Hey, I was right all along
Stephen Saunders | O'CONNOR, ACT Australia | 07/13/2001
(4 out of 5 stars)
"[This piece appeared in RAM (Rock Australia Magazine), Sydney, Australia on February 12 1986.] Comsat Angels/7 Day Weekend/Jive RecordsUK rock has this deadly no man's land for many of those scooped out of the 'indie' charts by major labels. You may lose the support of the fertile but faddish rock press, but you may not gain a hit in return. Thus for Comsat Angels, who went from a 1980 indie success with Independence Day straight to three excellent albums on Polydor. Then a long hiatus to a new label, and they're all tarted up for a shaky fourth album. And, uh oh, album five features that vapid pop single I'm Falling. Yet could it be that Comsat Angels have laughed off the odds, found their voice and heart? They have, bless them. The scratching waspish guitar and brute bass of Still It's Not Enough is their Sheffield heavy-metal of old. And the high ghosted keyboards and bright guitar atmospherics of Believe It are Comsat Angels in their most windswept mood: 'Tonight the sky looks close enough to/almost reach out and touch but/the light is playing tricks on me again'.Forever Young is another trademark song, slow and architectural in its buildup, as effective as its ringing chords and stolid bass. High Tide and You Move Me are also up with their best. There are even a few here, like Day One and You're The Heroine, whose clipped clockwork funk is more typical of Sheffield than the band's usual unrepentant guitar sound. Comsat Angels have gone unchecked on their own path as few bands have managed through the first half of the 80s. Think of other five-year UK bands still worth having, and you're up against the likes of Joy Division/New Order, Simple Minds, A Certain Ratio, or fellow-Sheffielders Cabaret Voltaire. Whilst perfectly happy to stay closer to the mainstream than most of these, leader Stephen Fellows has still carved out a very distinctive mood and voice for himself. May his rewards be more this time than merely beating the odds."
Worth Checking Out
Jay P. Francis | Houston, Texas United States | 11/13/2002
(5 out of 5 stars)
"A very good CD from one of the great 80's bands."
Track Listings (12) - Disc #1