Chrome: C or D?

I now have my DELUXE EDITION 500 Chrome Box: Matt black cardboard gift box, stickered front and back, three CDR flimsy CDR-style cases with one-sheet folded over liners; cover art made from photoshop superimpositions of the LP covers AND . . a free black and white sticker!

The music still sounds great, though.

I will bring you copies of the Noiseville remasters next time I see you.

what else is on that cleopatra box besides alien soundtracks and half machine lip moves?

o wait no "nova feedback" no sale

I love every track on The Visitation / AS / HMLP / Red Exposure -- the box is good as it's the only place you can get the 'Read Only Memory' ep, their tracks from the 'Subterranean Modern' comp, a few singles & b-sides & live excerpts... and it's got all I need from the later albums

Xpost Aldo - cheers mate! Got the Noiseville "3rd . ." which is mighty fine.

As for the box, ST 37 is the most baffling omission for me.

I have an original Chrome Box on vinyl, straight from Subterranean. At best, I'd say I might have listened to the Chronicles, 1 & 2 a couple times. They're basically one long whoosh of space jam with little variation. In the style of Third from the Sun but monotonous and not nearly as good.

No Humans Allowed is OK as noise and pastiche. Decades ago I thought "I Am the Jaw" was neat, a real room clearer. I was much younger, though.

Blood on the Moon -- the title track and "Insect Human" are good.

Which leaves the two unequivocal stars of the show: Alien Soundtracks and Half Machine Lip Moves.

However, for the best Chrome experience I rely on those two and Third from the Sun. Together, they pack the most wallop per minute and Noiseville furnishes them.

That said, The Chrome Box on Cleopatra is a good price and a reasonable shuffle of Chrome's best period. For example, it includes the strongest material from Third from the Sun -- an album not included in the old box. At this point I would part with my original. But it always included LPs which were the equivalent of filler, rare filler, granted. That was the nature of the Chrome beast.

Had Red Exposure and listened to it a lot when I was into the more straight bleak noise side of Chrome. Can't say I miss it. Apparently Beggars Banguet didn't either.

well Gorge, if you ever want to sell me your Chrome LP box I promise it will remain in good hands and be played on the radio at regular intervals.

I am a pretty big fan of the Chronicles, something about the stretched-out format really works for me. This is my biggest disappointment with the CD box, in that it drastically edits these tracks which IMO are better served by long buildups.

It and a short interview were the basis for a Chrome cover story for an old fanzine I did way back in -- hmmm -- '82, I guess. I no longer have the 'zine but the box has stayed with me all these years. It was really ambitious for its time. A six-record vinyl box set for Chrome in 1982 or so! The first Chrome vinyl I saw that actually made it into a chain store -- the old Listening Booth in my neck of the woods -- was Third from the Sun. Everything else I either got through mail order or at a funky place in State College, PA, which I don't even remember the name of.

This is undoubtedly the creepiest thing I've ever posted to the internet, but, Gorge . . any chance you could post some pics of that original boxset?

I'll make some scans later today. There's not much to see. Chrome and Subterranean definitely took the stark and cryptic approach. I guess the idea was if you bought it, you already knew all you had to.

first time I heard of chrome was when a sound choice reviewer compared my band to them in '87. went on the hunt for chrome stuff and could never find any. then touch and go reissued alien soundtracks in '90 and I discovered that the comparison was quantitatively sound but qualitatively invalid. we were no chrome!

uh what was your band?

totally obscure & forgotten

With that name, I'm not surprised.

"TOAF, to use their noted acronym..."

Is that how your allmusic entry for them starts?

A reissue of the Lyon concert boot would be nice at this point.

I haven't heard Chrome yet. Almost bought the original Chrome Box (CD version) the other day, but I held off briefly and it was gone the next day. Wish I'd picked it up now!

So the Chrome Box is only £10 + shipping on Amazon marketplace now - if I already have the T&G Alien Soundtracks/Half Machine CD and Red Exposure on vinyl, would I be better off buying the Chrome Box or just get Blood On The Moon separately? What are the bonus tracks like? Anything essential from singles/comp tracks or whatever that's not on the individual albums? Anyone care to break down exactly what's on the box and what's missing from the box?

Don't have time to break it down, but you also get most of 'Third from the Sun', singles, compilation tracks and bits of Chronicles. So, better to have a complete set of original vinyls of course, but for a tenner, I'm happy.

I broke down and picked one up. yeah it's worth it. I've been planning to set down and figure out what is and isn't on there from the albs, but as milton pointed out above the ep/singles/odds & ends are not filler. I'm thinking that between this and the noiseville alien soundtracks I'm pretty well set. if it's true that cleopatra only pressed 500 then you should probably hop on it.

also, why didn't anybody tell me how awesome red exposure is?

who besides me thinks we need a ts: alien soundtracks vs. half machine lip moves thread

Go for it.

Also:

also, why didn't anybody tell me how awesome red exposure is?

I did! Well, over here.

Chrome box is:

missing 4 Alien Soundtracks tracks

missing "Critical Mass from HMLM

missing "Room 101" and "Night Of The Earth" from Red Exposure

all 3 tracks from Subterranean Modern comp LP!!!

excerpt from "Read Only Memory", also has "The Manifestation Of The Idea" from that same EP

"information" 7" B-side

In A Dream/Dangerzone 12"

missing "The Strangers" from Blood On The Moon

1 non-LP "Instrumental"

has all of "Third From The Sun" except it has the 7" single version of "Firebomb", approx. 1 minute shorter.

then it has drastically edited versions of all the Chronicles tracks.

But I like The Strangers :(

I guess it is worth getting for the singles tracks and Third From The Sun then, esp for £10.

red exposure sounds like a joy division record made by maximalists

it was only recently that I realized the cover of 3rd from the sun is not a drawing of some weird alien, but is a lion door knocker with cut out eyes pasted over it.

http://www.staticwhitesound.com/chrome/discography/300x300/3rdFromSun_Siren.JPG

so has anybody been to one of those helios creed's chrome shows yet? tour's coming to boston next week.

I saw it a couple of years ago.
I found it kind of lacking. The band is pretty annoying, especially the drums. They used some graphic projections that may have been impressive to someone who's never seen a computer before. Helios Creed was hella stoned, though, which was a nice effort. I'm not big on reunion shows, however loosely that term can be applied to the Helios Creed plays Chrome thing.
It's just impossible to reproduce what I love about those Chrome records on stage, I think.

They never really were a live act, though the Lyon Concert boot is pretty good IIRC. Saw Helios solo live back in the 90's, and he was great. I'd basically drop whatever I was doing and go see them anywhere I could afford to get to.

i'm probably going this friday

I opened for them twice in '98 or so. They were not good then. I'm sure they are no better now. Some things are best in your imagination. Or memory. Or whatever.

from '07

the projections are funny. they look like that visualizer thing that itunes has

http://cgi.ebay.com/CHROME-Alien-Soundtracks-cassette-unreleased-tracks_W0QQitemZ350102483040QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item350102483040&_trkparms=39%3A1|66%3A2|65%3A1|240%3A1318&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

OW! If Helios has any more of this stuff in a box under his bed, I want to hear it

wonder if these tracks will come out

I'm excited that there is unreleased material from this period, but I don't know if there's enough interest for a proper release, and given the complex history of the band, I wouldn't be surprised if a lot has been lost. I'd be curious to know if Helios is aware of this auction, and if he has anything to say about it.

milton linked to another tape at some point that had longer versions of some AS tracks, wonder if these are the same.

There are 25 second samples on the auction listing, sound like totally new songs. Of course, they could just be different intros. Never could tell where Chrome were going to take things.

looks like it could be the same, compare the order of the new songs & older songs on the cassette with this:

http://www.staticwhitesound.com/chrome/discography/Ultra_Soundtrack.htm

I want to hear

"Unfortunately, this copy (the only one known to exist) was re-recorded over the first 5 minutes with some folk music, destroying most of the first 2 tracks."

Hippy bastards! Still, sounds like that cassette could be a complete version of this,

The staticwhitesound discography is terrific. I have an ancient cassette of the Chromasome Damage bootleg - nice to have David Tibet's confirmation that the intro and outro are old Crowley recordings.

As for the Ultra Soundtrack tape, has anyone ever thought to ask the Mitchell brothers what the story is?

the second one died in 2007, so we can't ask them.

perhaps there's an unreleased interview somewhere...

milton linked to another tape at some point that had longer versions of some AS tracks, wonder if these are the same.

okay, I kinda need to hear this

here are those alien soundtracks demo mp3s from the ebay auction zipped up for yr delectation in case they never see the light of day again

http://www.sendspace.com/file/abu6pc

that tape went for cheap, only $810, wondered if they threw in free shipping