The original release

The album Liberation was released many times in the UK by Setanta. The first time, in 1993, the CD had a William Morris design called Wallflower on the back and on the CD, and another called Iris in the booklet and a front cover with a very yellow photo. The inlay featured a Neil Hannon photo and the album tracklist and credits.
You can notice on the back the bar code number: 5 021299 701190 but on the side and on the CD another number: 7243 8 39024 2 2 which, begining by 7243, looks like an EMI number. This is quite possible as in those days Setanta already had some of their releases distributed by EMI. This serial number is also the same as the French edition which was released by Virgin France (EMI). Around the centre of the CD we can read: SETCD 011 · MASTERED BY NIMBUS

The reissue

The album was re-released again in 1996 when the band had more success thanks to Casanova. The sleeve was re-designed with a booklet featuring a lot of photos (but not the one in the 1993 edition inlay) and the full lyrics, the CD and the back got a new design, and the front photo is less yellow than on the previous edition and the album title is written differently.

The bar code number is the same as the previous release, but we do not have an EMI number this time. Around the centre of the 2nd edition, we can read: A8007 SETCD 011 02 Technicolor IFPIL126


Anyway, in both cases the music is still the same: wonderfully Hannonesque !

The LP

Liberation was also released as an LP in 1993. The front cover is the same as the first CD edition and the back has a similar design to the Promenade LP. Over a background, made with the William Morris pattern, are printed the tracklisting, the credits, as well as the back photo from the cover inlay. On the right there is a barcode and a Setanta logo.

On each side, the label features the William Morris background with the title, side number and tracklisting of the side.
On the A-side is etched: MPO SETLP 11A1 ; and on the B-side: MPO SETLP 11B1 FOR AUDREY,ERIC AND SCOTT. probably in reference to Audrey Hepburn, Eric Cantona and Scott Walker, three heroes of Neil in different arts.

The MC

You only need to look at the cover to say that this MC was released in 1996 with the second edition. Indeed it has the artwork of the second edition. The tracklist and barcode are over the birds design with the copyright infos (® 1993 © 1996), and the sleeve has many photos from the sleeve of the CD. The design of the folded part is similar to the Casanova MC: 5 pages with on one side photos from the CD booklet; and on the other side all the lyrics printed in black on white.

The However, the tape has in itself is a bit more strange. It uses the same design as the Promenade tape, viz. the name of the band and the title are separated by a ‘/’ as on both sides the artwork of the first edition of Liberation (however, you can notice that the ‘The’ of ‘The Divine Comedy’ is all in bold letters which is usually not the case for this style). Underneath, you can read the usefull mention “For full details see inlay”, and the catalogue reference. Below, there is the side letter and copyright notice “℗ & © 1994 Setanta” which is a bit strange for a 1996 reissue of a 1993 album. Maybe This leads us to think that the tape is model for the reissue and a previous tape with Promenade tape has been reused for the first edition artwork was released before. Any information about this Liberation tape. However, the texts size is welcome. not exactly the same.

Promotional tape

At that time the advance version of the album was sent as a cassette. Some journalists have referred to it as a poor little tape in a cream inlay [1]. The only identified version seems however to have a white inlay (click on picture to see), but it is possible that Setanta has used cream paper as well as for other cassettes.
As those, the details are presented with a typewriter typeface, and there is a sticker on the cassette with the titles printed as such.

2 tracks promo tape

A two tracks promo tape featuring ‘Your Daddy’s Car’ and ‘Lucy’ was edited, probably by Setanta Records, since it looks similar to other promotional tapes by them. It has a sticker with the songs title, and the catalogue references to the album. We don’t know much more about it, not even how many copies exist.

The postcard

For the promo of the album Setanta issued a Liberation postcards which was given away with the Lucy 7”. It was mainly given away to people who bought the mail-order discs.

It’s a Kevin Westernberg photo, also used for the cover of La Cigale 6-11-1993: Neil with his feet under the water. The release date is written on the back.

Adverts & Posters

Original release + Indulgence No.1:


Reissue:



[1] Best, 1993