Comsat Angels
Starting out as the Skylids, then Radio Earth, then finally settling on Comsat Angels, they released the Red Planet ep (Junta, 1979). Then came three LPs for Polydor: "Waiting for a Miracle" (UK Polydor, 1980) "Sleep No More" (UK Polydor, 1981) "Fiction" (UK Polydor, 1982) and their first, very brief US tour in 1982 that was cut short due to illness.
Problems continued when a U.S. communications company took issue with the bands name and the were forced to change the name of the band to CS Angels for the U.S. Jive Records issued the album "Land" (Jive / Arista, 1983) which included the singles "Will You Stay Tonight" and a re-recorded "Independence Day" and the LP "7 Day Weekend" (Jive / Arista, 1985).
With the help of Island Records Robert Palmer, the band signed to Island and released "Chasing Shadows" (1987). The 90's saw a change in direction and name. The follow-up LP "Fire On The Moon" ( 1990) was released under the name Dream Command and then the band were dropped by Island.
But the story doesn't end here. Two more albums were release by the RPM label: "My Mind's Eye" (1992) and "The Glamour". (1995), making the Comsat Angels a great lost band for the 90's too.
The Comsat Angels were:
Stephen Fellows (guitar, vocals)
Kevin Bacon (bass)
Mik Glaisher (drums)
Andy Peake (keyboards, vocals)
Simon Anderson (guitar from 1993)
Terry Todd (bass from 1993)
The best place to find Comsat Angels CD's is at The Ideal Copy
Go to the download page to get Comsat Angels - "Independance Day" (Original Version)
17 Comments:
UK label Renascent (http://www.renascent.co.uk) has recently reissued the first 3 Comsats albums in really nice deluxe editions as well as Time Considered, a comp of BBC sessions. I have it on good word that there's more to come.
The label got their start by reissuing all of the Sound albums. Great stuff!
Chasing Shadows is a super album. And if you listen closely, you can hear the late Robert Palmer singing a verse. Thanks
I bought the first CA LP on Independence day alone and was not disappointed by the rest, but my favorite is the Fiction LP, great songs with a superb production. Very natural, clear sounds, my record for testing HiFi equipment at the time!
By the way, if you are interested in early 80s New Wave, mainly German have a look at http://not-rock-on.blogspot.com/
I love them :)
It would be nice to be able to download all the songs and not just the most recent one!
Hi,
very interesting blog. well done.
And by the way, CA one of the best bands the world ever seen. And "Our Secret" IS the best song, the world ever heard. I have a little radioshow in germany and CA is often as i can on air.
I saw CA for many years live (twice) and it was great.
regards Peter
Ps: i see you
Good stuff as always...thanks.
Thanks for the info!
Why the hell isn't "Will You Stay Tonight" on any of the compilation disques? Since Land isn't available, what can I do?
Holy COW! After discovering your blog, I had to double check my album collection to see if it was stolen. It's still there, but the number of blog entries here that are also in my collection is chilling. Great job!
I hope to splurge soon on the Comsat Angels reissues and a few by the Sound that Renascent has issued. Time to snap these up before they disappear again.
BTW, I was just lamenting the unavailability of titles by Fingerprintz and the Shakin' Pyramids recently. In addition to rediscovering the first three Ultravox LPs.
I'll be passing your blog along to several friends who were college radio DJ's back in the early eighties. One will be floored with the write-up on RUDI.
My older friends will appreciate this. I think CA has a good sound and I think, too, they garnered enough success to be comfortable.
oh my god i thought i was the only one who remembered this great little big band - waiting for a miracle and fiction are really fantastic records - strange hybrids of paired down pop punk!! thanx for putting them up here.
mary
The Comsat Angels defined Alternative Rock as we know it today. They were the the perfect example of post-punk link to ALT Rock...don't believe me? Just listen to "Waiting For a Miracle" then listen to "Sleep No More" For this reason only, this band should be recognized for their contribution.
It's a sad story regarding their careers...
I agree Chasing Shadows is one fantastic record, i think its on par with Sleep No More and Fiction. The production is very simple understated and sparse, a bit like Waiting For A Miracle. Its criminal that it hasnt been reissued yet, but i mailed Renascent and apparantly there working on it. I picked up a nice Vinyl copy off ebay, id been looking for it for ages, The Cutting Edge is maybe their greatest song ever in my opinion
Chasing Shadows is available for download via MP3 Fiesta (http://www.mp3fiesta.com/).
I have their first five LPs on vynil, what treasures they are! You can find a great torrent on Isohunt which has six of their albums.
The Comsat Angels have a fan-maintained MySpace page, which has several tunes from 'Fiction' and 'Sleep no more' which are free downloads.
Steven Fellows has a MySpace page which has a number of free downloads as well.
Music has always been my friend, and this takes me back to some great times in my 20's. Enjoy!
Comsat Angels playing a gig April 26th 2009 Sheffield O2 Academy
See Andrew Keeling - The Concise Musical Guide to the Comsat Angels www.spaceward.co.uk
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