Music Obscure Music: Comus - First Utterance (1971)

[Bloodporne]

Since Halloween is upon us and we're in autumn, I thought some of you into more adventurous music would enjoy one of my favorite obscure weirdo albums for this season:

 

Comus - The Herald

 

Comus was technically considered a Prog Rock band in their day, but well, there is zero Rock in their sound and by my definition they sound like some sort of Pagan Dark Folk with some typical counter-culture flavor for its day. However, this is shockingly grim lyrically and even musically at points for its release date of 1971. The band's peak of popularity was opening for David Bowie on an unsuccessful tour and basically selling zero copies of their one and only album after dissolving with much drama and label pressure like so many experimental groups did.

 

This is my favorite song although slightly uncharacteristically calm possibly for the rest of the album which is slightly darker in tone. The whole LP basically works best when taken as a whole however I assumed that may be a bit much for anyone potentially interested. This is kind of the musical equivalent of some weird Pagan folk tales coming alive in the woods at night. 

 

Lyrics:

 

As a single star glides swiftly down the night
A soft wetting note issues from the time-worn flute
Frowning slightly the herald listens wistful across the night
And from way back behind the day comes the echoed answer
The day advances oh so softly his shadow lengthens and his voice is mute
But clear his flute and sadly walks forward followed by the day
Herald of morning walks across the earth eternally

[Acoustic Guitar Solo]

And somewhere in the black distance
Another herald puts down his flute
And the dewy dawn creeps on
And the night withdraws

The day advances oh so softly his shadow lengthens and his voice is mute
But clear his flute and sadly walks forward followed by the day
Herald of morning walks across the earth eternally

 

 

And here is the complete album if interested: 

 

Comus - First Utterance
 

[Bloodporne]

Fine, I'll rate this shit 5 stars myself. Boom!