Waiting for a Miracle

The Comsat Angels had its catalogue rescued twice in its history, for the first time in 2007 by Renascent (a label that died all of a sudden), and now once again. Just like the last time, each album has all the b-sides, outtakes, and demos. This time however, you get a few tracks more, HOWEVER in my opinion they aren't really needed, since the extra demos and live sessions do not sound any superior to the album versions. All in all, you are getting a good value for your money.HOWEVER, this remaster is not as good as the last one (which is out of print). This new group of audio engineers decided to raise the volume just a tad higher, for some stupid reason that sure sounded smart at the time. As a result, the 2007 remaster from Renascent ends up sounding BETTER (albeit only slightly), with more dynamic range. This new remaster is more compressed, and deserves an A from me, whereas that previous release is a stellar A+.HOWEVER, it should be noted that the 3 tracks that make up their debut "Red Planet" EP (Red Planet, I Get Excited, Specimen #2) were actually audibly IMPROVED for this release, making it superior to the Renascent release at least in that regard, and more pleasant to listen to.Still, you might want to get BOTH current versions of this album, since the booklet with background info is worth it.

Fans of The Sound, Echo and the Bunnymen, Teardrop Explodes, Psychedelic Furs first LP, and maybe even Joy Division should give a listen. While living in the UK in the late 70's I considered The Comsat Angels to be a great singles band. While "Red Planet" doesn't appear here, pre Polydor I guess, "Independence Day" and "Total War" fit in well as part of their first full length effort. This music represents a fine era in rock music. Headiness, great songs, lyrics that say something, and of course drums, bass, and guitars. I reviewed this because I feel it is an important recording.

Great album, great packaging.

just had to have it

Like most of their post-punk contemporaries, The Comsat Angels started with minimal instrumentation and production, as required by the punk aesthetic, but slowed down the tempos and added a dark atmosphere with serious, foreboding lyrics. From there they had a turn with goth, by making their music even slower and darker while improving the production, and then they changed course once again and wrote an all-out pop album with short radio-friendly songs. This was not an uncommon evolution at the time -- The Cure did basically the same thing -- but the Comsat Angels just never were able to break into the mainstream. Life isn't fair.But now their first three albums have been reissued, after being out of print for two decades, and it's time to re-evaluate them. Waiting For A Miracle is first in the trilogy, and it's probably even more minimal than most of the other post-punk debuts. There is almost no guitar on the whole album. In fact, there are almost no riffs or hooks as such. Almost all of the songs are driven by repetitive, rudimentary rhythms and the occasional keyboard. "Independence Day" is the only song that has a clear guitar lead like a typical rock song.At times, it really sounds like they've just taught themselves how to play. Many songs have a fragmented, jerky quality to them, with abrupt changes in the rhythm. "Monkey Pilot" especially sounds like it was pieced together from three different demos. The refrain that opens the song stops abruptly and goes into a long plodding section, which goes back to the refrain just as suddenly. "Real Story" is one of the few songs to have a recognizable guitar line, but that guitar line isn't really the sort of catchy hook that people put in pop songs. There's a very uncertain pause after every time it repeats, as if it doesn't really fit the rhythm, and the very notes sound like something one might write if one wants to write a guitar song but has never played the guitar.But in some sense, this extreme minimalism suits the album. The lyrics often share this uncertain quality, and exhibit a kind of charming naivete. The title track is about how singer Stephen Fellows feels lonely at a dance, and wishes that a girl he likes would notice him. "Total War" laments his estrangement from his girlfriend, which occurs because she doesn't like his friends or his clothes. It's a banal reason, but hey, life is that way. These particular lyrics convey the mood by capturing small but realistic details. Fellows is much less successful when he tries to adopt a confident, world-weary air, like in "Map Of The World," where he tries to use a map as a metaphor for the insignificance of all human life. This very laboured observation comes across as shallow rather than experienced and wise.The band's strength is not in the music and songwriting. But they're very good with simple chant-like lyrics. The music and lyrics of "Baby" are pretty forgettable, but there's one part after the second verse where Fellows softly chants "talk...talk...talk" and it has a powerful effect. "Waiting For A Miracle" does a similar thing in the ending, where Fellows repeats "waiting for a miracle, but nothing ever happens" in a rueful voice. It just so happens that this device evokes exactly the kind of bleak, repetitive setting that the lyrics refer to. Fellows doesn't make a show of emoting by screaming or sighing or what-not, and this understated singing style can make these simple chants compelling and meaningful.And then there's "Independence Day," which is a truly great post-punk song and by far the best track on the album. It's the only song with a real guitar hook. Though just as minimal as the rest of the music, the notes are punctuated by pauses so precisely that it sounds nervous and tight, rather than uncertain like the other songs. The build-up of drums, which start calmly and proceed to thunder by the very end, is also very strong. And Fellows contributes a fine lyric, with the memorable refrain, "I can't relax because I haven't done a thing, and I can't do a thing because I can't relax." To this day, this is the Comsat Angels' sole charting single, though they recorded a few more good ones later on.The reissue adds eight bonus tracks. The four demos are bland except for the version of "Independence Day," which uses feedback to make the guitar line sound soft and sad rather than nervous. Of the B-sides, "Home Is The Range" exhibits all of the band's weaknesses: they try to write a fast and energetic song, but there's clearly no tune to it, and the drums just crash along monotonously. But "We Were" is a moody instrumental, with a more expansive, "cathedral-like" sound, and adds some variety to the album. And the last two out-takes, "Ju Ju Money" and "Work," are excellent, better than half the songs on the album itself. "Ju Ju Money" was later reworked for the band's third album, where it was given a much richer production with layered guitars. But this version may be even better, precisely because it's so sparse. The best part is after the vocals, when the bass line repeats over and over, and the guitar occasionally interjects with a single note. This extended outro creates a genuine sense of unease and mystery, which the band was trying to create with mixed success throughout the whole album. And "Work" has quite possibly the album's best lyric, written from the perspective of the real young man struggling to support himself, rather than the rock poet.Waiting For A Miracle is not exactly a lost classic, but the band's youthful earnestness, and their inability to fake an experienced image, do grow on one. Their other albums don't have this quality. And the bonus tracks show that they had talent.

I had the pleasure to wander into a concert by the Comsats about the time that Waiting for a Miracle came out. I was working in Greece and visiting a friend in London. It was an afternoon concert at the Lyceum with about 6 groups on the bill. When the Comsats came on, both of us looked at each other with that "these guys are really good, I mean really good" look on our faces. Miracle was sparse and wonderful, followed by the amazing Sleep No More, which is the one I play for friends who have never heard of the Comsats first. Living in Europe I got to see them a few times and socialize with them when they did a (honest) July 4 gig in an outdoor venue in Holland. This is the band that U2 was the opening act for when they were just getting going, and I do hear a lot of the Comsats in U2. Though to my mind, Stephen Fellows has a superior voice. Pity that the band didn't get the kind of success that U2 got, as that would mean they would still be together and turning out amazing music.As I said, Miracle is very sparse and in this day and age may be a bit of an acquired taste. But, I always thought how incredible On The Beach would sound in the hands of a great soul singer with a full wall of sound production.As Stephen Fellows would have said:"See You in the Future"Jay

No doubt : this purchase is essential (the band deserves it as well as a late definitive recognition): my only issue is the following. Wishing to know what level of remastering was applied to this work, I opend the wav files in a restoration program, that I used to restore old vinyls and at my big surprise, I saw that some (even lots of) basic clicks and pops were still detected. Also the volume was not put at a maximum. I'm not an expert but i would like to understand why this is so. Is it in order to preserve the original relative volumes of song or some imperfections of the recording? I doubt this because I've done the same thing for other remastered works and I did not show such level of apparent defects.Also some songs show much less of those crackles then others. Why? Did the remasterer suffer from a loss of nerve? Thus not 5 stars.....but I bought all first three albums anyway.....mp3 did not kill the CD star (not yet).....

Great independent band. My favourite track is "Independence day".

Brings back memories of why I loved the Comsats all those years ago. Great era, great music.

Brilliant album, and beautiful re-pressing. It's a shame that it got completely bent over in 2 corners, because the Amazon packaging is not up to an acceptable standard. It's not worth the cost of returning it, and I won't risk replacing it from Amazon, until they improve their packaging.

Expensive but rare bit of high quality Sheffield music history. A very well kept secret. Reassuringly this is soon to be reissued with extra tracks but I couldn't wait. Swift service from this seller