Rating:
Title: First Utterance
Company: Dawn
Catalog: DNLS 3019
Year: 1971
Grade (cover/record): VG/VG+
Comments: gatefold sleeve; UK pressing; minor water staining and warp to bottom third of sleeve
Available: 1
Price: $200.00
There were literally thousands and thousands of progressive bands recording material during the 1970s. While a relatively few enjoyed popular recognition, let massive sales, the vast majority were relegated to instant obscurity. England's Comus (violinist Colin Pearson, percussionist Bobby Watson, singer/guitarist Roger Wootton and drummer Rob Young) clearly fall in the latter category. Named after the mystic god of revelry (if I remember correctly, he was the son of Circe and Bacchus), during their brief and sporadic career (2 albums over a five year period), they enjoyed little popular recognition and only sold a handful of albums. In spite of those factors, some three decades latter, they're achieved a dedicated cult following. Their debut album has been reissued several times and you'll find hundreds of Comus postings on the web.
Released by the small English Dawn label, 1971's "First Utterance" is one of those albums that send listeners into spasms. You either adore the collection, or hate with a passion. There are simply no alternatives. Featuring largely acoustic instrumentation (there's some electric bass), we've seen descriptions ranging from "the most sinister album ever made" to "pastoral English folk". To our ears the first description is probably more apt, though another review describing the LP as "a cross between a frenzied version of the witches chorus from Macbeth and Marc Bolan being squeezed to death" also has some merit. With those opening comments out of the way, let us give you fair warning. This LP takes some getting use to. Most people who've actually heard it hate it on first listening. They'll also tell you the album has an odd fascination that brings them back time after time. Lead singer Wootton certainly takes some getting use to. The man has a falsetto (technically I guess the term is vibrato), that sounds like Geddy Lee doing whippets. Ripe with tales of murder ("Drip Drip"), rape ("Song of Comus"), pagan martrydom (the frightening "Diana"), and mental illness musically and lyrically the set tends to be quite unnerving. Can music make you uncomfortable? Sure it can and this (along with Lou Reed's "Metal Machine Music") stands as a wonderful example. Okay, okay, so what's it actually sound like. The album's hard to adequately describe, but imagine a blend of Fairport Convention-styled English folk (with Sandy Denny and Richard Thompson on a blood rampage), King Crimson experimentation (explaining the song fragmentation and obscure lyrics) with a stoned Family's Roger Chapman handling the vocals. Add in the dark and disturbing lyrics and you'll get a vague feeling for the collection.
"First Utterances" track listing:
1.) Diana
2.) The Herald (instrumental)
3.) Drip Drip
4.) Song to Comus
5.) The Bite
6.) Bitten
7.) The Prisoner
Commercially the album was
stillborn. A planned tour opening for David Bowie collapsed.
Isolated early reviews were critical and sales were crippled by an English
postal strike that froze Dawn's already limited distribution efforts.
Rating:
Title: To Keep From Crying
Company: Virgin
Catalog: V 2018
Year: 1974
Grade (cover/record):
Comments:
Available:
Price: $
After a three year hiatus, the group unexpectedly reemerged with 1974's "To Keep from Crying". Signed by Richard Branson's newly formed Virgin Records, the album found the band opting for a more conventional rock/progressive sound. Backed by an array of studio musicians (including electric instrumentation) and cameos from various members of Hawkwind and Henry Cow, material such as "Touch Down" and "So Long Supernova" wasn't half bad. Unfortunately, the debut's undercurrent of angst and foreboding was absent. Old fans were unhappy and there simply weren't any new fans. Absent sales, the collection disappeared into cutout bins, followed in short order by the band.
"To Keep from Crying" track listing:
1.) Down (Like
a Movie Star)
2.) Touch Down
3,) Waves and Caves
4.) Figure In Your Dreams
5.) Children of the Universe
6.) So Long Supernova
7.) Perpetual Motion
8.) Panophany
9.) Get Yourself a Man
10.) To Keep from Crying
11.) After the Dream