracks 4, 6, 9, 10), drums (tracks 4, 6), arrangement (tracks 1, 4, 6, 8, 9, 10), piano (track 9), backing vocals (track 9)
• Mark Holden – arrangement (track 11)
• Ethan James – harmonium (tracks 2, 5), hurdy-gurdy (track 7)
• Charles Judge – keyboards (tracks 2, 3, 5, 7, 11)
• Brian Kilgore – percussion (tracks 2, 3, 5, 7)
• Larry Klein – bass (tracks 2, 7)
• Hélène Labarrière – bass (tracks 1, 8)
• John Leftwich – bass (tracks 3, 5)
• Jamie Oldaker – percussion (track 7)
• Phil Palmer – acoustic guitar (tracks 4, 9, 10)
• Dean Parks – guitar (tracks 3, 5, 7, 11), mandolin (track 3), bouzouki (track 11), hammered dulcimer (track 11)
• Geoffrey Richardson – acoustic guitar (tracks 1, 6, 8), bamboo flute (track 1), violin (tracks 1, 6, 9, 10), viola (tracks 1, 6), penny whistle (tracks 1, 6, 10), mandolin (tracks 8, 10), kalimba (track 9), flute (track 10), ukulele (track 10)

Template:Column Production

• Jamie Cullum – recording assistance
• Richard Feldman – production (tracks 2, 3, 5, 7, 11), engineering (tracks 2, 3, 5, 7, 11), mixing (tracks 2, 3, 5, 7, 11)
• Manu Guiot – mixing (tracks 2, 3, 5, 7, 11)
• Rupert Hine – production (tracks 1, 4, 6, 8, 9, 10)
• Mark Holden – co-production (tracks 2, 3, 5, 7, 11)
• Jon Ingoldsby – engineering (tracks 2, 3, 5, 7, 11)
• Patrice Lazareff – mixing assistance
• Lee Manning – engineering (tracks 2, 3, 5, 7, 11)
• Stephen W. Tayler – engineering (tracks 1, 4, 6, 8, 9, 10), mixing (tracks 1, 4, 6, 8, 9, 10)

Design

• Carla Leighton – design
• Henry Marquez – art direction
• Alexis Steele – painting
• Mario Testino – photography

Charts

Chart (1994)	Peak position
US Heatseekers Albums (Billboard)<ref name="BillboardHeatseekers"/>	23

External links

• The Divine Comedy at official Milla Jovovich website
• Template:Discogs master