Originally published in Hot Press in 1997:

This album is so arrogant it's unbelievable! And I really have tried to temper that arrogance, as in, say, when we are booed by Supergrass fans at a concert – I really do seem to automatically believe "the fools", and that everyone, eventually, will come around to seeing how good The Divine Comedy is!

It's the same with this album. What age was I when I wrote it, 23? Surely the fact that you think you can do the musical equivalent of Ulysses at 23 is exceedingly arrogant. Though, of course, with this album, I obviously succeeded! But that is part of reaching for "the impossible dream", extreme arrogance, bordering on madness...