Confessions of a Jonny Come Lately

Well. I thought I would put up a word or two to get the ball rolling on the shiny new Comus website, even though I'm the new boy in the band.

I've been perplexed about how I missed Comus first time round, and how I missed the point again when I subsequently heard 'First Utterance' about four years ago.

As I've mentioned elsewhere, I picked the album up in 1972, and put it straight back down again, unable to overcome, what struck me at the time as, the rather repellent cover art.

When I subsequently heard the album (some thirty years later!), I entirely failed to get past the shockingly bad production, and took it off after a (very) cursory listen.

So I breathed a bit of a sigh when I stepped in as Rob Young's replacement on flootie and bongolettes last year, realising that I was going to have to subject myself to the album again to learn the parts.

I put 'First Utterance' on the car stereo, gritted my teeth, and prepared to listen.......

It took a few plays, but I began to get past the surface, and I began to hear the songs.

I remembered Chris, the band's manager, telling to me that the album got nowhere near capturing the energy of Comus live, and I wondered about the rehearsals that were scheduled to take place soon.

And it was during the rehearsals that I really, finally 'got' the Comus thing; the depth, strength and originality of the material and the energy, commitment and sheer bloody charisma of the band in full spate.

So, to all of you who got the whole Comus thing long before I did, I offer my humble salutations and hope that you enjoy the new website!

Jon