COMEDY OF ERRORS

Well you know, usually I don't like such a derivative Neo Progressive School very much, this time being in the vein of Abel Ganz and Pallas, even though this new line-up of Comedy of Errors here improved their artistic impact in comparison to the weak demos of the early eighties... the present studio album is dated 1988 and it's another direct emanation from the Scottish Abel Ganz. Don't get me wrong, I don't want to criticize their project, but rather I'd like to point out a few defects and some good things as well: first of all the production is better than the uneven recordings of their previous works; secondly the sound is more mature and quite interesting too; nevertheless the presence of an habitual reference concerning the early Genesis, a bit affected by their interest for Pallas, it's a defect inside the music of C. of E., that is a forced manner of emulating the British model of Neo Prog... "The Student Prince - Part 1 (omitted)" is a typical example of their failed attempt regarding an organic development of a mini-suite; while "Rule Britannia" is a gift to Peter Gabriel & the early Genesis during the show of "Dancing with the Moonlight Night", where the term "Britannia" appeared in their old gigs as a reference to the traditional British culture, in the place of Great Britain...but coming back to the present work, this was the last effort before the definitive break-up of C. of. E., perhaps cause of their awareness to be out of time, especially nowadays in the UK where unfortunately the sound of many pop bands like Oasis (except on the pretty successful impact of the commercial but quite good ensemble of Coldplay...) has been always the prevailing trend within the world of the current light music in Europe.

For their collectors only!

I bought this cd despite the only review existing and a rating of 2! Well, imagine my surprise, when I discovered non only a tipical sounding prog record of the eighties, but a really good one too! Besides the obvious keybords sounds, which by the way are absolutely necessary to bring out the typical new-wave-of-british-prog feel, the songs are really nice, well crafted and well played. I like the voice of the singer very much! Oh my God, I just realized that this record is almost 20 years old! Anyway, if you like bands like Arena, Pendragon, Pallas, IQ, don't miss the chance to add this one to your collection...It's a jump in the past, and it's worth it every minute.

If you skip through my reviews, you’ll find that I like that kind of Neo-Prog. It’s usually poorly recorded (half-true here), Pop/Pop- Rock inspired (pretty true here) and hardly known even to the majority of Prog-lovers (very true here!). There are bands like ARAGON, ABEL GANZ, TWELFTH NIGHT, some early IQ, PALLAS and PENDRAGON releases, projects like SHADOWLAND and CASINO etc. I always wondered why I fell in love with such bands, because I dislike AOR (which is frequently confused with these bands) and have no mania for 80s Pop/Pop-Rock stuff. Anyway, here is another one; obscure British band with sound and manner similar to early IQ and MARILLION. Tracks like “Rule Britannia”, “The Student Prince” and “Stage of Fools” are stand-out ones, reminding me of best moments from above-mentioned bands. Shorter numbers like “Emperor’s Clothes”, “Tunes of Glory” and “Once in a While” (what a ballad!) have lower record quality, but musically quite good too. I think this is a posthumous result of band’s activity (there are some notable differences in quality and playing through the whole album), and I’d love to see them continue! Highly recommended, because I believe there are some people like me who appreciate such kind of music; others should give it a try.

From the depths of obscurity surfaces this gem of a neo-prog record, an eponymous album by a band called "Comedy of Errors". I personally like the style, reminiscent of early IQ and Marillion, and am somewhat of an aficionado of underrated and overlooked records. So needless to say, I was greatly interested in this particular piece of music when I found it here on ProgArchives.

The record itself can be divided into two parts, coming from two different record sessions. The differences between them, however, come not from the style and musical direction, but simply from sound quality. While the first five tracks have obviously been remastered, the second five apparently are translated from LP, instead from the master tracks. To some, this may diminish the experience. On the other hand, it further adds to the 'obscurity' factor - let's not forget that even in the remasters of "In the court of the crimson king" there is a significant amount of noise.

The music is memorable, the band being in good form and synchrony. The songs vary from pretty good to great, with "Emperor's Clothes", "Once in a While" and "The Student Prince, pt 1" standing out. The lyrics in most cases are quite literate, as the band's name would suggest. In particular, the opening track made quite an impression on me.

It's a pity this band never made it, as it is obvious here that with better production and some tweaks this would have stood next to "Script for a Jester's tear" and "The Wake". As it is, it's somewhere around Twelfth Night's "Fact and Fiction". Is this a good record showing much promise or a flawed masterpiece? You decide. For the obscurity factor, I chose the latter and gave it full score.

From the depth of obscurity comes a british neo prog band formed in mid '80's in Glasgow named very suggestive Comedy of errors. I heared about this band , I guess 2 years ago, since then I've tried to get some of their works but without luck, utill 2 weeks ago when one of the most important members from PA help me with this relase.. On Musea records is an album of the band with same name , but is the mini album released in 1986, the pieces from there are featuring here on this more like a compilation from 1988. So about the music of this underrated band, this neo prog of the highest calibre, not because they have very complex compositions, but because they are unique in sound and in manner of interpretation. I mean the keyboards are absolutly killer on some pieces, the first three tracks are essential to listen, Emperor's Clothes, Rule Britannia and Tunes Of Glory, such positive attitude, up tempo arrangements and solid musicianship I hardly heared on a neo prog band from the '80's. They don't sound like Marillion at all, not even the singer , they are more towards Iq and It Bites, that special atmosphere combined here and there with some more popish elements. In the end a highly recommended album of this unnoticed band from UK neo prog scene. They didn't hit big time, strange because this release is a worthy purchase for sure.4 star esy, excellent work.

Comedy Of Errors are a Scottish based neo-prog band formed in 1984 who originally existed with various minor line-up changes until 1989. They recorded a demo called "Ever Be The Prize" in 1985, and more songs were developed and released as a mini album in 1986. Another demo tape called "24 Hours" was then prepared in November 1987, and this was later combined with the mini album to form the band's only (self-titled) CD originally released under the French MSI label in 1988. The style is typical 80s style keyboard oriented AOR(ish!) in the main, but some of the instrumental passages have more complex progressive leanings similar to several other neo-prog bands of that era - notably Abel Ganz.

The CD seems to have been a fairly low-budget production, being a direct transfer from vinyl rather than genuine master tapes, with these early versions also having a pressing error so that the song "The Student Prince, Part I" was replaced by a demo-quality version of another song on the album, "Behold The Knight". The cover shown here appears to be from a different version of the CD than the original French one - whether the omission of the final track was ever corrected, I don't know. Despite these minor drawbacks the songs that ARE present are all very listenable, with excellent melodic compositions and decent musicianship throughout, albeit somewhat light on the progressive side in places.

"Emperors Clothes" is a straightforward driving 4 minute rock track which although pleasant, doesn't really come to life until a minute or so before the end when the lead guitar is introduced. It ends very suddenly too! "Rule Britannia" is a longer track (nearly 8 minutes) which starts very slowly and melodically with no drums, but gradually turns into a rock number similar to the first one until later on when there are some subtle changes of tempo to make things a little more interesting. It also has a much better ending than the first track. "Tunes Of Glory" is another out and out standard rock number, pleasant throughout & with a pretty decent guitar solo midway, though the lyrics are somewhat repetitive. "Seventeen" follows on in the same vein for most of the first four minutes, but then slows down for a while before picking up again, introducing some brief guitar "noodling" towards the end. "Stage Of Fools" starts out slowly and promisingly, with some nice atmospherics and organ chords before breaking out into the keyboard-driven rock style of the previous tracks, with a repetitive guitar riff almost throughout - not unpleasant, but nothing to really grab your attention either. "The King Of Kings" is the shortest track on the album at just over three minutes, and is another very pleasant simple rock tune. "Time There Was" is where the album starts to get really interesting. Definitely progressive music here - this is as good as anything IQ did at the time with Paul Menel on vocals, and much more varied than the earlier tracks on the album. Numerous changes in tempo and timbre, a stunning melody line, great musicianship & vocals - the album is worth seeking out for this track alone! "Once In A While" is a slowish tune - as good a ballad as you'll hear anywhere, with a splendid soaring guitar line and a lovely hook. Another fine track indeed! "Behold The Knight" closes the album in fine style too (unless you have found a copy with "The Student Prince Part 1" appended - I believe they DO exist, AND it is good!) Complex time signatures here rather than the basic 4/4 rock of the first five tracks (which were actually the ones from the later "24 Hours" demo tape, recorded at a time when the band were undergoing a shift in direction from their original prog roots).

The big news is that the band have now reformed and released a much more polished and substantial effort called "Disobey", which combines both old and new material with much more of an overall progressive slant. The band's website refers to the new album as their "debut", thus apparently disowning this earlier work - but there is nothing to be ashamed of here! It was certainly worthy of more attention than it got when it was originally released, and it is still available for £9.50 in the "bargain basement" of www.progressive-rockcds.com at the time of writing this review (mid- June 2011). Definitely worth a listen for neo-prog fans, & especially if you have (and like) the new CD - a solid 4 stars for me!

In 1986 Comedy of Errors released a second demo, the ''Mini album'', defining their style, with Rog Patterson from Twice Bitten as producer, while the track ''Time there was'' made it to the V/A ''Exposure'' compilation, and in 1987 another 5-track demo, ''24 hours'', was recorded this time with Barry Henderson on bass in the place of Mark Spalding, who had switched to guitars after the departure of Mike Barnard.The last two demos of the band are combined in the collection ''Comedy of errors'', released in 1988 on MSI.

The first five tracks were together in the ''Mini album'' from 1985 and what actually surprises the listener is the excellent production.All the good ingredients of quality neoprog are here: A good British singer,catchy grooves,melodic guitar work,plenty of energy with keyboardist Jim Johnston recalling often TONY BANKS' symphonicism with his playing,but all tracks have also a definite poppy taste here and there.Closer comparisons are PENDRAGON,TWELFTH NIGHT and compatriots ABEL GANZ.The next five tracks belong to the ''24 hours'' demo and the sound seems not to have been remastered from the master tapes.So,the production is quite underground and raw,while the style differs a little.Now the band sounds a lot like early PALLAS and also QUASAR,this means aggresive neo prog with symphonic elements,haunting vocals,less melody and bombastic synths.Both styles though are enjoyable and recommended.

''Comedy of errors'' is a nice documentary of this relatively unknown act's early days and although the songwriting is not always great and the band' style is not very personal, the result is satisfying to say the least.

As a member of COE it always surprised me that people talk actually about this album from the eighties as if it was an official release by the band. In actual fact we had nothing to do with this. What actually happened was that we had released a minialbum on vinyl. Those who recorded and mixed us then arranged the pressing of the minialbum and they , or the pressing plant, lost the original master. We allowed one of the tracks on this minialbum to be 'taped' from a vinyl copy and released on a French Distributor's compilation. Not great quality. However the same company used more tracks from this minialbum and tracks from a later demo tape called 24 hours (again NOT great quality). As I recall we had nothing to do with this, we received no payment and did not sanction release of this. We do not regard this as a legitimate Comedy Of Errors release. There are some interesting enough bits in the songs but not strong enough that we felt we'd release this ourselves. I'm sure many bands have been treated similarly.Just thought I'd clear that up. As for now we have enough new and unreleased material of greater quality that we wish to record in future albums without having to fall back on the lesser of early material. Especially as in those days we were finding our feet and working on our newer sound,song structure and style eventually culminating years later in our newly released album 'DISOBEY'. Anyone wishing to check out the band Comedy Of Errors would be best directed to the recently released album "DISOBEY' . Regarded as the 'debut' album , it is representative of the band's original take on Neo Prog for current times. Reviews of 'DISOBEY' appear in Prog Archives.

Tunes of glory?

This self-titled 1988 release from Comedy Of Errors is actually not a proper debut album but instead a compilation of demos recorded during the band's early days in the mid 80's. Initially formed in 1984, Comedy Of Errors were struggling to make a name for themselves without much success over the course of a few years in the 80's. After having recorded a couple of shorter demos they quickly faded into oblivion. This present CD compiling some of the band's early recordings was released in 1988 without being sanctioned by the band. Though, many I guess consider this to be the band's debut album.

The music found here is rather typical British Neo-Prog in the style of Pallas and other usual suspects with a bit of a Pop edge. The melodies are generally strong, and the sound quality is not bad even if far from optimal (which is not surprising given that it is demos we're talking about here). This is thus an enjoyable listen. Maybe if the band had been given a proper chance back then, these songs could have been better recorded and developed further into something a bit more potent, but this compilation is not bad as such as it stands.

Interestingly, the band very unexpectedly got back together again in recent years to record a new full length album called Disobey released in 2011 (which the band themselves now consider to be their debut album). While this new album is the best place to discover Comedy Of Errors, this much older release is quite ok. Only one of the songs from this older album reappeared on the recent one - namely, The Student Prince, part 1 (three further parts are featured on Disobey).

Recommended for those with a special interest in the Neo-progressive sub-genre and its history

A collection of demos from this Glasgow band.

Comedy Of Errors lived in the shadows of Abel Ganz and Pallas in the Scottish scene. This is the their debut album. Well, it is not really a studio album either. It is a collection of various demos. Something very obvious when the sound and volumes drops half way through this album.

The music is melodic, song focused neo-prog in the vein of Abel Ganz, Pendragon and Pallas. The vocals and the instrumentations is good.

The quality of the songs are not that impressive though. I cannot see this album adding anything of value to the scene. Let alone my own collection. This is a decent album and that's really it.

2 stars

A group which innovated at the time, where MARILLION, but here especially IQ, PENDRAGON and ARAGON made their hands. A group that missed the wave, while they composed their own tunes, long enough songs with a well proven prog consonance. A group that will take many years to come out of this cult album, essential for me because innovative at the time more than today. Over time, the sounds are a bit outdated but recall this time when the death of the prog movement was announced once again. No titles in particular to note, just a slightly kitsch atmosphere on a sound that still lasts, knowing that the last albums are much stronger.