Chameleons : Classic or Dud

wow

What can I buy that has "Sally" on it????? It sounds like it was recorded in the WDAMB? era

From http://www.thechameleons.com/band/faq.php

Who is Sally?
Sally is the name of Mark's (ex) wife. The "Here Today, Gone Tomorrow" album includes a rather atypical song called 'Sally,' which was written by Mark for the woman who was to become his wife.

http://www.bobsy.per.sg/illusion035.jpg

The Chameleons - Here Today...Gone Tomorrow

Release Date: 1 Jun 1992
Label: Imaginary
Country: UK
Tracks:

* String Quartet 1
* Home Is Where The Heart Is
* In Answer
* Bobby Moore's Wine
* Sally
* In Shreds
* Nathan's Phase
* Up The Down Escalator
* On The Beach
* Dear Dead Days
* Things I Wish I'd Said
* String Quartet 2

Notes:
On "Here Today", "In Answer" is still developing lyrically. The lyrics for "Bobby Moore's Wine" were completely rewritten and it became "Mad Jack". Three tracks are not listed as taken from a radio session: "In Shreds", "Things I Wish I'd Said", and "Dear Dead Days". Are these studio versions? "Dear Dead Days" sort of became the end of "Soul In Isolation".

I guess I should probably get round to hearing this thing...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0OHTj-3fyQ

^ this is a song that I've been listening to a whole heck of a lot lately - 'Is It Any Wonder' off the Tony Fletcher EP.

...which gets a fair bit of love upthread, but something I only heard in the last year cos I am the laziest of fans.

Got the Acsention DVD in the post today. God bless Blue Apple, they seem to sent stuff super quick. Looking forward to putting in on this weekend. Tracklist on both the DVD's looks great. Shame there's no 'Paper Tiger' though, one of my fave tracks.

Managed to order a vinyl called "Tripping Dog's". The info I've come across suggests its the same as the 'Free Trade Rehersals'. Anyone have it?

Yeah, Free Trade is just the CD version of Tripping Dogs -- the sole difference is that Free Trade contains "Tomorrow Never Knows" as well.

Coolio. I can live with that. Got it at a decent price too.

There's a good few tracks on the DVD I haven't heard off. Take it some are from the albums they released since they reformed. How do those ones stack up?

There's only one full-on reformation album, Why Call It Anything -- all the other ones are live or acoustic remake albums. WCIA is generally speaking the calmest of the four studio albums -- part and parcel with the band members being older and more reflective, perhaps -- but it has some excellent songs, my favorite being "Dangerous Land."

'Why Call It Anything' seems to be quite expensive second hand. Same with those acoustic remake albums. What's the deal here? The fact most Chameleons stuff is so hard to find and usually out of print. Most of the postuhumous stuff seems to be only semi-legit and released on small labels. I'm guessing they something like 'Fan and The Bellows' or 'Here today gone tomorrow' was only released in small numbers. Same with the live stuff that's been put out. How come it's all so terribly hard to find?

Because it's so good only a small number of people can handle it.

Why Call It Anything is marred by that track with the inexplicable reggae toasting on it

Been watching some of the 'Ascention' DVD this evening and I have to say my verdict is split. Disc 2 with the Acoustic stuff is brilliant but Disc 1 is bizzare. Not sure if it's just me but the sound of the guitars seems far too low. The bass and drums are all up front clouding the (already) subtle melodic leads. Plus the guy on the congo's/tambourine etc, he is was too loud in the mix too (on the acoustic disc as well).

My theory, which is probably far off, is that, as Ned mentioned, they've mellowed out with time a bit, that's why the acoustic/quieter stuff works a treat but the louder electric set is lacking somewhat. I guess is takes a certain youthfull restlessness to play 'A Person Isn't Safe Anywhere These Day's' with the conviction and paranoid anxiety of the original recording.

Scott Blonde, formerly of the Lovemakers, does a pretty nice cover of "One Flesh":

http://soundcloud.com/scottblonde/one-flesh

Mark Burgess will be at the Big Takeover 30th Anniversary bash in Brooklyn in a couple of weeks. Can't wait!

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?