now i want to hear Moose.
― Bee OK, Saturday, 12 August 2017 03:28 (six years ago) link
drinking again tonight and went off on the drumming yet again but the Pale Saints are all about the guitar sound.
― Bee OK, Saturday, 12 August 2017 04:00 (six years ago) link
Fantastic band, really liked that Dum Dum Girls cover. Ian Masters post-Pale Saints work is well worth your time as well.
― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Saturday, 12 August 2017 13:58 (six years ago) link
Time Thief is one of my favourite shoegaze songs. Pale Saints should do a reunion tour every other shoegaze band has by now. See See Rider can support them
― Colonel Poo, Saturday, 12 August 2017 19:12 (six years ago) link
Relistening to Comforts of Madness tonight for the first time in ages. It's brilliant.
― the salacious inaudible (Nasty, Brutish & Short), Friday, 8 February 2019 22:30 (five years ago) link
Seems like a band that has faded away for anyone who wasn't there. A lack of reissues is probably part of the reason.
― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Saturday, 9 February 2019 04:03 (five years ago) link
I see a lot of movies, and read a ton of books, that I really like, but can't remember a single thing about them a month later. I wished it worked this way with music, and Comforts of Madness is one of those records I'd like to forget about, so I can enjoy hearing it anew every so often.
I rocked Mrs. Dolphin yesterday. I play that one maybe once every 3 months or so, without fail.
― henry s, Saturday, 9 February 2019 04:14 (five years ago) link
In Ribbons is positively classic 90s dreamy British rock. I want to say Hugh Jones is a huge part of the thick guitar sound there. Comforts sounds so thin to me, not a big fan really
― brimstead, Saturday, 9 February 2019 07:31 (five years ago) link
"Hunted" is my favorite. So so great.
― brimstead, Saturday, 9 February 2019 07:32 (five years ago) link
Comforts of Madness is easily my favorite non-MBV shoegaze album. It's so propulsive and varied (Opal cover! Cat cover star sample at the end). Its only flaw is that the re-recorded "Sight of You" is slightly inferior to the raw-er sounding EP version. Ironically the lusher EP version of "Baby Maker" is far superior to the In Ribbons version which sounds like a demo. I'm actually not a fan of that album at all. It just makes me want to put on the earlier stuff.
― Spencer Chow, Saturday, 9 February 2019 08:19 (five years ago) link
I'm with you, Spencer
― an incoherent crustacean (MatthewK), Saturday, 9 February 2019 08:51 (five years ago) link
I bought In Ribbons and remember being slightly disappointed by it at the time, but now I can’t really remember much about the tracks on it that hadn’t already come out on EPs. Throwing Back The Apple was good and there was one with Meriel singing something like ‘between the (?) you should hold someone’ but everything else has been wiped from my memory. Whereas I remember every detail of Comforts of Madness.
― the salacious inaudible (Nasty, Brutish & Short), Saturday, 9 February 2019 19:00 (five years ago) link
I discovered them via Throw Back the Apple (from 120 minutes play I guess). Got the album and felt massively disappointed. Didn’t bother with them after that until 10 years ago or so. I’ve liked the stuff I heard since but I guess I would need to read up on them to better understand their discography
― licorice oratorio (baaderonixx), Sunday, 10 February 2019 13:53 (five years ago) link
i love in ribbons so much. it is divine, an album without fault and quite varied. that misty shoegazing sound will always remind me of my late youth (late twenties). maybe it helped that i was there.
i never got into comfort of madness. which i heard about at least 20 years later.
― Ich bin kein Berliner (alex in mainhattan), Thursday, 14 February 2019 22:17 (five years ago) link
people talking abut the Pail Saints makes me happy, i had the chance to see them two times.
1. The Comforts of Madness2. Mrs. Dolphin3. In Ribbons4. Kinky Love EP5. Slow Buildings
tho at the time i still believed in Slow Buildings. it really was a let down after Ian Masters left the band however.
― Bee OK, Saturday, 16 February 2019 02:43 (five years ago) link
Stupid auto correct Pale...
The Comfort of Madness is their master piece. Might rank it
― Bee OK, Saturday, 16 February 2019 02:58 (five years ago) link
...above Giant Steps
― Bee OK, Saturday, 16 February 2019 02:59 (five years ago) link
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Comforts-Madness-30th-Anniversary-Remaster/dp/B07ZW8VWS5/
woo!
― koogs, Friday, 6 December 2019 15:54 (four years ago) link
excellent, they could do with a comprehensive singles comp too
― the girl from spirea x (f. hazel), Friday, 6 December 2019 16:45 (four years ago) link
Such a great album. I was pretty disappointed with everything else that came after, it was probably down to the Hugh Jones production. He seemed to have a knack for softening the rough (interesting) edges of a lot of 4AD and 4AD-like bands (see also Heidi Berry, Ultra Vivid Scene, Kitchens of Distinction, Frazier Chorus) of that era.
― henry s, Tuesday, 10 December 2019 20:26 (four years ago) link
Hugh Jones did In Ribbons too! i've said my peace (piece?) re comforts of madness
― brimstead, Tuesday, 10 December 2019 20:29 (four years ago) link
That's what made me think of him! Just more a fan of the rough edges, I suppose. Not in general but def as far as the 4AD sound goes...
― henry s, Tuesday, 10 December 2019 20:32 (four years ago) link
In Ribbons sounds pretty great right now. I thought it slightly tepid at the time, but like it a more with the passage of years. I marginally prefer "Babymaker" here, I think, though that EP might even be their high-water mark overall.
― Nag! Nag! Nag!, Wednesday, 11 December 2019 06:19 (four years ago) link
Speaking of which, I notice 4AD has recently uploaded this nauseating video at better resolution than I've seen it before. Bless.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HU39Gu4lX_0
― Nag! Nag! Nag!, Wednesday, 11 December 2019 06:24 (four years ago) link
demos sound pretty tight, like they'd been practicing them a while. and they have starts and ends, unlike the lp versions.
that second side, from language of flowers to the end, is still quite a rush.
― koogs, Thursday, 23 January 2020 13:07 (four years ago) link
nothing new-new though, no new songs. and i'd've liked the diamonds and porcupines version of Sight of You on there somewhere.
― koogs, Thursday, 23 January 2020 13:32 (four years ago) link
The Peel sessions are good to hear, too.
― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Thursday, 23 January 2020 16:11 (four years ago) link
Is it me or is this running ink-jet missing cat notice reminiscent of something?
https://imgur.com/qO7EEdU
― never knowingly otm (Noel Emits), Thursday, 23 January 2020 16:22 (four years ago) link
7.6 on Pitchfork today is the funniest thing they've done since 8.8 for Cosmo's Factory.
― Skrot Montague, Thursday, 23 January 2020 16:29 (four years ago) link
Because it's too high or too low?
― Gerald McBoing-Boing, Thursday, 23 January 2020 18:50 (four years ago) link
Too low. For my money, they're both classics and should be in the high 9s (probably 10 for Cosmo's). I hate the whole rating system anyway, though, for exactly this reason - it puts a somewhat arbitrary number on a highly personal experience.
― Skrot Montague, Thursday, 23 January 2020 19:44 (four years ago) link
i heard the "Sight of You" last night for the first time in may, many years. it sounded so wonderful. i think it's time to listen to The Comforts of Madness again. love this band to death!
― Bee OK, Saturday, 15 February 2020 00:51 (four years ago) link
so i had to listen, this is one of the great albums, "Insubstantial" is blowing my mind all over again and remembering why this band was so good and criminally underrated.
― Bee OK, Saturday, 15 February 2020 01:11 (four years ago) link
i had such a good time listening to this album again. i know this band is all about the shoegaze guitar sound but the drummer they had is so good. it's under all the textures of the music but man is he great. such an amazing band and made my night after a fucked day.
What Can I Do?What Can I say?The World Was LargeAnd I felt Very Small
― Bee OK, Saturday, 15 February 2020 01:27 (four years ago) link
the reissue is pretty nice, the remaster sounds good... louder, but not brickwalled, works pretty well for their sound
― the girl from spirea x (f. hazel), Saturday, 15 February 2020 02:34 (four years ago) link
Yep. I bought it and I must have listened to this album more times in the last couple of weeks than at any time since 1990. Love it. 'You Tear The World In Two' is my favourite. The second CD is interesting as the songs hadn't been completely worked out at that point so there are things that just seem 'wrong' (e.g. the riff that opens 'Insubstantial' isn't there, or the clanging guitar sound at the start of each verse of 'Time Thief' is just one note instead of two. Plus Ian Masters' vocals sound much weaker without the reverb and harmonies.
― the salacious inaudible (Nasty, Brutish & Short), Monday, 17 February 2020 18:25 (four years ago) link
I will never get over how underrated in ribbons is, I really don’t understand it. It’s absolutely perfect. Please don’t say any mean things about it.
― brimstead, Tuesday, 6 April 2021 03:33 (three years ago) link
The Spoonfed Hybrid album sounding magnificent tonight. Grim but partly prompted by reading "Boys In Zinc".
― djh, Tuesday, 15 March 2022 20:15 (two years ago) link
So Ian's newest collaboration Isolated Gate has a full new album out and it's lovely!
https://isolatedgate.bandcamp.com/album/universe-in-reverse
― Ned Raggett, Friday, 17 March 2023 18:08 (one year ago) link
Now that's an intense illustration
― Evan, Friday, 17 March 2023 18:28 (one year ago) link
what's that, my favourite LP out on my birthday?
Pale Saints - In Ribbons 30th Anniversary Expanded Edition4AD0407Disc 1: In Ribbons UK VersionDisc 2: Unreleased Demos & Tintwistle Brass Band Covers Out 6 October 🎀 〰️ https://t.co/8Ea46QtIKx pic.twitter.com/L2pPCHMrqu— 4AD (@4AD_Official) August 30, 2023
― koogs, Wednesday, 30 August 2023 18:59 (eight months ago) link
Nice!
― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 30 August 2023 19:00 (eight months ago) link
Bandcamp preorder link (Bandcamp Friday is about here!)
https://palesaints.bandcamp.com/album/in-ribbons-30th-anniversary-reissue
― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 30 August 2023 19:05 (eight months ago) link
I think those Tintwistle Brass Band tracks came as a 7 inch with the album when it first came out, I know I had them
― Nasty, Brutish & Short, Wednesday, 30 August 2023 21:40 (eight months ago) link
They very much did.
― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 30 August 2023 21:46 (eight months ago) link
Per Discogs: "recorded at Claptons Club, Tinwistle, 23rd February 1992."
― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 30 August 2023 21:47 (eight months ago) link
oh wow, so happy to see this!
― NickB, Wednesday, 30 August 2023 21:50 (eight months ago) link
Oh my God, In Ribbons got a 30th year reissue today!:
https://4ad.com/news/30/8/2023/inribbons30thanniversaryreissue
― Bee OK, Friday, 6 October 2023 20:26 (seven months ago) link
I should have polled it
― Bee OK, Friday, 6 October 2023 20:27 (seven months ago) link
now it will get on all the playlists and tv shows <3
― brimstead, Saturday, 7 October 2023 00:33 (seven months ago) link
kind surprised that it's ian interviewing there, i had him down as some kind of recluse (even though he's been in more post pale saints bands than the others probably by a factor of 5)
― koogs, Friday, 27 October 2023 21:39 (six months ago) link
Ian’s EP Kingdom of Heaven (with Warren Defever under their old ESP Summer name) from a couple of years ago is astonishing. Especially for fans of Pale Saints, if you like to play those “what if Ian stayed for the third album” gamesAlso, the only time I heard of Isolated Gate anywhere (and their stuff is excellent) is on this board, from Ned; not a word anywhere else, not even a side note during press for In Ribbons reissue. No wonder Ian is pissed off about that in the article.
― Xgau Murder Spa (nikola), Saturday, 28 October 2023 02:23 (six months ago) link
♥️
― Bee OK, Saturday, 28 October 2023 03:52 (six months ago) link
time to hit Bandcamp while I still can
― assert (matttkkkk), Saturday, 28 October 2023 08:51 (six months ago) link
Side note: does anyone remember the Institute of Spoons website from ~20 years ago which used to load with an audio file of Ian announcing the name?
― assert (matttkkkk), Saturday, 28 October 2023 08:53 (six months ago) link
that was mostly a Friendly Science website iirc, which seemed to be a label designed to confuse
― koogs, Saturday, 28 October 2023 10:50 (six months ago) link
i mean in that interview Ian complains of things getting boring but if his idea of the alternative to that is this then...
https://www.discogs.com/release/925170-Various-The-Winner-Is-The-Loser
― koogs, Saturday, 28 October 2023 10:55 (six months ago) link
Thanks for sharing that Paste interview! It answered some questions that I had - primarily, why the studio version of "Blue Flower" wasn't on the 30th anniv edition (which was originally a bonus track for the U.S. release). I didn't know Ian didn't want it on the album and didn't think it was that good (I like it - and the Slapp Happy original and the Mazzy Star cover too). I got the CD version of the 30th anniv edition and was frankly a little baffled, thinking "there is plenty of space on the CDs for more bonus tracks!" So that's addressed in the interview:
Paste: Is that part of the reason that that song and the other b-side from the “Throwing Back The Apple” single didn’t get included in this reissue?Ian: I think it was more or less a decision to try and keep to the tracks that were on the original LP, demos of those and the brass band recordings because it would have been too expensive to have a double LP plus 7”. Those may get put on another compilation at some point.
Ian: I think it was more or less a decision to try and keep to the tracks that were on the original LP, demos of those and the brass band recordings because it would have been too expensive to have a double LP plus 7”. Those may get put on another compilation at some point.
Having the non-demo version of "Kinky Love" would have been nice, too - but if they end up putting out another compilation, as Ian mentions, that's cool too.
I also wish the 30th anniv edition booklet had a little more effort go into it - at least, more than just a few (small) photos and three quotes from band members.
― ernestp, Saturday, 4 November 2023 19:58 (six months ago) link
Spoonfed Hybrid album being re-released for Record Store Day with album of demo versions.
― djh, Friday, 16 February 2024 07:43 (two months ago) link
Gonna have to dig out Hibernation Shock this weekend. Found it in a used bin a few years back and have only listened to it once, I think.
― henry s, Saturday, 17 February 2024 00:03 (two months ago) link
Enjoy!
― djh, Saturday, 17 February 2024 10:03 (two months ago) link
Rotten news -- Graeme Naysmith has passed:
― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 16 April 2024 21:43 (three weeks ago) link
RIP! The other day I was just lolling at a silly picture of him someone posted on ig.
― brimstead, Tuesday, 16 April 2024 23:39 (three weeks ago) link
Good, honest post from Ian M. earlier today on FB:
I have a few words I'd like to write at this sad time. Comments are closed. Just read and digest, please. It wasn't a secret that Graeme and I didn't speak after I left Pale Saints. Our musical paths had already diverged. There was no ill feeling between us. It was simply no longer necessary to say any more when music was the only thing that connected us. Even after you stop making music with someone, and cease to know them, you have an unbreakable musical bond with them, because you set aside differences to make that music with them, and that music endures for a longer time. So I'll always respect the bond, a bond which defies comprehension for me, that allowed the 3 of us collaborate to make the music that led to the 1st album, and then the 4 of us to make the 2nd album. Because neither of those albums could have occurred without each member's vital contributions, the unconscious channeling of each musical spirit. A chance meeting that changed our lives.During the time I knew him, Graeme lived for music, and his enthusiasm for it neither wavered nor waned. A true music maniac and aficionado. I never heard him express a desire to do anything else.I send my condolences to all who knew and loved him.
― Ned Raggett, Monday, 22 April 2024 19:10 (two weeks ago) link
Thanks for that, Ned.
― Nasty, Brutish & Short, Monday, 22 April 2024 19:23 (two weeks ago) link