It's New to Me: To Keep From Crying by Comus (1974)

Detail of the cover illustration of Alaska-Yukon Magazine, May 1909

For a while now, I've been hearing great things about Comus. Emerging from the London underground scene of the late '60s, Comus was one of the original acid folk groups, arguably the most acidic of all acid folk groups. Their classic album First Utterance (1971) makes an immediate impression with its stark, grotesque cover illustration. The album's music matches its cover, a disturbing mix of keening folk melodies, guttural chanting, and instrumental interludes. It's brilliant, but it's easy to see why it wasn't a commercial success and led to Comus's premature demise - personally, I find it very hard to listen to, with the exception of the brilliant 12-minute suite "The Herald". The 2-disc Comus set I got also came with Comus's second album, To Keep From Crying, a quick cash-in reunion record the band made in 1974. But, weirdly, that's the one I find myself going back to again and again.

The brain behind Comus, Roger Wootton, had a dark musical vision but, by the time the band recorded To Keep From Crying, that vision had been heavily compromised. The original lineup had scattered after Comus's original dissolution, so Wootton got a new group together to record a set of songs that was less acid folk than folk rock. Upbeat guitar riffs, sunny harmonies, and glossy production make for a very different sound from First Utterance, but I found that the songs work really well when you don't try to compare them to Comus's previous incarnation. Wootton's quirky voice still blends well with shrill harmony vocalist Bobbie Watson, and their combined tone keeps the songs' pop hooks from sounding too conventional. Regardless, "Down (Like a Movie Star)" and "So Long Supernova" sound more like T. Rex (who Comus opened for in 1971) than the Incredible String Band. Ambient pieces and skewed, loop-heavy balladry keep things interesting without creating the dark, oppressive atmosphere that makes the Comus debut so unique and difficult.

I'm not just repping for To Keep From Crying to be contrarian - I'd never heard anything good about it. People tend to say that it doesn't compare favorably to the band's first record. But I think it's a very underrated album. "Children of the Universe" is as impressive and oddly beautiful as anything from the band's debut - it could use a better-fitting production style, but the melody and particularly the way it builds up to a layered, majestic chorus is really amazing. I think I understand and admire First Utterance for the one-of-a-kind piece of art it is, but the songs on To Keep From Crying deserve some recognition as well, even if Wootton and the band disowned the album as a mistake in the years after its release.

"Children of the Universe" by Comus