Chameleons : Classic or Dud

So the Big Takeover bash was frickin' awesome - loads of great bands, I never thought I'd have the stamina to watch 16 bands in two days but it never got tiresome or boring! Mark Burgess brought the house down with a fantastic set, just pumping out energy and emotion. He's on tour now, go see him! Dates here: http://www.myspace.com/chameleonsvox

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MprCSzBIexw

Mark Burgess reveals himself a bit of a conspiracy theorist in his bio on http://www.myspace.com/chameleonsvox :

I believe that the murders of John F. Kennedy, his brother Robert Kennedy and the Rev. Martin Luther King were the result of meticulously orchestrated conspiracies involving members of the Mafia, disgruntled extremists, powerful right wing industrialists and certain government agencies that are basically fascist in nature, rather than by alienated or mentally disturbed “lone-nuts”; and that some of the people involved in one or more of these crimes still hold positions of influence today.

Finally I believe that the official explanation offered for the 9/11 tragedy, that the buildings fell due to impact from passenger jets that had been hijacked by a mythical international terrorist network using box-knives as weapons is not supported by a significant amount of evidence and by witness testimony, including that provided by many of the surviving rescue teams that were in the buildings when they started to collapse; and that a full, objective and politically independent enquiry into this tragedy is long overdue.

Hmmm.

To be fair this strain of thinking of his has been fairly constant over the years and has surfaced at many points -- a song like "Up the Down Escalator," for instance ("Now they can erase us/At the flick of a switch"). Disappointing, but not surprising.

Yeah, this stuff is vexing. Didn't get the book because I (somewhat unfairly) assumed it would be full of this sort of nonsense.

Wow, I really had no idea, but I guess I never looked into it. I think for the sake of my future enjoyment of Chameleons records I probably never will. I'd always assumed he was singing about something higher (and IMO higher-minded) than government conspiracies.

I try not to let a songwriter's outside beliefs color my perception of their music too much, but it really does. I don't think I'd be anywhere near as in love with the latest Church record, for instance, if there were reason to believe those abstract lyrics were disguised references to 9/11 being an inside job.

I think my response to that side of Burgess is basically "What on earth are you talking about?"

More than anything I'm just miffed at the whole 'ChameleonsVox' thing -- throughout the nineties he never toured as anything but a solo or separate group name, and when the reunion happened it was actually all four of them, straight up.

Talking of ChameleonsVox, these have only just gone up on Youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzkgCbLG_Dg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYrQWrDMz8M

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IECGYm1mLq4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axlh3RjBR2Q

Don't want to offend anyone here but...

PRETTY FUCKING SWEET!!!

More footage I've not seen before, but this is classic stuff - 'Splitting In Two' off Spanish TV:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vfyz0rnuixQ

Mark Burgess reveals himself a bit of a conspiracy theorist in his bio on http://www.myspace.com/chameleonsvox :

Coincidentally Rescue Mission, the band that opened for Bird, the recent Mark Burgess project, on their US tour a couple years ago, has a band full of conspiracy theorists as well. I've had a couple odd discussions w/ those guys about 9/11 conspiracies, that ridiculous film Loose Change, as well as JFK stuff and general government distrust to a ridiculous degree. Not surprised at Burgess, I've heard the same from him before...

You lot forgot the coda to his Myspace ramblings:

"You of course are entirely free to believe whatever you choose based upon your own research, experiences and insights, which is precisely as it should be."

OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMG

xx 12:45 am
hey
crutis stephens 1:04 am
hey
what's up?
xx 1:04 am
Hey, you know "Don't Fall" by the Chameleons?
crutis stephens 1:05 am
yup!
xx 1:05 am
That "In the autumn before his winter" quote?
crutis stephens 1:05 am
yeh
xx 1:05 am
I found which movie that's from
crutis stephens 1:05 am
REALLY?????
xx 1:05 am
Two Sisters From Boston
crutis stephens 1:05 am
omg
this is vital information
xx 1:05 am
The young man is talking to his mother about his father
Really old movie

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ask them whether they think they're taking goth-rock forward in 2010

Hmm, handy. I'd half heard they'd found out the movie a while back but maybe that was just a guess. Is there a clip anywhere?

Classic - Beyond all shadow of doubt!
As for the drumming, you only have to watch any early live footage to see and hear how competent it was. I must admit, some of the production on the drums should have replicated the live feel and sound on the actual albums, as they can sound slightly flat.

I have to say that I rate the Chameleons as one of my 5 all time fave' bands.

Hmm, handy. I'd half heard they'd found out the movie a while back but maybe that was just a guess. Is there a clip anywhere?

Dunno whether this is the famous Raggett irony kicking in but obv. the clip is on this very thread a dozen posts back if anyone is interested.

Chameleons : Classic or Dud

Hahah well there ya go.

It is an interesting quote once you see that it's a son talking about his father. Aging, nostalgia, recapturing lost youth - these seem to be topics that Burgess visits again and again. I remember reading what he wrote about 'Intrigue In Tangiers':

the lyrics came from frequent visits to a home for retired service men called Broughton House, in Salford Manchester, were I'd often go to visit my grandfather. It made me very aware of my own relative youth and how precious my time was. There was one chap there, a former seaman in the merchant navy, who was bound to a wheelchair and likened his life there to being buried alive. I use to take him some hash whenever I went over and he'd sit in his chair, getting stoned and watching TV. He'd call them "funny cigarettes." He used to talk of all these far-away exotic sounding places he'd visited, like Tangier.

Those visits must have made a huge impression on him - does he talk about them much in his book? It's a beautiful and sad subject.

I was just listening to "In Shreds" and my husband asked why I was listening to black metal. "It sounds like the new Enslaved..."

I've become obsessed with the song "Free For All", up to the point to consider that this actually is the best song of the Chameleons.
Naturally I have experienced much with "Swamp Thing", "Second Skin", "Lufthansa", "Soul in Isolation" "Monkeyland" or "Intrigue in Tangiers" for instance, but "Free For All" has happened to be (for me) the most lyrical performance of Burgess, as though he was in a desesperate run for his life, surrounded by these parade of clowns, and calling for help.

I'd like your opinions about that matter, that is, how do you consider this song as it was never mentionned in the posts above. Thanks

as though he was in a desesperate run for his life, surrounded by these parade of clowns, and calling for help

If you know anything about Mark, you'd realize you've nailed it straight away.

I'm rubbish at song titles, so I had to re-listen to it to remind me what song it was. Sounds like an attack on demagoguery and a rejection ('I don't believe in you') of the endless parade of saviours/clowns that have appeared throughout the course of history (the turning wheel?). It's also obviously having a pop on the masses that would welcome such a figure (the 'empty heads' that 'bow down'), who can't see through this 'joke reality' like what Birdy can. I kind of find his critique here a bit sixth form-ish tbh, and the sheep bleats at the end of the chorus don't do a lot to help. But yeah, there is (as ever) something about Burgess's sense of alienation which I find pretty affecting.

I think he does a lot more for me when he's talking about childhood/the passage of time etc rather than when he's getting into political analysis, cos that's when he starts wandering off down the path of paranoid crazytalk imo.

that's true for most musicians re: political analysis

& i agree!

Thanks for the answer. I must admit that I pay less attention to the exact contents of lyrics : being french but english speaking, I do understand the lyrics without the meaning coming straight to my understanding. I'm almost done with the book from Burgess "View From A Hill", and he said that he had been inspired by the american presidential elections at the time for the sing.
As I expected, "Free For All" was only a temporary frenzy, followed by "Paradiso".

would The Chameleons Vox be worth catching on the upcoming tour?

If you've never seen Mark perform Chameleons songs, yes, because he can be a hell of a performer -- but if you were lucky enough to catch the Chameleons reunion tour (and I realize that it's almost a decade old by now -- yipes!), I'd not be so eager. Having seen the Chams a total of four times and Mark solo in various configurations even more, Chameleons songs can really only be played by the original four straight up; there's something always lacking otherwise. The except is when Mark does solo acoustic performances, those are often remarkable precisely because they don't and can't try to compete with the original arrangements.

hm, that's what I was thinking... well, having never had the chance to catch 'em in the past, I'll prob check it out anyways. will just have to make sure I set my expectations for what it is. thx

Thought I'd share this for any ILX Chameleons fans (of which there are many).

New limited vinyl remaster of 'Script of the Bridge'.

http://www.blueapplemusic.co.uk/chameleondetails/chamREF121.html

Strictly limited to 1000 numbered copies worldwide, The Chameleons seminal debut album ‘Script of the Bridge’ has been restored and re-mastered for vinyl at Abbey Road Studios, London.

The gatefold package contains two heavyweight (180g) vinyl discs and also includes a cd, produced without the use of a ‘limiter’, which greatly increases the dynamic range of the recordings.

The restoration project was undertaken by production team Guy Massey and Steve Rooke, who received a Grammy Award last year for their work on the Beatles Box Set. Guy Massey quotes Script of the Bridge as an influential album on his career.

This is the first time that Script of the Bridge has been made available as a ‘double album’. By dividing the tracks onto two 12” discs, the sound quality greatly increases with none of the compression that hampered the original Chameleons vinyl.

Working from original studio tapes, the production pair painstakingly restored the album song by song, to create what the band believe is the truest reflection of how the recordings were meant to be.

The gatefold sleeve features exclusive new artwork by The Chameleons guitarist Reg Smithies.

Consider me in!

Indeed.

http://24.media.tumblr.com/c1e3720f0aa99954417a003a1786b987/tumblr_mj52eoKFnI1qar3r2o1_1280.jpg

Bi-zarre!

Allegedly, Mark, John Lever and two other guys have formed ChameleonsVox and will be releasing a new album, "Eden", this spring. There's one track floating in the aether from a radio session.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lfkjW1iKCc

A new Mark interview

http://www.drownedinsound.com/in_depth/4147553-dis-meets-mark-burgess-from-the-chameleons

He'll never make anything good with Yves.

Why do you say that?

Because everything he's done with him has felt half-baked and weak. Maybe I'm being hard on Yves, it's also possible Mark can no longer handle constructive criticism and so surrounds himself with people who tell him everything he does is great. I don't know for sure, but "Paradyning" is mostly bad, Invincible has one redeeming tune and the new EP is forgettable. Whereas "Zima Junction" is wonderful and "Why Call It Anything" is underrated, suffering only because the first three records are some immense. I want to believe Mark has one great album left in him but at this point, probably not.

Okay, ouch.

I kind of lump Zima Junction and Paradyning together — both solid 3.5 star albums. But I love the Invincible album; maybe even more than Why Call it Anything.

The semi-official live album from the Paradyning tour is very good, as well.

they're playing script of the bridge at my local pub
but it's £16 :( and i'm second skint
down the up price guys

i'm going to go and see them play here. how could i not? 30 years of listening to the chameleons and i've still never seen them live

this is very silly:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vasr1_sJV1A

Definitely go see them live! But I wish Mark would expand his focus beyond Script, as great as that album is, and give some love to the rest of his work.

That is a silly clip but, jeez, his words still penetrate. "Nothing's forever, some things rearrange the scheme of things" - a simple insight but what we all need to hear sometimes.

http://devonrecordclub.com/2014/06/10/the-chameleons-strange-times-round-68-robs-choice/

Mark Burgess autobiography, View From A hill, about to be reissued.

We're very proud to announce the imminent publication of a newly-edited and augmented edition of View From A Hill. It has been produced with Mark's blessing and co-operation, and will be available in the UK and Europe in mid-late November.

You can make pre-orders here and they will reach you in time for Christmas: http://mittenson.com/vfah.html

There will be a kindle edition available at the same time, and we will make the paperback available in other parts of the world too. Please contact us for details of these, and with any questions - i✧✧✧@mitten✧✧✧.c✧✧.