Pale Saints – The Comforts of Madness (30th Anniversary Reissue) (1990/2020) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Pale Saints - The Comforts of Madness (30th Anniversary Reissue) (1990/2020) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz] Download

On the eve of a post-Thatcherite Britain, the Pale Saints, alongside the likes of Lush, Ride and Slowdive, were ushering in a new wave of British indie. And in 4AD, they found a perfect home for their music – an exciting & undeniable meld of noise and dream-pop.

Their debut album, The Comforts of Madness, didn’t disappoint, now standing as one of the best of its era. Pitchfork placed it in their Best 50 Shoegaze Albums Of All Time saying, “There’s a restless urgency, particularly when the volume swells and the rhythms intensify. That energy not only keeps (it) vital, it emphasizes Pale Saints’ inventiveness, how they channelled softness and rage into something distinctive.”

Nearly 30 years on and The Comforts of Madness is finally getting the reissue treatment. Having been remastered, a faithful LP repress on black vinyl is being released as well as double CD and double clear vinyl editions, both of which come with a bonus disc of previously unreleased demos and the band’s only John Peel Session, recorded in 1989.

The shoegaze revival is upon us, so a revisit of the classics can only do a world of good. The first Pale Saints album, which came out in February 1990, is precisely a milestone record in the dream pop and shoegaze movement. For its 30th anniversary, it is being rereleased in a remastered deluxe version, in 24-Bit Hi-Res quality, adorned with never-before-heard demos. At the time, the 4AD label was living a sort of golden age with the establishment of the Cocteau Twins, Dead Can Dance, Throwing Muses, This Mortal Coil and of course Pixies. The record label headed by Ivo Watts-Russell kept their roster fresh by signing bands such as Belly, Lush and Pale Saints. The Leeds-based group, formed in the late-1980s, based the originality of their sound in the duality of singer Ian Masters’ delicate voice and the wall of sound created by the guitars carrying fairly pop melodies. Evanescent fury, raging daydreaming… in a way, this is the dichotomy of shoegaze. Gil Norton, who made a name for himself by producing Ocean Rain by Echo & the Bunnymen and Doolittle by Pixies, is in the mixing booth for five of the tracks, with John Fryer from This Mortal Coil covering the other half of the album. Once the album starts, the sound of this first Pale Saints opus is unmistakably Cocteau Twins or Jesus & Mary Chain. Some may even draw comparisons with My Bloody Valentine, despite their iconic Loveless coming out only a year and a half after Comforts of Madness in November 1991. More of a cult figure than he is given credit for, Ian Masters is more than just a run of the mill shoegaze singer: he knows how to orchestrate different rhythms and especially how to compose often-perfect pop songs, stringing them together so that the project as a whole feels like one single composition. This feeling is amplified by the absence of any gaps between the eleven tracks. Thirty years later, this masterpiece has not only not aged a bit, but stands out amongst its contemporaries. – Marc Zisman

Tracklist:

01. Pale Saints – Way the World Is (Remastered) (02:39)
02. Pale Saints – You Tear the World in Two (Remastered) (03:01)
03. Pale Saints – Sea of Sound (Remastered) (05:52)
04. Pale Saints – True Coming Dream (Remastered) (02:29)
05. Pale Saints – Little Hammer (Remastered) (02:18)
06. Pale Saints – Insubstantial (Remastered) (04:19)
07. Pale Saints – A Deep Sleep for Steven (Remastered) (03:43)
08. Pale Saints – Language of Flowers (Remastered) (02:53)
09. Pale Saints – Fell from the Sun (Remastered) (04:46)
10. Pale Saints – Sight of You (Remastered) (05:36)
11. Pale Saints – Time Thief (Remastered) (03:25)
12. Pale Saints – Sight of You (Original Woodhouse Studio Version) (Remastered) (05:58)
13. Pale Saints – Way the World Is (Woodhouse Studio LP Demo) (Remastered) (02:01)
14. Pale Saints – Language of Flowers (Woodhouse Studio LP Demo) (Remastered) (02:47)
15. Pale Saints – You Tear the World in Two (Woodhouse Studio LP Demo) (Remastered) (02:33)
16. Pale Saints – Fell from the Sun (Woodhouse Studio LP Demo) (Remastered) (04:05)
17. Pale Saints – A Deep Sleep for Steven (Woodhouse Studio LP Version) (Remastered) (03:04)
18. Pale Saints – Time Thief (Woodhouse Studio LP Demo) (Remastered) (03:04)
19. Pale Saints – Sea of Sound (Woodhouse Studio LP Demo) (Remastered) (05:25)
20. Pale Saints – Insubstantial (Woodhouse Studio LP Demo) (Remastered) (03:21)
21. Pale Saints – Little Hammer (Woodhouse Studio LP Demo) (Remastered) (02:03)
22. Pale Saints – True Coming Dream (Woodhouse Studio LP Demo) (Remastered) (02:34)