Search - Chameleons :: Strange Times (+ Bonus CD)

The stuff dreams are made of

Joao Nunes | Portugal | 11/28/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Freshly signed to Geffen, for their third album The Chameleons raised the bar quite a few notches.



The first two albums had turned The Chameleons into a cult among the British indie scene. On the drama/energy level, their songs could rank with anything by Echo & The Bunnymen or U2, but they were not as hype and they never really had (or cared for) the right image. Also, their music had a dark-dreamy quality that had more to do with the 4AD sound. It was difficult to foresee them making it big.



Yet, from the guitar attack that introduces Mad Jack, Strange Times sounds really big. And it does so to its last gasp. All the band's former qualities are pushed up to a higher level creating a more varied set of songs than their previous efforts.



Side 1 comprises four monster tracks.

Mad Jack is a great start and one of the fiercest rockers in their catalogue.

Caution is probably the darkest song the Chameleons ever wrote. For almost 8 minutes Mark Burgess improvises (so tells the legend) one of the best lyrics to reflect the despair and numbness of heroin addiction. I particularly like the the way the volume gradually turns up in the final section until it stops abruptly.

Tears proves that the Chameleons could write a gentle acoustic ballad without losing their face. And the result is brilliant.

Soul In Isolation is my personal favourite Chameleons' song. It starts with a fantastic drum loop and an eery guitar, and then it explodes into that desperate mode that Mark Burgess does better than anyone, then it calms down, and then... By now it is clear that, however raw and intense is the band performance, there's definitely a closer attention to detail in the arrangements and production than on anything from What Does Anything Mean?



Shorter, happier tunes make the second half of the album a little lighter and joyful. The songs revolve around themes like melancholia and childhood nostalgia, but there's an optimistic glow in all of them.

Swamp Thing is brilliant and considered by many the archetypal Chameleons' song. It's also one of their most elaborate tunes. It builds on a haunting guitar line and its unsettling mood gradually changes until an almost cheerful finale.

Seriocity has a somewhat unexpected arrangement that sounds a lot like The Cure.



The album closes with the beautiful dreamy instrumental I'll Remember, that features what sounds to me like a loop of a man screaming followed by a baby crying (?). So, after all the intense emotional turmoil, you actually make peace and leave this album under the spell of this soothing tune, like returning to the mother's womb. Well, not exactly... because as the song fades out, in comes a thundering reprise of Soul In Isolation, like a ghost that comes back to haunt you.



Strange Times is an album of light and shadow, in which you'll find the Chameleons in their darkest, most depressive mode, but also some of their most uplifting tunes. All of this without loosing consistency. Most of all, it has the best song collection they ever put out.



[As for the bonus tracks, most of them are very much welcome. The "original arrangement" of Tears is good (and different indeed) but lacks the distinctiveness and depth of the album version. Paradiso, Inside Out and Ever After are all good Chameleons' songs but wouldn't have a place in this album. The cover of Tomorrow Never Knows is ok but John I'm Only Dancing sounds like a joke and should have been left in the attic.]"