COMSAT ANGELS – SLEEP NO MORE LP – Nr MINT UK 1981 POST PUNK INDIE

Comsat Angels – Sleep No More
(Polydor Records  1981  POLS1038)
Matrix No’s: A3/B3 – UK Pressing

Vinyl in Nr MINT condition
(there are some surface marks visible on the vinyl when held up to the light but they don’t affect the sound quality apart from the odd light pop/crackle)

Sleeve in Nr MINT/Excellent+ condition
– some wear to edges/corners & light crease on bottom left corner

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.

Sleep No More is the Comsat Angels’ second album, released 21 August 1981 on Polydor Records. It is widely regarded as a masterpiece that had a major influence on bands such as U2 (who toured with the band) and later groups such as Editors and Interpol. The album has been reissued on CD three times, in 1995 by RPM Records, in 2006 by Renascent and in 2015 by Edsel Records, with different track listings (see below). Sleep No More produced no singles, but it had the highest UK chart ranking for any Comsats album, peaking at No. 51.

After the rushed production of the first album, Waiting for a Miracle, the band was able to put a lot more craft into Sleep No More. Frontman Stephen Fellows described how they achieved a resonant sound on a couple of the tracks: “Pete Wilson suggested taking the drums out of the studio – on the fourth floor at Polydor – and putting them near the lift-shaft (elevator shaft) by the stairs. We then put microphones on the three floors above and below….Obviously we were only able to do this sort of thing in the evening when the offices were closed!”

Fellows felt the album Sleep No More had a unique quality among the band’s work: “The only [album] which had a ‘thread’ through it was Sleep No More, the ‘thread’ was the sound we wanted to get.” Critics recognized it as a great follow-up to Waiting for a Miracle. AllMusic later said, “Sleep No More is certainly more powerful, and it’s also a greater achievement. Here The Comsat Angels became one of the era’s exceptional bands.” In a 1981 review, Mark Cooper of Sounds wrote that it was “an album that is head and shoulders above anything else recorded this year”, while Jack Rabid of The Big Takeover summed up the album by saying, “I think Sleep No More is one of the greatest pieces of music ever released!”

When Sleep No More was released, it sold out very quickly. Unfortunately Polydor took two weeks to ship additional stock to the record stores, an issue which was believed to have had a negative effect on the album’s momentum.

Tracklist

Personnel

• Stephen Fellows – vocals, guitar
• Andy Peake – synthesizer, vocals
• Kevin Bacon – bass guitar
• Mik Glaisher – drums