Search - Comsat Angels :: Waiting for a Miracle & Extras

Only the beginning

sleep no more | Royal Oak, Michigan United States | 05/08/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Upon it's release, New Musical Express named it "The Greatest Debut album ever" and once you give it a listen you'll find it difficult to disagree. A breath of fresh air indeed! The Comsats managed to keep their music simple, melodic and captivating and the lack of studio gimmick's left a very organic sound. The greatest novelty of this album is Stephan Fellows voice....he comes off more like he's talking to you then actually singing and it's very effective considering the subject matter. Waiting for a Miracle and the band's second album "Sleep No More" have been two of my all time favorite albums since the early eighties (with SNM being my all-time favorite hands down) - If you're into Joy Division, The Chameleons, the early Cure albums, Bauhaus, Siouxsie, Sisters of Mercy etc....treat yourself.....the Comsats, with stronger label support (they never had a U.S. release of their first three albums but still were popular enough on college campus's to tour with Gang Of Four in the states - both at the height of their careers) could have easily been recognized as one of the greatest bands of all time."

Off-balance and better for it

mr_fishscales | Rochester, New York | 01/03/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This album includes what is possibly the Comsat Angels best single song: "Independence Day". The refrain "I can't relax/because I haven't done a thing/And I can't do a thing/Because I can't relax" sums up the conundrum of emotional paralysis rather nicely, while the song holds out the promise that the cycle will be broken on 'independence day'. It is, at least, there most compelling and powerful song and it was all over the radio in Boston in the early 80s. Another stand-out song is "Monkey Pilot", which describes the feeling of being used with a bit of hyperbole that is both amusing and a little scary. "Total War" describes a relationship that has gone really, really bad.This band often used very unorthodox arrangements, song structures and combinations of sounds, which gave their music a rather disjointed, off kilter sound sometimes. On some of the songs it seems like the music is constantly poised to take off somewhere and yet it doesn't. This is their way of avoiding cliché, I guess, and it usually works, but may take getting used to. The songs on "Waiting For a Miracle" have a more strained, pent-up feel to them than those of "Sleep No More" (the other CS Angels LP that I have). The latter album is more melancholy and the sounds have more low-end to them sonically."