When we discuss music, invariably it seems all roads lead back to John Peel (peace be upon him). His legendary programmes introduced us all to that which was great and good, from P J Harvey to Polvo, The Lurkers to Loop, his beloved Fall to, well, The Beloved. He coaxed me gently away from the insidious evils of prog rock to the Pistols, thrilled me with The Adverts, The Clash, Misty in Roots, Killing Joke, Joy Division, then latterly Nirvana, Sonic Youth, American music club, Dinosaur Jnr, blew my mind with Aphex twin, Boards of Canada, 70 Gwen Party, then The White Stripes, Nick Cave, the list is endless, his open minded attitude to music is something I aspire to even now.
Amongst all the fabulous sessions and tracks, I remember the shock of hearing The Comsat Angels in about 1980, when they did a session featuring material from their debut album ‘Waiting for a miracle’. I still have that on cassette somewhere and together with hundreds of others they gather dust in the attic, awaiting the day when I’m lying in my hospital bed on my last day on earth, this is when i will summon my kids to the bedside, tell them to dig out a classic Hitachi boombox, plug it in next to my heart monitor and get them to play my favourite tapes, they’ll be the first New Order/Cure/P J Harvey, XTC session, a smattering of Hendrix, ‘Totally wired’ by The Fall, some Can and that first Comsats session plus every Comsats recordings I have. Why? Because this is music that moves me to tears, makes my heart swell with love, it’s only Rock n Roll from Sheffield, but I like it, like it, yes I do.
‘Sleep no more’ came out in 1981, the initial punk rush was over, new wave was the thing, Duran Duran and the dreaded Spandau Ballet were on the horizon, I needed substance, depth, lyrical vagueness, passion, a band that no one had ever heard of.
The plebs opted for the slightly more popular U2, I on the other hand fell totally in love with the Comsats. If Waiting for a miracle had been foreplay, Sleep no more was the big fuck. The drums courtesy of Mik Glaisher, it was like John Bonham from the bottom of the sea. The guitars, economical but tracing beautiful arcs of melody. The bass thundered along like a herd of well behaved cattle and Stephen Fellows voice just cracked me up, sounding so vulnerable, so hurt, so jealous. I’d found my band at last.
The Comsat Angels
Opening with ‘Eyedance’, and Mik smacking the shit out of his drums, and with an anthemic chiming guitar riff, they do the quiet/ loud thing to devastating effect. Stephen intones mysteriously ‘was it my imagination, working overtime again, did we make a strange connection ? I did, immediately, this was going to be one of my top ten albums of my life and I’m only 20.
There’s the crunching intro to ‘Be brave’ , lyrical paranoia abounds. There’s Joy Division-esque brutality on ‘Gone’, as ever, Stephen sounding hurt, wounded, disorientated, a little boy lost in a relationship beyond his understanding; his words are so vital to the overall impression, so loaded with questioning anxiety.
Then there’s ‘Dark parade’ full of smouldering atmospherics punctuated by explosions of guitar emphasising the portent. ‘No release, no release’ he sings, it’s love as a battlefield, a recurring theme. (see ‘Total War’ from ‘Waiting for a miracle’). ‘Diagram’, more of the same, jealousy and lust, ‘Restless’ a respite from the thunder but still threatening. A skeletal framework on which he hangs his doubts and fears. Lock up your house as ‘Goat of the west’ comes along and kicks your door in, smashes up your furniture and pisses on your budgie.
This is as nothing compared to the slow majestic unwinding shoegazing ten year before shoegazing is invented epicness of ‘Light Years’, I want this to go on for about four hours, unfortunately it’s faded at four minutes.
Sleep no more is an emotionally exhausting but satisfying listen, it’s the album I return to again and again. Subsequent albums ‘Land’, ‘Fiction’ ‘Chasing Shadows’ are all incredibly fine, all rather expensive and somewhat rare but well worth hunting down. Also, try and get the CD reissue of Sleep No More with its five bonus tracks, all great as well.
By John Haylock
For more information about The Comsat Angels click here.
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