First Utterance

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title: "First Utterance" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1971-debut-albums", "comus-(band)-albums"] topic_path: "arts/music" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Utterance" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::data[format=table title="Infobox album"]

FieldValue
nameFirst Utterance
typestudio
artistComus
coverFirstUtterance.jpg
released1971
recordedNovember–December 1970
studioPye Studios, London
genrePsychedelic folk, progressive folk
length49:17
labelDawn DNLS 3019
producerBarry Murray
next_titleTo Keep from Crying
next_year1974
::

| name = First Utterance | type = studio | artist = Comus | cover = FirstUtterance.jpg | released = 1971 | recorded = November–December 1970 | studio = Pye Studios, London | venue = | genre = Psychedelic folk, progressive folk | length = 49:17 | label = Dawn DNLS 3019 | producer = Barry Murray | prev_title = | prev_year = | next_title = To Keep from Crying | next_year = 1974 First Utterance is the first studio album by the English progressive folk band Comus. It was released in 1971, with "Diana" being released as a single.

First Utterance was notable for its unique blend of progressive rock, folk, psychedelia, and themes of paganism and the macabre. The overall tone of the album is of vulnerable innocence facing abusive power, with songs dealing with such themes as necrophilia ("Drip Drip"), rape ("Diana", "Song to Comus") and shock therapy ("The Prisoner").

References to Comus by other bands and artists include Opeth, citing its lyrics in album and song titles and tattoos. Current 93 covered "Diana" as the opening song on their 1997 LP Horsey.

Artwork

The cover artwork was drawn in ball point pen by Roger Wootton, lead singer and songwriter of the band. The centerfold artwork was painted by guitarist Glenn Goring.

Reception and legacy

| rev1 = Allmusic | rev1Score =
| rev2 = Crawdaddy! | rev2Score = (very favorable) | rev3 = Tiny Mix Tapes | rev3score =
Contemporary reception was positive, with NME praising the album's "highly unusual but fascinating sound" and Time Out calling it "unique". However, sales were limited and the band dissolved after the album's release. Early biographies of Comus stated that a postal strike was one of the reasons that the album did poorly; however, none have provided an explanation for how a postal strike would have affected one particular album's sales.

The Wire included it on their 1998 list of "100 Records That Set The World On Fire [When No One Was Listening]", calling it "folk rock at its most delirious, devilish, and dynamic." In 2014, FACT Magazine ranked it the 22nd best album of the 1970s, writing:

::quote Based in Kent, Comus specialised in ingenious hokum: squawking tales of torture, pagan worship, zephyrs and psychotics. Unsurprisingly, they barely made a commercial ripple [...], but from the twanging fiddles and eldritch voices of ‘Diana’ onwards, First Utterance is both unapologetically weird and commendably self-assured. It’s extremely – and sometimes off-puttingly – mannered, but if you’re looking for the square root of the mid-2000s freak-folk explosion, this is it. ::

Track listing

|headline=Side one |title1=Diana|length1=4:37|writer1= Colin Pearson |title2=The Herald|length2=12:15|writer2=Andy Hellaby, Glen Goring, Roger Wootton |title3=Drip Drip|length3=10:56|writer3=Wootton}} |headline=Side two |title4=Song to Comus|length4=7:31|writer4=Wootton |title5=The Bite|length5=5:27|writer5= Wootton |title6=Bitten|length6=2:16|writer6= Hellaby, Pearson |title7=The Prisoner|length7=6:15|writer7= Wootton}} |headline=Digital release |title8=All the Colours of Darkness|length8=7:21|writer8= Pearson |total_length=56:38}}

Personnel

  • Roger Wootton – acoustic guitar, lead vocals, cover art
  • Glenn Goring – 6- and 12-string acoustic guitars, electric guitar, slide guitar, hand drums, backing vocals
  • Andy Hellaby – bass guitar, slide bass, backing vocals
  • Colin Pearson – violin, viola
  • Rob Young – flute, oboe, hand drums
  • Bobbie Watson – lead and backing vocals, percussion

Production

  • Comus – arrangements
  • Barry Murray – producer
  • Jeff Calver – recording, engineer

References

References

  1. [http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~rneckmag/comus.html ''A Million Fleshy Things: The Songs Of Comus''] – by Chris Blackford
  2. {{AllMusic. Richie. Unterberger
  3. [https://web.archive.org/web/20090217040238/http://crawdaddy.wolfgangsvault.com/article.aspx?id=1612 Album Review], Crawdaddy!.
  4. [http://www.tinymixtapes.com/music-review/comus-first-utterance Comus – First Utterance. Music Review. Tiny Mix Tapes]
  5. Wells, David. (2005). "Song to Comus; the Complete Collection". Sanctuary Records Group.
  6. "100 Records That Set The World On Fire [When No One Was Listening]".
  7. (14 July 2014). "The 100 best albums of the 1970s".

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1971-debut-albumscomus-(band)-albums