Chameleons : Classic or Dud

I have even more appreciation for "Soul In Isolation" after reading Jack London's "The Star Rover", the book the lyrics of the the song are based on.

In side project news, a Reegs reissue is forthcoming:

http://www.myspace.com/thereegsdefinitivecdset

Nice!!!

I know this gets tossed around a lot, but they really were the best at what they did weren't they? It's not often that a band writes songs this good and captures them on record so perfectly. They had prettier guitars than the Smiths, more vivid daydreams & nightmares than the Cure, lightyears more energy than U2...

I know I love 'em.

I've been listening to them a lot lately. Rediscovering What Does Anything Mean... especially. Still not as perfect as Script..., but pretty damn close. It also struck me that Editors try to sound like them a lot. I'm probably the last person who's realised that.

They had (...) more vivid daydreams & nightmares than the Cure

Man I love me some Chameleons but I'll challenge this. I've not heard a Chameleons song as daydream-y as "Let's Go to Bed," "The Lovecats," "Catch," "Friday I'm in Love" or as altogether bleak and torturous as "One Hundred Years," "Siamese Twins," "The Top," "The Kiss" et al.

That is to say, yes, the Chameleons are of course great, but Cure embody those two extremes -- daydreams and nightmares -- a lot better than Burgess & Co. ever did (not that they were necessarily trying for that, of course).

Chameleons vs Cure poll would be a bloodbath of regrets ;)

I mean, I'd probably have to side with The Cure, but for unfair reasons (I first heard The Cure when I was 7, I first heard The Chameleons when I was 20, the former are integrally ingrained in my psyche and the latter are a great fucken band I discovered through ILM)

Hmm. I got into them both at round about the same time -- ie gloomy adolescence -- and while I think the Chameleons have moments of undeniable godlikeness, I wouldn't really put them in the same league as the Cure ... it's not just about daydreams and nightmares, as ilxor so eloquently puts it, but about the range and scope of what they did. Even after all these years, the Cure can still surprise me.

Like with a surprisingly dull, middling new album in 2008 (a handful of tracks aside)? ;-)

Er, well ... I really liked it to begin with ... umm ... yeh, OK.

But it's funny: I've just put on Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me, which is (oddly) the album of theirs I've probably listened to the least, and there's so much going on there -- so much to love -- that I find myself thinking, fuck it, I can forgive the (not insignificant) dross when there's stuff as good as this in there.

Sure, the Chameleons suffer in this comparison by having a much smaller body of work to choose from. But, er ... tough :)

ok I was stretching it w/the Cure

more vivid daydreams & nightmares Echo & the Bunnymen

^^ there we go, works better w/the analogy since the Cure were more eclectic than these other bands

where is the love for what does anything mean, basically?

That's long been my favourite one, apart from the shit poem on the cover.

everyone talks about script and strange times, seemingly ignoring the better album in between. it's not as dark as script, seems more jangly/proto-shoegazery, and seems less straight "rock" than strange times.

yes, it is my favorite as well.

I think it's suffered a little cos it hasn't got a 'Second Skin' or a 'Soul In Isolation' on it, but really, 'Perfume Garden' and 'Intrigue In Tangiers' are two of the most vivid songs that Mark Burgess wrote.

The drummer from the Chameleons is doing a Chameleons tribute band as support to the Comsat Angels in October

"Home Is Where the Heart Is" is where it's @

A Person Isn't Safe Anywhere These Days 12"

comsat angels reunion?

Yes, more details on the Comsat thing please.

Hey I posted about that on here and none of you punks said anything:

Comsat Angels C or D/S&D

should have had that thread bookmarked. oh well. show happened already.

Well apparently more shows coming up so hey.

Yeah I think I will go to the London one. I don't know anybody who was at the Sheffield gig, I read a review linked on the Sleep No More website but the guy said something about how political correctness had gone mad or some shit so I kinda zoned out.

I've heard whispers of an upcoming "reunion" tour of sorts. Not going to be all original members -- Burgess and maybe some of the others, not sure -- but it sound like it'll be a full-on Chameleons setlist thing, which is at least somewhat exciting.

They supported the Comsat Angels last night. I thought it was just the drummer as per the original announcement, but I turned up late and was a bit surprised to see Burgess there singing Soul in Isolation. Ended with Second Skin and did the Please Please Me thing over the coda, it was neat. He introduced them as "John Lever's Second Skin", which is weird as I'd have kind of expected Burgess to want more of the credit than that.

But yeah, I'd pay to see a full headlining show of that.

Well, didn't expect this:

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

I...I don't think any of us expected this

Not sure if I'm relieved or disappointed at how tasteful this is

Hugely disappointed

they mismanage the great halfway transition

classic case of cover mismanagement

I just kept waiting for it to go fucking mental and then it didn't go fucking mental SELL-OUTS WD NOT LISTEN AGAIN

I will never disapprove of anyone paying tribute to "Second Skin" which is my unwavering favorite song of all time

btw wtf @ the fact that the combined scores of the 3 albums (well, major albums) wouldn't even have made the 80's poll top 100

If this is the stuff dreams are made of... then please god never let me sleep again.

wish they hadn't fucked up the second half of the song. even moreso I wish they had made it sound like "Move Your Ass."

it's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice!!

7^%$%#$@#$@#@#$@$#

...actually this isnt too bad.

I'm too scared to heard the 2nd half tho.

...yeah ok they could have done better.

It loses all the euphoria!

Just received my 2xCD reissue of What Does Anything Mean? Basically and, as expected, it's a gorgeous remastering job. Going to listen to these demos in the coming hours as well. This is a really great album, too often underrated because of the company it keeps with the Chameleons' other two masterpieces.

Buy here: http://www.blueapplemusic.co.uk/chameleondetails/chamREF091.html

'perfume garden' is the best chameleons song

I just ordered that today. I thought it wasn't due to come out 'til January. I guess Blue Apple has some exclusive special edition. I wonder if they'll do the dbl deluxe treatment for Strange Times too.

Yep, it's available exclusively through Blue Apple for a couple months before it hits retail in Jan/Feb. And I can't imagine them reissuing the first two albums and not Strange Times... that'll likely be out within a year or so.