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 | A person Isn´t Safe Anywhere Bonus Acoustic Tracks -The Chameleons Live Tears |
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| Mark Burgess: Bajo, voces Todas las canciones escritas por Burgess/Fielding/Lever/Smithies excepto pista 3 del CD2 escrita por Burgess/Fielding/Lever/Smithies/Asante y pista 7 del CD2 escrita por Mark Perry © 2002 Paradiso Records. PARADISOCD02 |
Comentarios de Mark Burgess
Comentarios de Tiempos Extraños
Hello.
Welcome to "The Chameleons-Live", the first definitive live album to be released since the retrospective "Live In Toronto" some years ago. The Chameleons reformation began over five nights at a small venue called The Witchwood, during the month of May 2000. At the time this was all that had been planned, but on witnessing the invasion of this small north of England town by armies of Chameleons devotees from all over the country, and indeed the world, turning our five night stand into something more remisniscent of a Chameleons festival, we quickly realised that we also owed a debt to those that hadn´t been able to take part and yet had contributed so much to keeping the spirit and the music of the band alive over the years. So we decided to go out and play a few more shows, with the ensuing momentum resulting in the band performing waht at the close of the year 2001 totalled around 67 shows: in England, Scotland, Shetland, Germany, France, Spain, Holland and the state of California in the U.S.A.
From the outset we told ourselves that a properly produced live album documenting the reformation of the band would be a worthwhile addtion to our catalogue of releases. But from the first gig until the last the group´s performances were improving and it seemed we were never quite satisfied with the results when reviewing the tapes. The Witchwood shows had been mad, frantic affairs and a period better captured on the live video "Resurrection", which we felt, coming so close on the heels of the band´s initial reformation reflects the entire spirit of the time. The audio soundtrack left something to be desired however and doesn´t really have the quality of ambience we were looking for in a live record. In addition, following the recording of "Why Call It Anything", the first Chameleons studio album in fifteen years, we eventually began adding brand new material to the sets and so we had wanted to document this too. The new songs were also evolving and improving with every performance and we felt that by attempting to capture this we would be able to offer a live album that took a step beyond the usual collection of past classics.
Recording a live album is a tricky business however especially when it´s The Chameleons because every single gig can be totally different and we weren´t able to carry a mobile recording unit with us every night. One approach was to contact Alex Staszko, Andreas Ott and others who regularly archive the band´s performances (on a none-profit making basis I should add) in the hope of compiling tracks that spanned the whole period of the reformation. Although we were very grateful for the response and the results were interesting, from a technical viewpoint the recordings were a little too disjointed and unpredictable and in the end we were forced to abandon the idea. Finally, thanks to Simon Moran of SJM Concerts we were invited to return a second time to the Manchester Academy and we were able to nail the live album to our satisfaction with the help of Alan Leach from Shed 7, who recorded and mixed the tracks alongside Ollie King at their Studio Seven in York, and John Delf our regular "Front of House" sound engineer, who alongside John Slater at "TheShed" studio in Stockport, was on hand to master the recordings. They all did a great job in presenting what I personally feel is the best live recording of the band to date and we´re very grateful.
The night wasn´t without its problems, not least when the bridge on Dave´s guitar went flying into the audience mid-way through Soul In Isolation thereby rendering the guitar totally out of tune. Sadly for this reason the song had to be omitted, but by way of recompense we´ve added a few bonus tracks at the end, which also represents an attempt to present the band in a slightly different context. As always there are some people that we feel we deserve a special mention: the band´s manager Simon Lawlor, Booma, Dougie, Will and Stan for keeping the wheels rolling, Big Tony Miller (Mr Fish) for all his running around, Shan Hira for all his help early on, Andy Moore for the lighting, and Daniela Haug, who stood in lots of drafty corridors selling merchandise on our behalf and answering a thousand and one questions from eager supporters. It is to them and to you that we wish to express our highest appreciation for making it all possible and giving us so many special nights over the last eighteen months or so.
Mark Burgess, midday, Hamburg.Germany.
P.S. Noch eine fantastische Illustrierung von Reg, oder?
Comentarios de Tiempos Extraños
En 2002 se edita bajo el sello Paradiso Communications, autofinanciado por The Chameleons y distribuído por Universal el primer directo oficial de la banda desde que comenzaran su singladura allá por el lejano 1981. Un trabajo que bajo formato de doble CD recoge con totalidad, a excepción de Soul In Isolation y Truth Isn´t Truth Anymore por un problema con la grabación, el concierto que realizaron en el Manchester Academy en la gira de presentación de Why Call It Anything en 2001. En dicho concierto se repasan las canciones más significativas de toda su carrera haciendo un especial hincapié en su último trabajo en estudio. Un directo impecable y que refleja con total perfección lo que es actualmente el sonido de The Chameleons. Por fin se aprueba una asignatura que The Chameleons tenían pendientes con sus fans: la edición oficial de un directo que hasta ahora se había estado sustituyendo por grabaciones pseudo-oficiales que no llegaban a recoger con justicia la magía de su sonido en vivo, paliando en parte la sed de un album en directo por parte de los fans.
Destacamos la intensidad de Caution y Dangerous Land con su extensa introducción y la fuerza de Up the Down Escalator. Se incluye además Splitting In Two, la versión del original de Alternative TV donde Reg y John se intercambian los papeles y que sirve desde hace muchos años ya para cerrar los conciertos de The Chameleons y para echar un vistazo atrás a los tiempos del Punk. Así mismo los 3 bonus tracks del concierto semiacústico de Münster son un buen regalo para los oídos, mostrándonos a unos Chameleons menos rockeros, si bien la calidad del sonido de la grabación de estos tres temas se nota inferior al resto de temas.
Como únicos inconvenientes decir que entre canción y canción ha sido eliminado el sonido del público, hecho este que le resta sensación de grabación en vivo. El diseño del album es quizá demasiado rudimentario para los tiempos que corren, demasiado amateur. Se echa de menos así mismo un folleto más extenso que muestre de una manera más fidedigna el calor del directo de The Chameleons.
Esperemos que la edición de este nuevo album sea un signo de la vitalidad del grupo y que en breve vean la luz nuevas grabaciones con material inédito.
