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Longtime readers of this publication will know that The Chameleons and related work of Mark Burgess are held in the highest regards. Head honcho Jack Rabid has been praising the band’s creativity and emotional connection for decades, and for good reason. Beset by more than the average music industry bullshit (much more), the band unfortunately didn’t make the impact that it might have, and one could argue really should have. They easily could have been on the scale of say Depeche Mode or The Cure but getting dropped by Geffen Records right after their masterpiece Strange Times finally was available in the US as a domestic record rather than pricy import (not counting the disaster that MCA created with their debut record in the US) caused the strife to escalate and the band called it quits right after the Tony Fletcher Walks On Water EP, released as in tribute to their late manager’s sudden passing.
Of course sometimes it just takes a bit longer for a band to find their audience, and the first three Chameleons records clearly stand the test of time, they were built for the long run. Mark had a couple of projects with drummer John Lever until a short reunion around 2000 occurred but sadly didn’t last long, Reg Smithies and Dave Fielding leaving Mark and John once again. Lever would play with Mark as ChameleonsVox for a few tours until he sadly passed a few years ago. The burst of momentum and sudden loss of such remained a constant, Burgess seemingly unable to catch a fair break.
But last year’s tour with The Mission saw Smithies reuniting with Burgess and the difference in the stage sound was incredible. It’s not like the parts are insanely complicated but there’s a certain feel and texture that Smithies creates that is hard to replicate. Mark also took guitarist Steven Rice (who backed up Burgess when they played as a duo two years ago) and drummer Todd Demma and a potent lineup was created, with Danny Ashberry on keyboards/synths to fill in Fielding’s atmospheric textures. Ready to roll, the quintet hit the road this year to celebrate 35 years of Strange Times.
Played fifth, “Swamp Thing” (certainly their best known song) got the Montreal crowd amped up, but for me the entire evening was a constant barrage of high points. “Caution” was the song I truly needed to hear; at the 2011 show in Cambridge it was written on the set list but skipped over, and that’s the closest I ever came to hearing that oddly shifting and hypnotizing 6/8 tempo. Music can take you places you can’t get to on your own, and this song has been a spiritual guide for me since first hearing it in the ’80s, just a rapturous, swirling sonic bath that never gets old.
And so it went, a jammed room full of people reliving the soundtrack of their lives from decades ago, along with a healthy contingent of people who weren’t even born when this record came out. The crushing sorrow of losing a dear friend (“Tears”) blanketing paranoia and enveloping fear of “Soul In Isolation” gave way to some rays of hope when the second side of the record was performed. “Don’t waste your days away/Crying all night” was the clarion call of “Time/The End Of Time” to shake off the shackles of depression and live your life to its fullest. Burgess prowled the stage and was soon soaked in sweat, shedding droplets on the floor all night.
The driving obsession of “In Answer” gave way to the bouncy, Beatles-esque pop of “Childhood” and the magnificent close came via the plangent, contemplative “I’ll Remember,” wisely skipping the coda trail out of “Soul In Isolation” from the recorded version. When the band returned to the stage, after a song from their new EP, I was a little surprised that the old school post-punk shredder “In Shreds” was played rather than “Paradiso.” Even though it was always listed as a bonus 12”, the accompanying six song record was in every copy of Strange Times I’ve ever seen, so I was a little surprised to find out that the record did indeed come out as a standalone, ten song album. I could see skipping the Bowie and Beatles covers and doing another version of “Tears” was superfluous, “Paradiso,” “Inside Out,” and “Ever After” easily stand up against any song they ever wrote.
But dipping into the classic early tracks like “Second Skin” and “Don’t Fall” will never be a strategy to second guess, and I’m glad that Mark, Reg and the rest of the band got this tour up and running and hit so many different spots in North America.
The Chameleons have been tapping local talent as they zigzagged their way on this tour, and the hometown pick for Montréal was The City Gates, a band well-matched for the bill. Dark, brooding, shimmering and echoing guitars? Check. Heartfelt vocals, tinged in blackness? Check. You know that if you were invited to any of the band members’ house for a beer after the show and was asked to browse their records and play something, it would be a hard choice between Red Lorry Yellow Lorry, Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Sound, Bauhaus, The Cure and tons more foundational bands from that era. Their set wasn’t a slavish recreation but rather a wink and a nod to the architects who created that long-lasting edifice of sound.
