Chameleons : Classic or Dud

One more thing on this topic: I'd like to defend Reg's cover art for their albums. I've always been impressed by how much detail and care and hard work he puts into the sleeves. Unlike today's computer graphics where you can just slap something together in no time.

I was thinking about starting a thread along the lines of "Albums that are great but you're bored sick of the singles/most popular tracks" (this occured to me while listening to "Disintegration" recently). But I couldn't think of any other good examples at the time.

I agree with you Ned. It always kind of pissed me off that people who were so completely ga-ga about The Edge's too-much-delay swampy guitar sound never seemed to notice that Reg was doing it better and without being part of a load of pompous asses.

Until now....

Sounds better than I remember...

Anything know this album? 'Intrigue in Tangiers" sounds good. Some of it sounds like Breakfast Club music (the movie, not the band), I'm sorry to say. Very '80s and synthy.

Maybe The Church's mid-eighties synth work is roughly comparable?

I was delighted to read they'd covered "Moonage Daydream" - I do believe that's my favorite Bowie song and I'm not a huge Bowie fan. I'll have to check that album out for sure.

The production on What Does Anything Mean...I'm glad someone mentioned that. I can see how that would totally sound wrong to someone's ears who hadn't heard it at the time (much the way I feel about Loop's Heaven's End in retrospect). The thickness sounded really great at the time, it just worked. Although I do think Strange Times would be the one to get if you hadn't any Chameleons at all, What Does Anything Mean has always seemed like a more consistently great album. Also considering the production of it, I find it interesting in retrospect that there was no such thing as shoegazing yet, no frame of reference!

But seriously, I get so tired of people saying Chameleons are 'goth' (much the way they naively say that of The Church, a band I'm sorry to say have meant a lot more to me over the years than Chameleons) and lazy U2 comparisons. I remember asking Mark Gardner, lead singer of Ride, once if he liked Chameleons, and he mentioned something about "eh...college rock" or some such dismissive thing. I think a lot of people just don't understand the Chameleons, because they really can't be easily compared to anyone else. The Chameleons are just their own thing, in my opinion. I don't mean to say they were radical pioneers, necessarily, but they just had a style that was doomed not to ever fit comfortably inside any of the convenient categories of fashion.

I agree there seems to be a crossover with Church fans as well, Ned. I was thinking about this not too long ago, about how there's just a certain audience that have certain bands in common like that. Come to think of it, The Church is also another band difficult for a lot of people to understand or put in categories, while not saying they were radical pioneers, either.

HE'S one to talk.

Another band that occurs to me to fall in the category of "doomed outsiders of fashion": Adorable. Do you like them Ned? Oh, I know, I know...do a search. Frankly, I can't be bothered at the moment, don't mind me, I've obviously had a few drinks and plan on departing here for another website soon, anyway...

Incidentially I went to a huge goth night in leeds a couple of years ago where they played Swamp Thing and it rammed the dancefloor!

I also remember an art project I had in high school where I had to redesign an album cover - I chose Scrpit of the Bridge. I used the Union Jack and thought it was pretty cool, but it certainly wasn't.

"If this is the stuff dreams are made of
No wonder I feel like I'm floating on air..."

Classic, classic, classic.

The guitar riff on the track you quoted is amazing and timeless (and just as influential today as any JD riff).

(Saw them a few years ago at Kintting Factory- they still sound great!)

Talking of which, a very many aeons ago, a wee Ned Raggett wrote:

I have every last dug-out-of-the-archive recording, just about all the various solo and side projects, and await the new album with bated breath

Ned, as well as the first three albums, I think I only have the mighty Peel Sessions record, the Fan and the Bellows and the Gallery Club show (so great to see the live footage on that). What stuff out of the rest of the archival/live material would you say was worth hunting down?

http://www.townsend-records.co.uk/i/covers/10000154.jpg

Yeah, that must be it. I had blanked on the fact that the baby-head reappeared on the cover! I've yet to get any of the DVDs.

about once a year i dig this out again and fall head over heels in love with it again as much as i did the first time. it never fails to send shivers up and down my spine.

Related to that, the second DVD features stuff from their final show ever in Long Beach, one of their semi-acoustic sets they did at various points on that tour, and quite lovely it was to hear, as I was there - - so I wouldn't be surprised if I'm in the footage somewhere! But I've also realized that means I was actually lucky enough to attend the final shows of my two favorite bands of all time, the Chams and MBV, even though both weren't planned as such at the time.

From Mark's management:

http://www.simonlawlor.co.uk/mark.html

Mark is also near to completing his book, which should now be available this Autumn.

A few copies of the limited edition Alive ’05 CD, together with the 2-disc Magic Boomerang, are available from the shop section of this site.

Dave Fielding’s new band, Coconut DF, are planning various shows in UK and Europe during 2006. Dave and Reg are also negotiating the re-release of The Reegs back catalogue. And John Lever is busy promoting his regular Club Chameleon nights in the north west of England www.myspace.com/clubchameleon

But the main reason I clicked on this thread was to say that "Soul in Isolation" is really fucking entertaining if you imagine Birdy is singing "I'm a lime in here, I'm a liiiiiime, turn on the light."

*is beaten*

no way, "one flesh" and "home is where the heart is" are top tier

did any other post-punk bands use a whirly tube?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4aJ36-TlPD4

I agree with Robert, I’ve tried many times

xp yep!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FeMAR9xTV58

https://www.stereogum.com/2307808/the-chameleons-announce-first-new-album-in-24-years-arctic-moon/news/

I saw this version of the band in October, they sounded great. New stuff was solid, we'll see if Mark has his songwriting mojo back after a very long time.

I don’t know this band at all but my friend just got us tickets to see them in October.

wait... for real, bee? chams seem like a wheelhouse band for you!

Yeah, Bee you should love them!! Check out Script of The Bridge pronto!!

I agree with Robert, I’ve tried many times

She is very surprised I don't know them either. Part of the reason she bought tickets for us to go. I cop it up to not knowing everything and there are gaps. Thanks for the rec I definitely what to get to know them before this gig.

i'm quietly very excited, but also very cautious, for this band to be releasing new music. in an effort to adjust expectations for something competently chameleons-adjacent, but still not quite the real deal, i'm revisiting yves altana's unofficial self-released live album from his time touring with mark. it's mostly stuff from the then-recent paradyning album (and that stuff is good; mark in stock 90s altrock mode, very solid!) with a flurry of old favs. my pick from the era is "inhaling" and they rock it out for this set. even a sun+moon song! it's in that immediate pre-invincible era, so mark's fascination with beefier britpop-inspired riffs is gearing up.

it can be heard in pieces online, so if you're looking to dig into some ephemera, i've posted it all in one place on youtube. stick around until the end for the even lower-fi "tears" encore! mark's pre-song banter is a very representative moment. for him, not the chams.

"saviors are a dangerous thing"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wpCUqoV0FY

it's alright.

yup, this is chams by numbers. fine while it's on, but i probably won't play the album front-to-back a second time.

i am a walking sigh after hearing it.

Only given it one listen and feel the same but I'll give it more time and see if anything unfolds.

So I ended up seeing them after all the other night, and I had a lot of thoughts and feelings and they're in this post (along with other recent show doings of mine).

On my way to see them tonight

The oldest crowd for any concert I have ever attended, not sure if I saw anyone under 40 there and that might be generous. I saw The Psychedelic Furs with the Jesus and Mary Chain back in November and even that crowd probably averaged age around 30 with lots of young people.

And it wasn't sold out and felt bad about that for them.

It was similar up here, not sold out etc. but at the same time I did definitely see more younger listeners as I noted in my linked post, so I don't know if it was more of a locked-in LA crowd or something. (I *will* say that Wet Leg were also the same night up here and while I'm not really sensing any crossover as such, I wonder if there was a competing show on your end that siphoned off some of that energy.)

Totally separately, Aarktica just released their own version of "Second Skin" earlier this week. A definite contrast to the Scooter cover years back:

https://aarktica.bandcamp.com/track/second-skin

Wish I saw Wet Leg instead. The opening band The Veldt had six playing guitar with one on bass. Liked what I heard.

I will read your review later Ned.

Ned, did you put this package together: Chameleons with openers the Veldt at the Black Cat in WDC April 17.

They toured together in 2024 too!

Yup! This double bill played out here last year; Mark and the Chavises have been friends for many years and the Chavises held the Chameleons in deep regard when they were getting into making their music to start with. Remarkable show for very specific reasons, I went long on it in this Patreon entry:

https://www.patreon.com/posts/some-weekly-164-140122083

(Which I see I linked some posts back so you gotta scroll up some, Boring. :-D )

i was too excited!