Comsat Angels
|
Comsat Angels |
|
Shopping CDs by Comsat Angels at amazon  DVDs by Comsat Angels at amazon  books about Comsat Angels at amazon  rare music at Gemm.com  rare music at Music Stack  |
 |
More info
 search the web for Comsat Angels  pictures of Comsat Angels   Unused Search button  Spare search button |
 |
 |
|
| Comsat Angels | ||
|---|---|---|
| Background information | ||
| Origin | Sheffield, England  |
|
| Genre(s) | Post-punk, Alternative rock, Shoegaze | |
| Years active | 1978 - 1995 | |
| Label(s) | Polydor Jive Island RPM Caroline |
|
| Associated acts |
Dream Command | |
| Website | Sleep No More | |
| Members | ||
| Stephen
Fellows Mik Glaisher Kevin Bacon Andy Peake |
||
| Former members | ||
| Simon
Anderson (approx. 1994-95) Terry Todd (approx. 1993-95) |
||
Comsat Angels were a post-punk band from Sheffield, England, active from 1978 to 1995. They are credited with creating atmospheric and delicate, yet viscerally urgent, music which flew under the radar of popular culture. Their ouvre is generally cited alongside those of Joy Division, The Chameleons, The Cure, The Sound, and Echo & the Bunnymen. They toured heavily in their native U.K. and in western Europe, but rarely in the United States. Their influence can be discerned in 1990s acts like Catherine Wheel and Kitchens of Distinction, and '00s neo-post-punk bands such as Interpol, Engineers and Editors. Their music has been extensively reissued and recompiled after 1995 by various record labels, but the band not reformed.
Contents
|
Named after the
They debuted with an EP, released in 1979, named Red Planet. This release attracted Polydor A&R rep Frank Neilson and the band signed a three-album deal. These 3 LPs, Waiting for a Miracle (1980), which included the single 'Independence Day', probably their best known song, Sleep No More (1981) and Fiction (1982), are critically regarded as their best, but only sold modestly.
In their early years, the group shared live stages with bands like Siouxsie & The Banshees, Yellow Magic Orchestra, Depeche Mode, U2 (an 18-date tour in 1981), Captain Beefheart, The Sound, Wall Of Voodoo, and Gang Of Four. In 1982, they performed two songs on The BBC's Old Grey Whistle Test television program. A large American tour in 1982 had to be cancelled after a week, due to Bacon contracting appendicitis.
Having failed to live up to Polydor's expectations with the three first albums, the record label let the band go. After this, they went on to sign with Jive Records and recorded Land (1983), delving into a more commercial, new wave-oriented sound. As its title indicated, fifth album 7 Day Weekend (1985) also followed a more pop-oriented trend. However, it also failed on the charts, resulting in the band being dropped by a second record label. Their poppy single "I'm Falling" was featured in the movie Real Genius with Val Kilmer. The movie never released an official soundtrack, but that song's notoriety has caused the band to be viewed by many as an '80s pop one-hit wonder.
The band found a fan and supporter in
The USA-based
For the follow-up, they talked Island into letting them build their own studio. The band decided to try for AOR radio with their next recording, Fire on the Moon (1990). The group changed its name to Dream Command for this record, succumbing to the pressure from the Communications Satellite Corporation and their record label.
Neither the band nor their label were happy with the album,
which was released (in the U.S. only) in small quantities. It featured
short songs with chart-worthy hooks, but few people in the U.K. even
knew about it, until The Comsats were mentioned in Q
magazine's "Where Are They Now?" section. Around this time they
recruited local guitarist
Shortly afterwards, RPM released a new Comsats single, "Driving", and album My Mind's Eye, in 1992. (The album was released in the U.S. on Caroline Records, under the band name C.S. Angels, with two bonus tracks.) The music press praised the album, citing several current shoegaze-type bands (e.g., Swervedriver, Catherine Wheel, Ride) who were influenced by The Comsats' sound. Melody Maker's review stated:
"My Mind's Eye could easily have been recorded by ghosts, such is the dexterity of the Comsat's approach and the haunted nature of their anguished restraint... Every snapping bassline and icebound guitar fragment has a place, a purity and a passion that chills... At the heart of their hurtling hailstorm lies Steve Fellow's punishing baritone. The man sounds like he's singing from a carriage on the soul train to hell, all sweat and worry as the songs rage around him like they've come for a debt."
RPM also issued the Dutch radio sessions collection Unravelled before the final studio album The Glamour in 1995. The Glamour was the first studio album to feature new members Simon Anderson & Terry Todd (who appeared on Unravelled) after the departure of Kevin Bacon, who was now concentrating on production work at the band's Axis studio in Sheffield. No singles were released from The Glamour, although there are unreleased songs from these sessions (e.g., "Hyperprism" and "Evanescent") that have yet to see official release.
The Comsat Angels disbanded in late 1995 following U.K. dates to promote The Glamour. Steve Fellows released an instrumental album, Mood X, his first (and so far only) solo release, on RPM in 1997. He also began managing the band Gomez that year after discovering them. Currently, he is said to be working on a more traditional song-based solo album, as well as helping the band Little Glitches. The rest of the Comsat Angels regrouped under the new moniker Soup, with new vocalist Peter Hope, but soon disbanded.
The band's classic early albums have all languished out of
print for years, but the British label
| videos lyrics discography biography article music mp3 gallery pictures |