Comus - Diana

From the album First utterance, The band was named after Comus, a masque by John Milton and is also from the name of the Greek god Comus. David Bowie appreciated them and used them as support band for a 1969 concert at London's Purcell Rooms.[1]

Their first album, First Utterance, appeared in 1971. The music is largely acoustic art rock that blends elements of Eastern percussion, early folk and animal-like vocals. The music evokes many feelings, but the most dominant are fear, confusion, despair, with occasional passages of tranquil beauty such as can be found in "The Herald". The lyrics are dramatic, involving violence, murder, rape, and mental disorder. Apart from three tracks on First Utterance ("The Herald", "Diana" and "Bitten"), most of the songs were written by Roger Wootton and arranged by Glenn Goring. The group disbanded after this album, but they reunited with new members for their second album, which was to be their swansong, To Keep from Crying, in 1974.

In 2005, a complete box set was released which featured both studio albums, their only single, "Diana", and a previously unreleased track called "All the Colours of Darkness". The liner notes feature an exclusive interview with some members of the band. They reformed for the Mellotronen Festival in Sweden in March 2008. According to their website, they have reformed and are working on new material.
In 1998, Opeth singer and songwriter Mikael Åkerfeldt used a part of a sentence from "Drip Drip" for the title of the album My Arms, Your Hearse. The full line was "As I carry you to your grave, my arms your hearse".

Another nod to Comus was given on the 2005 Opeth album, Ghost Reveries. The second track "The Baying of the Hounds" was derived from a line in the song "Diana" which reads "And she knows by the sound of the baying, by the baying of the hounds".

English experimental band Current 93 covered the song "Diana" from First Utterance on their studio album Horsey. Musically this version is considerably different from the original, with David Tibet singing the lyrics in an agonizing fashion and constructing most of the song from a loop based around a vertiginous violin arrangement from the original.

Also by Current 93, the early album Earth covers Earth was conceived as a less bizarre (although still unique by Current 93s standard) sequel to First Utterance, sometimes referred as Second Utterance.

Members who performed on First Utterance

* Roger Wootton acoustic guitar, lead vocals
* Glenn Goring 6-12 acoustic guitar, electric guitar, slide, hand drums, vocals
* Andy Hellaby fender bass, slide bass, vocals
* Colin Pearson violin, viola
* Rob Young flute, oboe, hand drums
* Bobbie Watson vocals, percussion

[edit] Members who performed on To Keep from Crying

* Roger Wootton acoustic guitar, lead vocals
* Andy Hellaby fender bass, slide bass, vocals
* Bobbie Watson vocals, percussion
* Lindsay Cooper bassoon, oboe
* Philip Barry percussion
* Gordon Coxon drums
* Didier Malherbe saxophone
* Keith Hale keyboards
* Tim Kraemer cello