To Before

Last updated
To Before
Comsat Angels - To Before cover.jpg
Compilation album by The Comsat Angels
Released 2007
Recorded 1978-1991
Genre Post-punk
Length1:34:22
Label Renascent
Producer Kevin Bacon
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svg [1]
PopMatters Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [2]

To Before is a double album of Comsat Angels demos and outtakes, released on CD by Renascent in 2007. The selected tracks covered the years 1978 to 1993 and were salvaged from old cassette tapes, DATs and bootlegs. [3] The first disc documented some of the earliest years of the band and included the entire "Red Planet" three-track single, the Comsat Angels' first record. The second disc contains demo versions of songs from later albums, plus three finished tracks from the album Fire on the Moon .

The Comsat Angels were an English post-punk band from Sheffield England, initially active from 1978 to 1995. Their music has been described as "abstract pop songs with spare instrumentation, many of which were bleak and filled with some form of heartache". They have been credited as being an influence on later post-punk revival bands such as Blacklist, Bell Hollow, Editors and Interpol. The Comsat Angels toured heavily in the UK and in western Europe, especially in the Netherlands. They also toured the United States twice. Their music has been extensively reissued and recompiled since 1995 by various record labels.

<i>Fire on the Moon</i> (Dream Command album) album by Dream Command

Fire on the Moon is the Comsat Angels' seventh album, released in 1990 on Island Records. It was issued under the alias Dream Command, and in limited quantities in the United States and the Netherlands only. A promo-only single of "Celestine" was released in similarly small quantities.

Contents

Comsats frontman Stephen Fellows said of To Before, "Some of [the tracks] are a tad rough — it's a bit warts-and-all in places! But I guess it shows what we were trying to do". [4]

Stephen Fellows is an English singer, songwriter and musician. From 1978–1995, he was frontman for the band The Comsat Angels. He also managed the band Gomez and helped guide the band the Little Glitches.

Track listing

Disc One

  1. "Mass (Demo)" – 4:06
  2. "Have You Seen (Demo)" – 3:03
  3. "Work (Demo)" – 4:04
  4. "I Get Excited" (B-side) – 2:56
  5. "The House That... (Demo)" – 4:40
  6. "Red Planet" (single A-side) – 2:41
  7. "Specimen No 2" (B-side) – 2:29
  8. "Eye of the Lens (Demo)" – 4:14
  9. "You Never Learn (Demo)" – 3:31
  10. "Tilted (Demo)" – 3:22
  11. "Island Heart (Demo)" – 4:06
  12. "Time to Burn (Demo)" – 4:19

Disc Two

  1. "Lost Continent (Demo)" – 4:40
  2. "Something's Got to Give (Demo)" – 3:49
  3. "You Move Me (Demo)" – 3:51
  4. "Carried Away (Demo)" – 4:12
  5. "Born Again (Demo)" – 4:02
  6. "Ice Sculpture" – 4:44
  7. "She's Invisible" – 3:58
  8. "Under the Influence (Demo)" – 4:26
  9. "I.K.T.F. (Demo)" – 4:08
  10. "Transport of Delight" – 3:24
  11. "Venus Hunter (Demo)" – 6:09
  12. "There's Something Going On (Demo)" – 3:28

Personnel

Guitar fretted string instrument

The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that usually has six strings. It is typically played with both hands by strumming or plucking the strings with either a guitar pick or the finger(s)/fingernails of one hand, while simultaneously fretting with the fingers of the other hand. The sound of the vibrating strings is projected either acoustically, by means of the hollow chamber of the guitar, or through an electrical amplifier and a speaker.

Synthesizer electronic instrument capable of producing a wide range of sounds

A synthesizer or synthesiser is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals that may be converted to sound. Synthesizers may imitate traditional musical instruments such as piano, flute, vocals, or natural sounds such as ocean waves; or generate novel electronic timbres. They are often played with a musical keyboard, but they can be controlled via a variety of other devices, including music sequencers, instrument controllers, fingerboards, guitar synthesizers, wind controllers, and electronic drums. Synthesizers without built-in controllers are often called sound modules, and are controlled via USB, MIDI or CV/gate using a controller device, often a MIDI keyboard or other controller.

Kevin John Bacon is an English musician and record producer best known for his work with fellow Brit Jonathan Quarmby under the moniker Bacon & Quarmby, as well as his tenure as bassist for the band the Comsat Angels. After leaving the Comsat Angels, Kevin Bacon produced for many other artists, notably Finley Quaye, Longpigs and Ziggy Marley.

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References

  1. ↑ Allmusic review
  2. ↑ Popmatters review
  3. ↑ Liner notes for To Before
  4. ↑ Steve Fellows interview with Mark Finnigan, Record Collector magazine, February 2007
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