You Tear The World In Two: A Brief Review Of The New Reissue Of The Comforts Of Madness By Pale Saints On 4AD

The debut full-length release from Pale Saints, The Comforts of Madness was one of those records that seemed to be heralding a new sound, and a new genre, even if hardly anyone was using terms like dream-pop and shoegaze in 1990. Still, the record was on 4AD, a label worth following religiously then, and that meant something right there. If the sound was beefier than that of the Cocteau Twins, for instance, but more experimental than that of Lush, there were elements here which allowed the music of this Leeds group to be talked about in the same breath as that of those other label luminaries. Thankfully, The Comforts of Madness is being reissued by the seminal label today, and the record remains one of the great albums of that era, and one which seems to have been the precursor to the works of bands who (perhaps unfairly) achieved far more fame and attention than did Ian Masters and crew.

The album proper certainly veers towards the noisier side of what was barely called shoegaze back then, with songs "Way The World Is" and "You Tear The World in Two" steering this into the heart of the sun. For whatever feedback-experiment Masters and co. were invested in pursuing in 1990, they were also entirely capable of modulating their attack in such a way that "Sea of Sound" sounds positively blissful, even as a cover of "Fell From the Sun" by Opal feels nearly like an original here on The Comforts of Madness. It is, of course, "Sight of You" that remains this group's masterpiece. The cut, elegiac in spots and euphoric in others, seems a genre unto itself. And to label it shoegaze or dream-pop is to do a disservice to both those genres and this music. The song is uniquely epic, and the kind of individual selection that nearly elevates The Comforts of Madness to the level of a classic album all by itself. However, the record finishes with the peppy "Time Thief", a neat bit of business that is very nearly a pop song due to how catchy it is.

Disc two of this 30th anniversary edition of The Comforts of Madness features a ton of demo versions of the album tracks, and the band's only Peel Session. What's interesting, however, is how much the original studio version of "Sight of You" sounds like The Stone Roses. I suppose in 1990, any band in England was guaranteed to have processed the Roses sound in some way. And while The Stone Roses was fairly huge here in the States too, its influence was undoubtedly greater over there. If Pale Saints were likely not trying to mimic Ian Brown and that lot, there's a similar vibe here that makes a listener recall that wonderful era of music, when so much seemed to be happening in the British indie scene. "A Deep Sleep for Steven" churns in its demo version, with the build-up much more dramatic here, while "You Tear the World in Two", in its demo form, sits closer to old Cure and Joy Division numbers than to what the final version ending up being. If Pale Saints were drawing from their inspirations, these demos reveal just how wide that net being cast was. The Peel Session is anchored by a shimmering run at "She Rides the Waves", one of the highlights from the band's earlier Barging Into the Presence of God EP on 4AD from 1989. Similarly, the Peel Session version of "Way The World Is" is clattering and fantastic. For a band who would later be famous for the atmospheric aspects of their brand of guitar-rock, Pale Saints were a remarkably concise and tight live outfit in 1990.

The Comforts of Madness, especially in this remastered edition, sounds even better than I'd remembered it sounding. The players here -- Ian Masters (bass / vocals), Chris Cooper (drums), and Graeme Naysmith (guitar) -- were just as interested in textures that were psychedelic as they were in drafting a seminal shoegaze work. And there's lots here that reveals a respect of Sixties-era song-craft too. Pale Saints were, as always, nearly impossible to pin down to any one genre, so they got lumped in with the shoegaze bands that gained fame nearly a year or two after the release of this superb album. A far better approach would be to come at this fresh, and appreciate The Comforts of Madness for the masterwork it is.

The 30th anniversary edition of The Comforts of Madness by Pale Saints is out today via 4AD.

[Photos: Cover from 4AD; Group shot by Bleddyn Butcher]