The Album Review Club - Week #142 - (page 1874) - Strange Times - The Chameleons

[Coatigan]

What?! You've got me down as a bloody cockney!!!!?

I also thought you were impersonating shackattack for the purposes of this one, but reading back now I see you meant you.

 

[mrbelfry]

Here's @shackattack 's write-up:-

The Chameleons- Strange Times

The last album they did as a band ( though someone might correct me on that)
It was either going to be this or Script From A Bridge - this won mainly for Swamp Thing which is probably worth a thread all of its own. As a lad growing up in 80s Liverpool I always preferred the Manchester music scene. The Chameleons were undeniably ahead of their time and the graphics could grasp you as much as the lyrics and musicianship. Possibly slightly heavier than some of their earlier stuff - the drums, guitar reverb for a post punk kid what is there not to like

My sister loved the Chameleons but I've not knowingly heard anything from them. Another good week of something new

 

[threespires]

Chop off the payoff on "Habits"?? I wouldn't have nominated this album if not for THAT.

F******g A (that's why you lot say isn't it?). The opener and the closer on this are the way to start and finish and album imo.

 

[RobMCFC]

F******g A (that's why you lot say isn't it?).

I thought it was "Light the candle!"

 

[Black&White&BlueMoon Town]

You keep admiring the things I find faulty :) you cant posit the idea that the album is raw and unfiltered and end with a song about a bad habit without being more explicit about what those faults are. The whole album talks about how unfiltered it is without saying anything more than people are poor and people have bad habits.

My observation is you and I both look at this album very differently. The takeaways you have are not what I got out of it, and I'll just leave it at that again.

I'm sorry Gary didn't explicitly say in "Habits" that he's been drinking too much and it is affecting his relationship with his wife and family and those he cares most about. Maybe that would have helped.

 

[journolud]

The Chameleons passed me by first time around but I’ve seen them twice in the past several years, most memorably as far as venues go at the Devil’s Arse in Castleton last year.

I don’t think I knowingly listened to them between the two gigs and I’d gone with my wife because they were one of her favourite bands from the past.

I enjoyed the Castleton gig and did listen to them a couple of times after but had the general feeling of them being a bit underwhelming. Now will have to see if that impression changes or not…

 

[threespires]

There are times when I'm appalled by my lack of knowledge of certain bands and this Is made worse when it's a (Greater) Manchester band; I find myself wondering if my Mum and Dad didn't adopt me from somewhere in Hertfordshire and they just couldn't bring themselves to tell me I'm actually an effete home counties type*.

Today is one of those days, I'm pretty sure I only know Up The Down Escalator and maybe a couple more of their songs.
I look forward to the opportunity to rectify the situation this week.

(* that said I do know it's a barm not a muffin though so maybe I'm ok)

 

[Out on blue 6]

The Chameleons one of Manchester's great lost bands. Mark Burgess is a massive blue as well. There is a dedicated thread on them so you may get some non regulars singing their praises

 

[Coatigan]

Been promising a good mate of mine I'd do a 'deep dive' into the chameleons for years. This could be a two birds with one stone album.

 

[Mancitydoogle]

I also have to confess I know very little about The Chameleons and I don’t think I’ve heard much by them.