In an ideal world, The Chameleons are selling out stadia of fans, and are one of the most successful bands in the history of popular music; while U2 have slipped into obscurity because of their utter mediocrity. Basically, reality check isn't so pretty, and somehow this immensely talented band slipped through the cracks to become the quintessential 80's band you've never heard of. Here's their debut, Script of the Bridge - a post punk masterpiece disguised (blame the cover art) as a bargain bin piece. One of the finest albums of its time, and still sounds so damn good today. The guitar interplay is fantastic, the lyrics are poignant and the sound is, well, timeless; in many ways it serves as a sort of 80's Ok Computer; with its unique atmosphere and themes of alienation and disconnect. Bono+Edge, you guys are fucking hacks for ripping off and watering down this sound. Another insight:
Script Of The Bridge sets the stage perfectly for a record of broken dreams, trembling nostalgia, and a palatable yearning for the lost innocence of youth. The touchstones of human existence are all here, in glorious blood red. Joy and despair. Pleasure and pain.
Marking an exact stylistic point between fellow Mancunians Joy Division and the Smiths, the Chameleons have somehow been criminally neglected by the history books. Whilst their peers Echo & The Bunnymen and U2 enjoyed critical acclaim and adoration, the Chameleons simply released three low key albums before breaking up after the untimely death of their manager in 1987.
_Script of the Bridge_, their 1983 debut, defies its relative obscurity by standing virtually unrivaled, not just in eighties post punk music, but in rock music at large; a thundering wall of melody, the band used the studio to create a textured sonic art that married a breath taking understanding of atmosphere and restraint with a palatable sense of emotional fury. The result is music that is somehow beyond mere words and adjectives, transcending any inevitable comparisons or praise.
Song's like "Second Skin" and "Thursday's Child" are rooted between a nostalgic dreamscape and a profound and heartbreaking reality; in one corner the twin guitars of Reg and Dave fill the song's black voids with a kind of glacial sonic ecstasy. Meanwhile vocalist Mark Burgess delivers his words like a man on the edge; brooding and guttural, littered with references to an innocence lost and a desire unspeakable. Be it the dense foreboding of "Here Today" or the hammering distress of "A Person Isn't Safe Anywhere These Days", the band sound forever on the very edge of exploding into a sprawl of futile despair, but always come back with an angel dust melody to shine a light and heal the sadness, offering a sense of hope, empathy and brotherhood through catharsis.
Futhermore, whilst Script of the Bridge feels entirely unified and cohesive, its relentlessly strong songs can actually distract one from the gently inventive arrangements and intricate playing on display, all of which is simply outstanding; the fade out coda tagged onto the end of the aforementioned "A Person Isn't Safe Anywhere These Days" is a mesmerising piece of ambient dub in itself, whilst "Paper Tigers" jumps between jangling guitar lines and unforgiving drum machine breaks. Elsewhere the band mine subtly Gothic influences but with none of the tiresome theatrics; you get the impression that whilst fledgling Goth bands stole the worst bits of Bauhaus and amplified them into a lame pantomime, the Chameleons simply took some of the energetic essence and purified it further.
Relentlessly emotional yet ultimately cleansing, from the opening fury of "Don't Fall" to the reflective post-apocalyptic dream of "View From A Hill" The Chameleons simply don't let up on the perfectly executed intensity of their craft, and with Script of the Bridge touched upon something intangible and rarefied in guitar rock.
For such astonishing music as this I reserve a rare piece of hyperbole. Script of the Bridge is quite simply one of the greatest records ever made.
"In his Autumn 'fore the Winter comes man's last mad surge of youth"
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