The Chameleons - Strange Times (1986)

Este es otro caso de esos en que un grupo lanza su mejor disco, en en gran sello, con todo de cara para triunfar y ,de repente se va todo al traste.

Parece ser que el motivo fue la muerte de su manager aunque quizás las tensiones internas que ya había saltaron por los aires y el resto ya es historia: separación, disco de reunión en 2001,que ni suma ni resta a la leyenda, y eternas giras de Mark Burgess interpretando los éxitos de Chameleons en solitario o como Chameleons Vox.

Por cierto,a esa gira asistí y la verdad es que nos encotramos con un Mark Burgess en plena forma.Y fue un auténtico conciertazo. Aunque a mí este tipo de conciertos me producen sensaciones encontradas.Por una parte puedes ver al fin, en directo, las canciones de uno de tus grupos preferidos, aunque por otra parte sabes que estas viendo una pequeña estafa.

La más reciente en este estilo fue la gira de Peter Hook, interpretando "Unknown Pleasures", o las giras de From the Jam. Exceptuando en casos en que algún miebro original esté muerto, da rabia no poder ver a la formación original.


Pero,volviendo al disco.Es una auténtica maravilla el tratamiento de las guitarras,creando atmósferas cercanas al dream-pop con toques psicodélicos y prácticamente no tiene ningún segundo de desperdicio a pesar de su duración.

Un único pero: Su horrorosa portada, como todas las de esta banda (que me perdonen los fans más hardcore)

Mis favoritas:In Answer, Childhood y Ever After, esta última incluida como bonus track sólo en algunas ediciones.

All Music, dice:"If there was a should-have-been year in the Chameleons' history, 1986 would clearly be it, and Strange Times demonstrates that on every track, practically in every note. Signed to a huge label, with production help from the Dave Allen/Mark Saunders team who worked on the Cure's brilliant series of late-'80s records (here providing a more balanced sound between guitar effects and direct punch than appeared on What), the Chameleons delivered an album that should have been the step to a more above-board existence on radio and beyond. Right from the start, a stunning upward spiral of a guitar riff begins the unnerving character study "Mad Jack," the bandmembers mix their skills, experience, and songwriting ability perfectly and take everything to an even higher level. The first half continues with three more stunners: "Caution," a semi-waltz that moves well, pulls back, and then slams home, "Tears," a crushingly sad, acoustic ode to personal loss, and "Soul in Isolation," combining a huge majestic wallop with Mark Burgess' anguished study of alienation. And just when you think it couldn't get any better -- "Swamp Thing," the definitive Chameleons song, complex, building, tense, epic, perfectly played (John Lever's drumming is simply jaw-dropping, the Reg Smithies/Dave Fielding guitar pairing totally spot on), and with one of Burgess' most poetic, personal lyrics. It just keeps going from there, the second half covering everything from more sweeping tunes ("Time," "In Answer") to bare-bones melancholy ("In Answer," "I'll Remember"). Bonus tracks: an alternate and equally striking "Tears," the driving "Paradiso" and "Inside Out," and two covers. The take on Bowie's "John, I'm Only Dancing" is a quick fun goof, but the version of "Tomorrow Never Knows" (Burgess especially has been and remains a massive John Lennon fanatic, quoting songs by him liberally throughout his career) surges and soars, beating out by a mile all the times others have covered it. From back to front, Strange Times could never have enough praise. "by Ned Ragget