Comsat Angels

Infobox musical artist
Name = Comsat Angels
Img_capt =
Background = group_or_band
Origin = Sheffield, England
Genre = Post-punk
Years_active = 1978 - 1995
Associated_acts = Dream Command
Label = Polydor
Jive
Island
RPM
Caroline
Renascent
URL = [http://www.comsatangels.net Sleep No More]
Current_members = Stephen Fellows
Mik Glaisher
Kevin Bacon
Andy Peake
Past_members = Simon Anderson (approx. 1994-95)
Terry Todd (approx. 1993-95)

The Comsat Angels were a post-punk band from Sheffield, England, active from 1978 to 1995. [Comsat Angels website [http://www.comsatangels.net/] ] Their music has been described as "abstract pop songs with spare instrumentation, many of which were bleak and filled with some form of heartache." [All Music Guide [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:d9fpxqt5ldse~T1] ] They have been credited as being an influence to current post-punk revival bands, such as Editors and Interpol. [Lost in the ’80s: Comsat Angels (C.S. Angels)Tuesday, May 27th, 2008 by John C. Hughes [http://popdose.com/lost-in-the-80s-comsat-angels-cs-angels/] ] The Comsat Angels toured heavily in their native UK and in western Europe (especially in The Netherlands where they were moderately popular), but only did a couple of tours in the United States. [Comsat Angels website [http://www.hotsdesign.co.uk/comsats/live.htm] ] Their music has been extensively reissued and recompiled since 1995 by various record labels, but as of this date the band has not reformed.

Biography

Named after the J. G. Ballard short story "The Comsat Angels", [Stephen Fellows interview, 2006 [http://www.gothtronic.com/?page=23&interviews=919] ] the foursome's core lineup (lasting 1978-1992) consisted of:
*Stephen Fellows - vocals, songwriting, lead guitar;
*Kevin Bacon - bass;
*Mik Glaisher - drums;
*Andy Peake - keyboards.

They debuted with an EP, released in 1979, named "Red Planet". [Comsat Angels website [http://www.hotsdesign.co.uk/comsats/web.htm] ] This release attracted Polydor A&R man Frank Neilson and the band signed a three-album recording contract. [Polydor history at Last.fm [http://www.last.fm/label/Polydor/wiki] ] These three 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 regarded by some as their best, but only sold modestly. [Comsat Angels website [http://www.hotsdesign.co.uk/comsats/history.htm] ]

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. [Comsat Angels website [http://www.hotsdesign.co.uk/comsats/live.htm] ] In 1982, they performed two songs on BBC Television's "Old Grey Whistle Test" television program. [Comsat Angels website [http://www.hotsdesign.co.uk/comsats/history.htm] ] A U.S. tour in 1982 had to be cancelled after a week, due to Bacon contracting appendicitis. [Comsat Angels website [http://www.hotsdesign.co.uk/comsats/ice.htm] ]

Jive years

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. [Comsat Angels website [http://www.hotsdesign.co.uk/comsats/history.htm] ] 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. [Comsat Angels website [http://www.hotsdesign.co.uk/comsats/history.htm] ] Their poppy single "I'm Falling" was featured in the movie "Real Genius" with Val Kilmer. [Internet Movie Database [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089886/soundtrack] ] The movie never released an official soundtrack, but gave the band perhaps its widest audience.

witch of record labels

The band found a fan and supporter in Robert Palmer, who was enjoying the height of his popularity at this point in the '80s. [ Robert Palmer's Wikipedia article [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Palmer_(singer)] ] Palmer saw to it that the Comsat Angels were signed to Island Records, and he co-produced their next album, "Chasing Shadows" (1986) and even sang on one song. [Renascent website, the comsat angels, q&a [http://www.renascent.co.uk/#] ] This album's music is viewed as the band's return to their dark, brooding roots. [Comsat Angels website [http://www.hotsdesign.co.uk/comsats/chasing.htm] ] [Comsat Angels website [http://www.hotsdesign.co.uk/comsats/ram.htm] ] [Comsat Angels website [http://www.hotsdesign.co.uk/comsats/chasounds.htm] ]

The U.S. based Communications Satellite Corporation threatened to take legal measures against the band for supposedly plagiarizing their name. Because of this, the band were renamed C.S. Angels in the United States. [Comsat Angels website [http://www.hotsdesign.co.uk/comsats/ice.htm] ]

Dream Command album

For the follow-up, they talked Island into letting them build their own studio. [Comsat Angels website [http://www.hotsdesign.co.uk/comsats/where.htm] ] The band decided to try for AOR radio with their next recording, "Fire on the Moon" (1990). [Comsat Angels website [http://www.hotsdesign.co.uk/comsats/history.htm] ] The group changed its name to Dream Command for this record, likely because of pressure from the Communications Satellite Corporation and their record label. [Comsat Angels website [http://www.hotsdesign.co.uk/comsats/story2.htm] ] Neither the band nor their label were happy with the album, which was released (in the U.S. only) in small quantities. [Comsat Angels website [http://www.hotsdesign.co.uk/comsats/history.htm] ] Few people in the UK even knew about it until The Comsats were mentioned in "Q" magazine's "Where Are They Now?" section. [Comsat Angels website [http://www.hotsdesign.co.uk/comsats/where.htm] ]

Another switch of record labels

Around 1990, they recruited Sheffield musician Nick Robinson as an additional guitarist. (He appeared on "I Wanna Destroy You", later released on the compilation "From Beyond 2".) [Nick Robinson website [http://www.nickrobinson.info/music/releases/comsats.htm] ] This was another turning point for the band, as they set about writing and recording new material on their own terms and finally hooked up with RPM Records (and with Caroline Records in the U.S.), [All Music Guide [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:d9fpxqt5ldse~T1] ] who then released The Comsats' Radio 1 (BBC) sessions from 1979 to 1984 as "Time Considered As A Helix Of Semi-Precious Stones". (The title was taken from a Samuel R. Delany short story). [Lost in the Last Attack: Recovering the Comsat Angel, 20 April 2006, by Whitney Strub [http://www.popmatters.com/music/features/060420-comsatangels.shtml] ] 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., Curve, Catherine Wheel) who were influenced by The Comsats' sound. [Comsat Angels website [http://www.hotsdesign.co.uk/comsats/history.htm] ] "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." [Comsat Angels website [http://www.hotsdesign.co.uk/comsats/history.htm] ]

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") [Comsat Angels website [http://www.hotsdesign.co.uk/comsats/history.htm] ] after the departure of Kevin Bacon, who was now concentrating on production work at the band's Axis studio in Sheffield. [Comsat Angels website [http://www.hotsdesign.co.uk/comsats/history.htm] ] No singles were released from "The Glamour", and there were songs from these sessions (e.g., "Hyperprism" and "Evanescent") that were only included on the 2007 reissue of the album.

Post-breakup activity

The Comsat Angels disbanded in late 1995 following UK 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. [Comsat Angels website [http://www.hotsdesign.co.uk/comsats/history.htm] ] Currently, he is said to be working on a more traditional song-based solo album, as well as helping the band Little Glitches. [Renascent website, the comsat angels, q&a, [http://www.renascent.co.uk/#] ] In July 2008, he posted 5 songs recorded in the mid-1990s on his Myspace page. [blog Old Songs, [http://www.myspace.com/stephenfellows Stephen Fellows' MySpace page] ] The rest of the Comsat Angels regrouped in the late 1990s under the new moniker Soup, with new vocalist Peter Hope, but soon disbanded. [Comsat Angels website [http://www.hotsdesign.co.uk/comsats/history.htm] ]

Latter-day recognition

The Comsat Angels' albums were out of print for years, but British label Renascent Records reissued several of them in 2006 and 2007, adding out-takes and other tracks. [Renascent website [http://www.renascent.co.uk/#] ] Martin Gore of Depeche Mode covered "Gone" on his 1989 EP, "Counterfeit". In 1992, Silkworm covered "Our Secret" as the B-side of their "The Chain" 7-inch single.

Jack Rabid, publisher of The Big Takeover magazine, has been one of the band's biggest supporters since the early 1980s. [Jack Rabid's Top Ten, Feb. 5, 2006 [http://www.bigtakeover.com/top-ten/Jack-Rabid-060205] ] [Jack Rabid's Top Ten, May 13, 2007 [http://www.bigtakeover.com/top-ten/Jack-Rabid-070513] ]
Mark Kermode, film critic for BBC Radio Five Live, championed the Comsat Angels when reviewing the Ian Curtis biopic Control, stating that Comsat Angels were "the band that Joy Division should have been." [Mark Kermode reviews Control [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbpvoK89Er8] ] In May 2008, Kermode interviewed British poet Simon Armitage on BBC Two's "The Culture Show" and the two discussed their love of the band. [The Culture Show archive [http://www.bbc.co.uk/cultureshow/videos/2008/06/s5_e1_armitage_extra/index.shtml] ]

Discography

tudio albums

*"Waiting for a Miracle" (1980, Polydor) (reissued in 1995 on RPM & in 2006 on Renascent)
*"Sleep No More" (1981, Polydor) UK #51 (reissued in 1995 on RPM & in 2006 on Renascent)
*"Fiction" (1982, Polydor) UK #94 (reissued in 1995 on RPM & in 2006 on Renascent)
*"Land" (1983, Jive) (reissued on Connoisseur in 2001) UK #92
*"7 Day Weekend" (1985, Jive) (reissued on Connoisseur in 2001)
*"Chasing Shadows" (1986, Island)
*"Fire on the Moon" (as Dream Command) (1990, Island) (U.S. & Netherlands only)
*"My Mind's Eye" (1992, RPM/ Caroline [U.S.] ) (U.S. version has bonus tracks "There Is No Enemy" and "Magonia") (reissued on Thunderbird in 2001 & in 2007 on Renascent)
*"The Glamour" CD/ dbl. LP (1995, RPM) (reissued in 2007 on Renascent as double CD)

ingles & EPs

*"Red Planet" 7" (1979, Junta) (black and ltd. red vinyl versions)
*"Total War" 7" (1980, Polydor)
*"Independence Day" 7" (July 4, 1980, Polydor)
*"Eye Of The Lens" 7"/ dbl. 7"/ 12" (1981, Polydor)
*"(Do The) Empty House" 7"/ dbl. 7" (1981, Polydor)
*"It's History" 7" (1982, Polydor)
*"After The Rain" 7" (1982, Polydor)
*"Will You Stay Tonight?" 7"/ 12"/ 12" pic. disc (1983, Jive) UK #81
*"Island Heart" 7"/ 12" (1983, Jive)
*"Independence Day" (re-recording) dbl. 7"/ 12" (1984, Jive) UK #71
*"You Move Me" 7"/ 12" (1984, Jive)
*"Day One" 7"/ 12" (1984, Jive)
*"I'm Falling" 7"/ 12" (1985, Jive) UK #90
*"Forever Young" 7"/ 12" (1985, Jive)
*"The Cutting Edge" 7" / 12" (1986, Island)
*"Celestine" (as Dream Command) CD single (1990, Island) (U.S. only)
*"Driving" 12"/ CD EP (1992, RPM/ Thunderbird)
*"Shiva Descending" CD EP (1993, Crisis) (Holland only)
*"Field Of Tall Flowers" 12"/ CD EP (1994, RPM/ Thunderbird)
*"The Cutting Edge" (version from "Unravelled") CD EP (1994, Crisis)

Compilations and live albums

*"Enz" (1982, Polydor) (released only in The Netherlands)
*"Time Considered As A Helix Of Semi-Precious Stones" (1992, RPM) (BBC sessions) (Reissued in 2006 by Renascent)
*"Unravelled" (1994, RPM) (Dutch radio sessions)
*"From Beyond 2" (2000, Cherry Red)
*"To Before" (2007, Renascent)

References

External links

* [http://www.comsatangels.net ComsatAngels.net - extensive fansite]
* [http://www.stylusmagazine.com/reviews/the-comsat-angels/waiting-for-a-miracle-sleep-no-more-fiction.htm Stylus reviews of first three albums]
* [http://www.renascent.co.uk Renascent Records]
* [http://www.tripalot.com/comsat The Comsat Fellowship (discussion list)]
* [http://www.trouserpress.com/entry.php?a=comsat_angels Trouser Press entry]
* [http://lostbands.blogspot.com/2006/06/comsat-angels.html Entry at Lost Bands Of The New Wave Era]
* [http://www.fastnbulbous.com/comsat_angels.htm Fast 'n' Bulbous reviews of first three albums]
* [http://www.myspace.com/thecomsatangels "semi-official" myspace page]
* [http://www.myspace.com/stephenfellows Stephen Fellows' MySpace page]