"Poor
old Comsat's", as Helen Fitzgerald recently
remarked. She has a point. The same door that
ushered in Echo And The Bunnymen and Simple
Minds slammed cruelly shut when it was The Comsat's
turn to enter. While the new cant and cocaine hierarchy
celebrate on one side, The Comsat's supposedly stagnate
on the other. Not so.
The
Comsat Angels biggest problem was always packaging.
Polydor didn't know what to do with them and consequently
didn't try. Jive don't either (clock those
dreadful ads in the music press) but at least they're
giving it all they've got.
Amid
it all, 7 Day Weekend (an ode to unemployment)
ironically boasts some of the best material the band have
ever recorded. A fact that'll come as no surprise
to their fans as they'll already own half of it in single
format. Tut tut.
A
shift in emphasis from matters temporal to matters personal
is reflected by the introduction of veteran funk producer
James Mtume but it's Mike Howlett's understated
efforts to reconcile Sheffield art with Stateside commerciality
that characterises the best songs on this LP.
No
Comsat's fan will be disappointed by 7 Day Weekend
and, to that end, they've satisfied their main commitment
- whether it'll attract new listeners is another question.
Critical
acclaim is a hard act to follow as The Comsat's strange
bedfellows The Sound will know.