The Chameleons: Dali’s Picture/Auffuhrung in Berlin – Album Review

The Chameleons: Dali’s Picture/Auffuhrung in Berlin

LP| CD | DL

(Blue Apple Music)

Out now

Fascinating, revelatory, and frequently thrilling for fans old and new of Manchester quartet, The Chameleons, Blue Apple Music’s latest sumptuous remastering and re-release of Dali’s Picture/Auffuhrung in Berlin is a treasure trove of wonders.

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Available for the first time in 30 years as both double LP and double CD, the vinyl release is particularly impressive, featuring two heavyweight laser blue discs, with a wide spine sleeve, and showcasing a striking new cover drawing by guitarist Reg Smithies.

The legendary Dali’s Picture features 10 early studio recordings of songs pre-dating their debut album, Script of the Bridge, and were recorded at Cargo Studios in Rochdale between late 1981 and 1982.

The highlights include the rare, punky, Everyday I’m Crucified, a fragile, taunt Monkeyland and a tentative Dreams in Celluloid, a song which would become Second Skin on Script, but here features entirely different lyrics. There is a great thrill in hearing the band in its embryonic, chrysalis state, honing their songs into the classics that they would become

Mark Burgess is, even at this early stage of his career, a passionate vocalist and lyricist, while the guitars of Dave Fielding and Reg Smithies are frequently astounding, especially on the coruscating classic The Fan, The Bellows, the searing title track, and the furious Love Is. The nascent versions of songs that would feature on future albums, Less than Human and Nostalgia are fascinating to hear in comparison to what they would become.

Auffuhrung in Berlin is proof, if proof were needed, of what an exhilarating, thrilling live band The Chameleons were, recorded at a seething, passionate The Loft in Berlin on December 18th 1983, Mark Burgess, a compelling frontman, is in fine full-throated form, while his bass pulses like an anxious heartbeat throughout the gig. Dave Fielding and Reg Smithies’ genius guitars shimmer and chime like beguiling spectres hastily invoked, and drummer John Lever, the band’s mighty rhythmic heart, adds thunderous percussive support.

Songs from the Script Of The Bridge album obviously feature heavily during the 11-song set, a blistering Paper Tigers and a dreamy Thursday Child particular highlights, but the second half of the concert is a real treat for Chameleons historians, as the band play three new songs that would later feature on their second album What Does Anything Mean, Basically.

Singing Rule Britannia (When The Walls Fall In) is propelled by Lever’s furious drumming, Burgess’ fiery vocals, while Fielding and Smithies’ writhing, atmospheric guitars, sound stunning, as do the other new tracks One Flesh and the dreamy Perfume Gardens, though all the tracks here have different lyrics to the ones that would later appear on record. It is a classic document of a live band firing on all cylinders before an expectant, believing crowd.

The remastering here, on both albums, by Nigel Palmer is exemplary and highlights a young band bursting with creativity, verve, and fire.

Like an old photograph rediscovered and lovingly reframed, Dalis’s Picture/Auffuhrung in Berlin reveals, on closer inspection, new wonders thought lost to time, to be treasured and admired for years to come. A must for all Chameleons’ fans.

The Chameleons are on Facebook. The albums are available directly from the band via Big Cartel.

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Words by Stephen Canavan. His profile his here.

Source: louderthanwar.com