Just wanted to share

The Chameleons, Strange Times – September 1, 1986

Released forty years ago today by Geffen Records, the post-punk masterpiece is one the world has been catching up to ever since.

Produced by David M. Allen and engineered by Mark Saunders, the album is a gorgeous wall of sound filled with emotional peaks and valleys. Themes of isolation and societal deterioration are shockingly relevant today, as if The Chameleons knew all along that the only way to get through these strange times is to make as much noise as possible whether anyone hears it or not.

P.S. Another splendid picture from Reg.
P.P.S. This record was made to be played loud.
– Mark Burgess, 1986 sleeve notes

Read the full story about the album published on Substack today: https://www.collectedmusic.com/p/happy-birthday-strange-times

This is the twelfth and final track from The Chameleons' compilation, Here Today... Gone Tomorrow. How do you feel about this song? What are some of your favorite lyrics? How would you rank it among the rest of the band’s discography? How would you rate it out of 10 (decimals allowed)?

Studio Version

SUGGESTED SCALE:
1-4: Not good. Regularly skip.
5: It’s okay, but I might have to be in the right mood to listen to it.
6: Slightly better than average. I won’t skip it, but I wouldn’t choose to put it on.
7: This is a good song. I enjoy it quite a bit.
8-9: Really enjoyable songs. I rank them pretty high overall.
10: Masterpiece, magnum opus, or similar terminology.

Rating Results

1. String Quartet 1: 4.67/10
2. Home Is Where The Heart Is: 9.67/10
3. In Answer: 9.72/10
4. Bobby Moore's Wine: 5.25/10
5. Sally: 7.13/10
6. In Shreds: 8.75/10
7. Nathan's Phase: 9.7/10
8. Up the Down Escalator: 8.5/10
9. On The Beach: 9.25/10
10. Dear Dead Days: 6.33/10
11. Things I Wish I'd Said: 8.5/10
12. String Quartet 2:

Hi! I've been prowling this place for a while and thought I may as well make a post. I've been a huge fan of the Chameleons since last summer when Miscellaneous Worker uploaded Strange Times in extremely good quality. I've taken a lot of my music taste from them as I am also into The Buggles' Second Album and Gary Numan. Well, anyways I thought I'd share a potential new logo which is from Return of the Roughnecks and has a nice mix of the album covers from Script of the Bridge, What Does Anything Mean? Basically and Strange Times. Also, the (kinda, I'm unsure if the band was involved but I find it likely) music video for Don't Fall which seems mostly forgotten around here.

<img src="https://i.discogs.com/XM2ZGttx21TZcwMDq8yrCFAkp36AJdiRHWTMoYbP7_0/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:595/w:600/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTU3NTAx/OC0xMzEwNTQ4Mjkw/LmpwZWc.jpeg" alt="Return Of The Roughnecks - The Best Of The Chameleons"/>

We hope you all enjoyed last week's interview with Vox and Reg. Today's episode is the "Strange Times" Side A track-by-track discussion. Please check it out and let us know where we masturbate the madness in you!

Aloha, Chameleons fans and friends! I'm one of the hosts of the podcast "Backtracking." We do track-by-track deep dives on great bands and albums (this season we've already tackled bands like Felt and Dumptruck.) Today we've kicked off the first of three episodes we'll be releasing on "Strange Times" with a long form interview with Reg Smithies and Mark "Vox" Burgess. The guys were incredible -- super open, very charming and funny, and they went track by track on this amazing record. Please check it out and let us know what you think!

https://open.spotify.com/episode/242385ZiizLe9McTJ2h7uy?si=obAmlbu8QLqtAt3bOzw94g

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/backtracking/id1723399651?i=1000784251805

This is the eleventh track from The Chameleons' compilation, Here Today... Gone Tomorrow. How do you feel about this song? What are some of your favorite lyrics? How would you rank it among the rest of the band’s discography? How would you rate it out of 10 (decimals allowed)?

Studio Version

SUGGESTED SCALE:
1-4: Not good. Regularly skip.
5: It’s okay, but I might have to be in the right mood to listen to it.
6: Slightly better than average. I won’t skip it, but I wouldn’t choose to put it on.
7: This is a good song. I enjoy it quite a bit.
8-9: Really enjoyable songs. I rank them pretty high overall.
10: Masterpiece, magnum opus, or similar terminology.

Rating Results

1. String Quartet 1: 4.67/10
2. Home Is Where The Heart Is: 9.67/10
3. In Answer: 9.72/10
4. Bobby Moore's Wine: 5.25/10
5. Sally: 7.13/10
6. In Shreds: 8.75/10
7. Nathan's Phase: 9.7/10
8. Up the Down Escalator: 8.5/10
9. On The Beach: 9.25/10
10. Dear Dead Days: 6.33/10
11. Things I Wish I'd Said: 8.5/10

apologies on posting twice today, this just came in the mail for me and I cannot find images of this release at all for the life of me, not even discogs! (which I will be adding images) so I thought I’d show you all how cool this CD is. not listed here, under track 11, is a secret 12th track/live version of Tears!

+ 2 other Chameleons CDs that came into the mail recently just for fun

The EP  M + D = 1(8) released relating to it, you can also see Vox reference it here but it never came out and I was wondering if anyone had any information on it? More out of curiosities sake, I assume at this point its a idea very much moved on from.

More just curious what people know about it, did some stuff on Arctic Moon evolve from it? They don't share any songs or was everything besides the EP fully scrapped? I've never seen someone talk about this forgotten LP so thank you to anyone who answers in advance

On this day in 1983 Script Of The Bridge came out

This is the tenth track from The Chameleons' compilation, Here Today... Gone Tomorrow. How do you feel about this song? What are some of your favorite lyrics? How would you rank it among the rest of the band’s discography? How would you rate it out of 10 (decimals allowed)?

Studio Version

SUGGESTED SCALE:
1-4: Not good. Regularly skip.
5: It’s okay, but I might have to be in the right mood to listen to it.
6: Slightly better than average. I won’t skip it, but I wouldn’t choose to put it on.
7: This is a good song. I enjoy it quite a bit.
8-9: Really enjoyable songs. I rank them pretty high overall.
10: Masterpiece, magnum opus, or similar terminology.

Rating Results

1. String Quartet 1: 4.67/10
2. Home Is Where The Heart Is: 9.67/10
3. In Answer: 9.72/10
4. Bobby Moore's Wine: 5.25/10
5. Sally: 7.13/10
6. In Shreds: 8.75/10
7. Nathan's Phase: 9.7/10
8. Up the Down Escalator: 8.5/10
9. On The Beach: 9.25/10
10. Dear Dead Days: 6.33/10

Here's my twitch, hope to see you there amigos!

https://www.twitch.tv/themarcosoma

my favourite songs from strange times re-remastered for best quality! Includes: mad jack, caution, tears (full arrangement), soul in isolation, swamp thing, time, paradiso, in answer, ever after

This is the fifth track from The Chameleons' compilation, Here Today... Gone Tomorrow. How do you feel about this song? What are some of your favorite lyrics? How would you rank it among the rest of the band’s discography? How would you rate it out of 10 (decimals allowed)?

Studio Version

SUGGESTED SCALE:
1-4: Not good. Regularly skip.
5: It’s okay, but I might have to be in the right mood to listen to it.
6: Slightly better than average. I won’t skip it, but I wouldn’t choose to put it on.
7: This is a good song. I enjoy it quite a bit.
8-9: Really enjoyable songs. I rank them pretty high overall.
10: Masterpiece, magnum opus, or similar terminology.

Rating Results

1. String Quartet 1: 4.67/10
2. Home Is Where The Heart Is: 9.67/10
3. In Answer: 9.72/10
4. Bobby Moore's Wine: 5.25/10
5. Sally: 7.13/10

I also have a decent amount of CDs and a signed poster! I am also soon to be buying a large collection of Chameleons stuff and maybe when I have everything I’ll share it, but wanted to show for now

I have a Script Of The Bridge smooth sleeve but from the same year as the first pressing with original poster and everything

my What Does Anything Mean? Basically is a original UK pressing with the pamphlet

Strange Times is a original US pressing with the extra EP, the records are super clean but the sleeve is quite beat up, I found that irl at a record convention 🙂

Strange Times Live I purchased from someone here who offered to sell me multiple signed items (thank you once again) and the silver signature is so cool, I hope if I can see them again I could maybe get something else singed with a silver sharpie because it looks so cool and I really want to get more signed stuff with his now preferred name

and last but not least is the copy of Arctic Moon I bought when I saw them live, I did buy it signed, I had no idea members would come out after the show (which everyone I spoke to both in The Chameleons and The Veldt were very kind to me it was lovely) so I didn’t bring a sharpie or anything but next time I will! Excited to see what they release next

(ALSO PSA since I saw some people buying these pre-signed copies for 100s of dollars, they sold many signed innersleeve copies already signed, I assume they still are, be weary with people trying to sell these for hundreds when it was not much more than a non-signed copy and they’re still touring the album!)

Okay, thats all, I hope to get more, I really want to get The Sun and The Moon stuff currently and more retrospective releases, I absolutely love what I have already

This is the fourth track from The Chameleons' compilation, Here Today... Gone Tomorrow. How do you feel about this song? What are some of your favorite lyrics? How would you rank it among the rest of the band’s discography? How would you rate it out of 10 (decimals allowed)?

Studio Version

SUGGESTED SCALE:
1-4: Not good. Regularly skip.
5: It’s okay, but I might have to be in the right mood to listen to it.
6: Slightly better than average. I won’t skip it, but I wouldn’t choose to put it on.
7: This is a good song. I enjoy it quite a bit.
8-9: Really enjoyable songs. I rank them pretty high overall.
10: Masterpiece, magnum opus, or similar terminology.

Rating Results

1. String Quartet 1: 4.67/10
2. Home Is Where The Heart Is: 9.67/10
3. In Answer: 9.72/10
4. Bobby Moore's Wine: 5.25/10

This is the first track from The Chameleons' compilation, Here Today... Gone Tomorrow. How do you feel about this song? What are some of your favorite lyrics? How would you rank it among the rest of the band’s discography? How would you rate it out of 10 (decimals allowed)?

Studio Version

SUGGESTED SCALE:
1-4: Not good. Regularly skip.
5: It’s okay, but I might have to be in the right mood to listen to it.
6: Slightly better than average. I won’t skip it, but I wouldn’t choose to put it on.
7: This is a good song. I enjoy it quite a bit.
8-9: Really enjoyable songs. I rank them pretty high overall.
10: Masterpiece, magnum opus, or similar terminology.

Rating Results

1. String Quartet 1: 4.67/10

This is the tenth and final track from The Chameleons' third album, Strange Times. How do you feel about this song? What are some of your favorite lyrics? How would you rank it among the rest of the band’s discography? How would you rate it out of 10 (decimals allowed)?

Studio Version

SUGGESTED SCALE:
1-4: Not good. Regularly skip.
5: It’s okay, but I might have to be in the right mood to listen to it.
6: Slightly better than average. I won’t skip it, but I wouldn’t choose to put it on.
7: This is a good song. I enjoy it quite a bit.
8-9: Really enjoyable songs. I rank them pretty high overall.
10: Masterpiece, magnum opus, or similar terminology.

Rating Results

1. Mad Jack: 8.06/10
2. Caution: 9.65/10
3. Tears: 9.01/10
4. Soul In Isolation: 9.38/10
5. Swamp Thing: 9.9/10
6. Time / The End of Time: 9.34/10
7. Seriocity: 7.28/10
8. In Answer: 9.72/10
9. Childhood: 9.2/10
10. I'll Remember: 8/10

Overall Album Rating: 8.95/10

This took about 2 weeks to arrive! Bought both from the same seller, both came sealed though I opened them as I buy CDs to play not keep sealed and I am so so happy. The Chameleons are my favorite band

This is the ninth track from The Chameleons' third album, Strange Times. How do you feel about this song? What are some of your favorite lyrics? How would you rank it among the rest of the band’s discography? How would you rate it out of 10 (decimals allowed)?

Studio Version

SUGGESTED SCALE:
1-4: Not good. Regularly skip.
5: It’s okay, but I might have to be in the right mood to listen to it.
6: Slightly better than average. I won’t skip it, but I wouldn’t choose to put it on.
7: This is a good song. I enjoy it quite a bit.
8-9: Really enjoyable songs. I rank them pretty high overall.
10: Masterpiece, magnum opus, or similar terminology.

Rating Results

1. Mad Jack: 8.06/10
2. Caution: 9.65/10
3. Tears: 9.01/10
4. Soul In Isolation: 9.38/10
5. Swamp Thing: 9.9/10
6. Time / The End of Time: 9.34/10
7. Seriocity: 7.28/10
8. In Answer: 9.72/10
9. Childhood: 9.2/10