Named in honour of a biblical JG Ballard short about wayward child prodigies, Comsat Angels bustled with difference from their peers. Signed to Polydor after just one 1979 single – the original cowbell-heavy ‘Red Planet’ (where they were billed, awkwardly, as the Com-Sat Angels), the moody Sheffield band arguably suffered from having little affinity with the other tribes of the time (bar Joy Division) and being illegible for the independent charts, despite plenty of warm press coverage. While one-off A-Side ‘Do The Empty House’ tapped into the beautifully bleak melancholia of their second LP Sleep No More – an ironic title for one of the early 80s most slept-on guitar doozies – its B-side doubled down on their opening gambit’s groovy sci-fi strangeness, singer Stephen Fellows sombre burr making improbable claims of whizzing around Mars in his jam jar over heavy-heavy drums (apparently placed near the studio’s elevator shaft for maximum echo). Atmospheric with a capital A, ‘Red Planet Revisited’ was originally issued as a both straight B-side and as the A-side of a double single pack (on a one-sided disc) – bizarrely, the former is more valuable. And while it remains a cult listen, for those who know it captures these wayward Angels at their peak.