Chameleons : Classic or Dud

that is very true

Hmm. Well, alright. See I heard this um..."Dear Dead Days" song tonight that was the early version of Soul In Isolation and then I really flipped my goddamn lid. And then I realized it was on something called "Here Today...Gone Tomorrow" which I didn't know about except I found a picture of an LP called that that I remember owning from the familiarity of the sleeve to me. It had a rectangular picture of the band with a lot of green leaves around it. So I'm kindof confused because I think the (dbl) CD has a different sleeve (and tracklisting!) than the LP. I really don't know what I'm doing here. Maybe someone can help me. I don't understand why I recognized the LP sleeve but not this song "Dear Dead Days"? And yes I realize the dbl CD contained a live gig for the second CD and all that.

Won't someone help my bewildered ass? I'm rooting around in tender memories here and I'm not sure of anything. Thanx.

Bimble struggles to remember sometimes, but all the same, tonight he remembered exactly what the face of one of his early grade school teachers looked like. I must have been 9 years old and suddenly earlier this evening I remembered this one teacher's face incredibly clearly. And her mascara. It was really wild. I mean, for all I know that woman could be dead now. How many years ago was 1980 again?

Autographed copy of Mark's autobiography, View From A Hill, just arrived in the mail. The finger-pointing begins on page 2.

A good friend of mine had his baby shower today, because he's expecting a baby girl. When I walked in to this party, he was playing Strange Times. I was utterly hypnotized. I couldn't move. I only wanted to hear it again and again and again. I couldn't socialize with the people there, nothing. I was paralyzed. I could only stand there in the kitchen with my wine glass and sing along. I didn't care at all about anyone. What was wrong with these people that they didn't care that Strange Times was playing?

Anyone remember "I'll Remember"?

DON'T LET THESE DAYS OF DOUBT TURN HIM INSIDE OUT

Tony Fletcher Walked On Water EP.

This one goes out out to the man I lost. Where is he now? The one I lost. Where did he go? I know I drank too much, I know. I ruined it all. It's all my fault. But where is he now? Where did he go? He used to post to ILX, but no more. How I miss him. Jesus. Wouldn't he only rep for this EP? Chameleons were one of his fave bands. And he's gone now. I'll never forget him. Goodbye, Mitch. Goodbye. God. I'd give anything to hear from you, but you are gone. Forever gone. Goodbye.

God I'm so sorry, Mitch. God I'm so sorry.

You have to hang on to your childhood.

FUCK!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoOuVL5nn5M

http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:7FGMmZES7J8cRM:http://static.rateyourmusic.com/album_images/16227.jpg

Look, I was only in high school with this album. I'm about to cry.

I don't give a fucking living fuck if it isn't Chameleons I don't care. I'm going to go back to my high school days and no one can stop me.

With the sun in your eyes...

out the back door silently he creeps
a sense of excitement you've no hope of finding
with the chains that bind your feet

but why this weakness no one knows
the vacant faceless voices on the phone
bring words that offer no
consolation when you're all alone

Beaten on the brow of history
a union forged in slavery
in all that's hope and decency
a hope for you and a hope for me
every woman child and man
to those who'll chain you if they can
the babe you're bouncing on your knee
needs your help now can't you see?

bimble, this one's pretty good too: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hINpXuwE1nE

Fuck I just can't function damnit.

"Is It Any Wonder" playing loud now my neighbors are going to kill me.

Thanks, Stephen.

It hurts me in my heart, this music, it hurts me.

I can't do it.

I'm playing Mad Jack now my neighbors are going to kill me. I can't do this.

Please tell the one I love that I love this goddamn album. Please tell him.

STRANGE TIMES.

NO PRESSURE NO PAIN

Come up here, set us free

dagger in our hearts

THIS IS NOT MY HOME

Nobody hears cause nobody cares.
I wanna look 20 but I can't deliver.
The time has come for us to scatter
Caution To The Wind

Caution To The Wind
Caution To The Wind
Caution To the Wind

Just drifting ghosts of glass

I Love "In Shreds"

I'm surprised to be the 1st person here to mention "In Shreds".. It's possible Interpol may have stolen their sound from this song.

Fucking In Shreds you guys are going to slay me.

I've already cried real tears about this goddamn Strange Times CD.

They told me to turn it down, the motherfuckers. My landlord and everything.

I don't care.
Damnit, I just don't care. Chameleons.

I can't turn it down in my brain.

IN SHREDS IS SLAYING MY SOUL

I've already cried real tears about this goddamn Strange Times CD.

Crying for sympathy, crocodiles cry...

Stops them feeling small that's all
Look, I'm not going to quote all the lyrics, anyone who knows anything knows that I'm dying here. I'm fucking dying if this isn't the best music in the world.

SAYS THE SPIDER TO THE FLY
NICE TRY

Every day you're crucified
If you can't look them in the eye
nice try
vices embraced in times of crisis
THAT'S ALL

It must have been like this before
but my memory's hazy

This one goes out out to the man I lost. Where is he now? The one I lost. Where did he go? I know I drank too much, I know. I ruined it all. It's all my fault. But where is he now? Where did he go? He used to post to ILX, but no more. How I miss him. Jesus. Wouldn't he only rep for this EP? Chameleons were one of his fave bands. And he's gone now. I'll never forget him. Goodbye, Mitch. Goodbye. God. I'd give anything to hear from you, but you are gone. Forever gone. Goodbye.

Thought this was about Ian Riese-Moraine at first.

Hahaha. I know. What happened to Ian anyway? That guy had some really cool taste in music for being so young! I asked another ILXor what happened to him and it was like I think someone here scared him or something. I'm not sure. I think someone here scared him and he left ILX.

I've already cried real tears about this goddamn Strange Times CD.

Crying for sympathy, crocodiles cry...

-- stephen, Sunday, August 10, 2008 11:28 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Link

Sorry I just now got this. You dropped a Cure lyric in there. Nice one, dude.

hahaha ;)

Hearts Fail - interesting Chameleons influenced band from SAN ANTONIO, Texas

Hearts Fail
http://www.myspace.com/heartsfail

Influences the Chameleons UK, the Cure, the Sound, the Smiths, the Comsat Angels, Joy Division, Echo & the Bunnymen, Bauhaus, Siouxsie & the Banshees, Killing Joke, the Church, the Mission, Red Lorry Yellow Lorry, the Psychedelic Furs, New Order, Smashing Pumpkins, Radiohead, A Perfect Circle, NIN, Placebo, Muse, David Bowie, Interpol, Mana, la Ley, Depeche Mode, V.A.S.T., Tori Amos, Bjork

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.