PALE SAINTS The Comforts of Madness – 30th Anniversary Remaster

It’s been 30 years since Pale Saints released their debut album, The Comforts of Madness, and to celebrate, 4AD have remastered the album and will be reissuing it on January 17th 2020.

From Leeds, the original Pale Saints line-up were Ian Masters (bass / vocals), Chris Cooper (drums), and Graeme Naysmith (guitar), who having released a clutch of singles since forming in 1987, put out their debut album in January 1990.  Including the tracks ‘Sight of You’, ‘You Tear The World In Two’ and a cover of Opal’s ‘Fell From the Sun’ (the band that once featured 4AD alumna Kendra Smith and later became Mazzy Star), they made an exciting and frenetic entrance with The Comforts of Madness – an album that swam against the tide and even found its way on to the Top 40 of the UK Album Charts.

PRAISE FOR PALE SAINTS

“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.” –  Pitchfork

When appearing in The Times’ Guide To The Best Albums of All Time, critic Pete Paphides likened the record to being “an electrical storm of discovery,” saying that them being “pigeonholed as a shoegazing band, doesn’t begin to do them justice.  The Comforts of Madness hits the ground not so much running as charging in all directions.  It’s easy to forget that indie music once saw no contradiction in sounding sweet, savage and esoteric at the same time, but it was a combination that seemed second nature to Pale Saints.”

For the album’s 30th anniversary, Ian Masters has revisited the band’s sessions where they demoed the album at their Woodhouse Studio before heading to the Blackwing Studios in London to record them with John Fryer and Gil Norton.  These unreleased album demos plus the band’s only John Peel Session(recorded 23rd of July 1989 at Maida Vale studios in London) help to create a bonus disc of material for both the double CD and LP editions.  While the single LP is a faithful repress of the original, the artwork for the deluxe editions has been reworked by Timothy O’Donnell, with the double CD edition coming in a card sleeve and the double gatefold LP being pressed on clear vinyl.

A1. Way The World Is
A2. You Tear The World In Two
A3. Sea of Sound
A4. True Coming Dream
A5. Little Hammer

B1. Insubstantial
B2. A Deep Sleep For Steven
B3. Language of Flowers
B4. Fell From The Sun
B5. Sight Of You
B6. Time Thief

Pale Saints – The Comforts of Madness
Limited Deluxe – 30th Anniversary Remaster

Disc One
A1. Way The World Is
A2. You Tear The World In Two
A3. Sea of Sound
A4. True Coming Dream
A5. Little Hammer

B1. Insubstantial
B2. A Deep Sleep For Steven
B3. Language of Flowers
B4. Fell From The Sun
B5. Sight Of You
B6. Time Thief

Disc Two
C1. Sight Of You *+
C2. Way The World Is *-
C3. Language of Flowers *-
C4. You Tear The World In Two *-
C5. Fell From The Sun *-
C6. A Deep Sleep For Steven *-
C7. Time Thief *-

D1. Sea of Sound *-
D2. Insubstantial *-
D3. Little Hammer *-
D4. True Coming Dream *-
D5. She Rides The Waves *#
D6. You Tear The World In Two *#
D7. Way The World Is *#
D8. Time Thief *#

* Previously unreleased
+ Original Woodhouse Studio Version
– Woodhouse Studio LP Demo
# John Peel Show Version