Chameleons : Classic or Dud

i'm going to go and see them play here. how could i not? 30 years of listening to the chameleons and i've still never seen them live

this is very silly:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vasr1_sJV1A

Definitely go see them live! But I wish Mark would expand his focus beyond Script, as great as that album is, and give some love to the rest of his work.

That is a silly clip but, jeez, his words still penetrate. "Nothing's forever, some things rearrange the scheme of things" - a simple insight but what we all need to hear sometimes.

http://devonrecordclub.com/2014/06/10/the-chameleons-strange-times-round-68-robs-choice/

Mark Burgess autobiography, View From A hill, about to be reissued.

We're very proud to announce the imminent publication of a newly-edited and augmented edition of View From A Hill. It has been produced with Mark's blessing and co-operation, and will be available in the UK and Europe in mid-late November.

You can make pre-orders here and they will reach you in time for Christmas: http://mittenson.com/vfah.html

There will be a kindle edition available at the same time, and we will make the paperback available in other parts of the world too. Please contact us for details of these, and with any questions - i✧✧✧@mitten✧✧✧.c✧✧.

Apparently there's a Chameleons Vox farewell tour, being a performance of Script Of The Bridge.

They toured the UK last year performing Script in its entirety and they're touring here again in a month or so doing the whole second album. Unless something has happened suddenly to make Mark change his plans?

Mark change his mind? How unexpected.

**rolls eyes**

Oh, so you know Mark too...

I am embarrassed that I own nothing by The Chameleons. However hearing songs of theirs pop up in my Killing Joke Pandora station have convinced me I need to rectify that.

Am I good if I pick up Return of the Roughnecks or are the first three albums all essential?

Just get Strange Times, and if it thrills, proceed sequentially.

The compilation is expensive! An import only evidently.

I can get the original versions of the albums cheaply since they did the deluxe remaster dealios, I'll probably go that route unless those remasters are really essential.

No you just need the first album. And the peel sessions. Then you're good.

i mean, get all three albums, don't get a best of...

Is the Return Of Roughnecks the only compilation containing the Tony Fletcher EP?

Yes.

I was hoping it would show up on a Strange Times reissue.

You need all three albums, no question. The "Tony Fletcher" EP is available on the "Dreams In Celluloid" comp of early material, so it won't be redundant, and is also available cheaply.

Thank you very much. I heard the first three albums a decade ago and its nice not having to pay for an overpriced Best Of to get the EP.

Absolutely awful news -- John Lever has passed.

http://www.slicingupeyeballs.com/2017/03/13/john-lever-chameleons-dies/

oh shit. wouldn't have been the same band without him, imagine 'soul in isolation' without JL

Yeah I keep turning over so many different fills and breaks of his in my mind. Just would NOT have been the same, indeed.

Ouch. That is indeed unsettling news.

LIstening to soul in isolation on this, fantastic, thanks Ned.

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLSfxjgIYjeGYUBs4NLlFEaMaKp5C6FPpC

You're welcome of course. I'll have a piece running in the Quietus tomorrow.

RIP :(

Way too young. A remarkable drummer in terms of what he didn't do, powerful without overpowering.

One of my favourite little bits of JL is that minute and a bit outro of On The Beach where the drums smashing through at the end of each bar, wave after wave onto the shore

Terrible news. I also thought of "Soul in Isolation" first, now it's time to reckon with "In Shreds," "Nathan's Phase"... jeez.

Giving a listen to the Live in Toronto album from the Strange Times tour now. They played San Diego that tour, and had I been just a bit more aware or on top of things, I suppose I could have gone or tried to go, but I was still very much a top 40 kid, wouldn't've known. Though I did see the reunion tour of course, I really can't complain.

FUCK

Man, what sad news. A lot of the Chameleons sound comes down to how powerful his drum parts were

My Quietus memorial is live:

http://thequietus.com/articles/21990-rip-the-chameleons-john-lever

Well said, Ned

great piece ned

Thanks kindly.

Another farewell to him, from Black Swan Lane's Jack Sobel

http://blackswanlane.com/goodbye-john/

https://scontent.fbed1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/20663881_10156145323592137_7011716937297355767_n.jpg?oh=7f94036b7bb4faeeb7aca0c2f0a6dad3&oe=5A346751

oh my gosh, that is both brilliant and hideous

found amidst table of wizard of oz collectible plates and figurines at yard sale in illinois, so nutty. old lady next to me was like "is that suppose to be one of them oompa loompas...or ?"

LOL. Can just imagine the Mrs' face when comes home with that.

bump

Touring now, going to see Mark and the latest band in Boston on Sat night.

Who sang the first track on Tony Fletcher?

Mark sings everything. Except for the toast on WCIA.

I hadn't realized that those Dreams In Celluloid recordings were non-studio album tracks. Started to realise when I heard "Everyday I'm Crucified". Cant forget a lyric like "I think I know how Christ felt when they killed him on that hill, pissed off!"

"Denims And Curls" sounds like a Morrissey song.

Another song on the EP sounds like a full-on "wake up sheeple" thing. Didn't notice until several plays that he was doing a sheep "baaaaa".

Tony Fletcher (the person and the music recording) are both essential to life.

https://www.discogs.com/The-Chameleons-Free-Trade-Hall-Rehearsal/release/387186

Listening to that album for the first time in ages. The mix still leaves a lot to be desired, but it's just about impossible not to marvel at how good they were. Any 'Mad Jack' is bound to be good, but man they rip through it here. Probably my favorite recording of the tune.

Holy shit, I forgot they do 'In Answer' on here as well. This song is absolutely gorgeous. Always has been.👍🏻