Comus (band)
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Comus is a British progressive rock band which had a brief career in the early 1970s and has enjoyed some noteriety from collectors as being unparalleled in their genre.
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[edit] History
Their first album, First Utterance, appeared in 1971. The music is largely acoustic, and the lyrics are dramatic, involving violence, murder, rape and mental disorder. The group disbanded after this album, but they reunited for their second album, which was to be their swansong, To Keep from Crying, in 1974. The latter album is generally not as highly regarded as the first by critics of the genre.
The music on First Utterance could be described as acoustic art rock that blends elements of eastern precussion, early folk and animalian vocals. The music evokes many feelings, but the most dominant are fear, confusion and dispair. The music was written by Roger Wootton, who spent time in and out of an insane asylum. There's very little in the way of pretension in his vocal delivery - his angst sounds utterly genuine. Wootton also appears on some recordings by Slapp Happy, however nothing he takes part in again resembles the music found in First Utterance.
The band was named after the Greek god Comus. In 2005, a complete box set was released which featured both studio albums, their only single, a previously unreleased track called "All the Colours of Darkness" and an exclusive interview with the band.
[edit] Trivia
In 1998, Opeth singer Mikael Åkerfeldt used a part of a sentence of the Comus song "Drip Drip" for the title of their album My Arms, Your Hearse. The full line was "As I carry you to your grave, my arms your hearse".
Another nod to Comus was utilized on the latest Opeth album, Ghost Reveries. The second track "The Baying of the Hounds" was derived from a line in the song "Diana" off of First Utterance which reads, "And she knows by the sound of the baying, by the baying of the hounds".
[edit] Personnel
- Roger Wootton - acoustic guitar, lead vocals
- Glen Goring - 6-12 acoustic guitar, electric guitar, slide, hand drums, vocals
- Andy Hellaby - fender bass, slide bass, vocals
- Colin Pearson - violin, viola
- Rob Young - flute, oboe, hand drums
- Bobbie Watson - vocals, percussion
- Lindsay Cooper - wind
- Philip Barry - percussion
- Gordon Caxon - drums
- Didier Malherbe - saxophone
- Keith Hale - keyboards
- Tim Kraemer - cello
[edit] Discography
[edit] Studio albums
- First Utterance (1971)
- To Keep from Crying (1974)
[edit] Box sets
- Song to Comus: The Complete Collection (2005)
[edit] Singles
- Diana / In the Lost Queen's Eyes / Winter is a Coloured Bird (1971)
