A lot of obscure
post-punk bands out there that have spent the last several years touted as
being unfairly forgotten, etc etc, as all the music critics try to rewrite
history and plug their personal faves.
The Chameleons? They definitely kicked righteous ass. Three awesome albums in their prime and a lot
of miscellanea, and then when they got back together they managed to not fuck up
their legacy too bad (well, except for the in-fighting).
The Comsat
Angels? Not so much. As an armchair critic, I try to keep things
fair and balanced. I hate tossing out
the phrase “sell-out” because, really, bands gotta do what they gotta do to
make money. In this case, though…..
Nine albums,
and THREE of them totally qualify as sell-outs.
Yikes. Two shitty generic mid-80s
new wave synth things, and one that was sort of a Mr Mister tribute maybe. Godawful.
Still, their
second album, SLEEP NO MORE, is a five star classic. It’s the album their whole post-punk rep is
built on. Dark, heavy, pounding, ominous
- it rules. Album #6, CHASING SHADOWS,
has dated surprisingly well for a mid-80s album. An
excellent comeback after the first two sell-out attempts. The last two albums, MY MIND’S EYE and THE
GLAMOUR, from the grunge/post-grunge
heyday, have also dated quite well and mainly succeed because, while they are guitar-centric,
they make NO attempts to actually be grunge.
Thankfully.
So, three
craptastic albums, 4 quality releases, and two middling records (including the
first, WAITING FOR A MIRACLE, which is overrated – very twitchy and nervous
without really generating any tension, plus it’s hamstrung by too many lyrics
about bad relationships). Not forgotten
post-punk saviors, as much as I like them.
Sorry.
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