Terzo disco per il combo capitanato da Mark Burgess e terzo ed ultimo disco della trilogia che ha reso celebri i Chameleons, quelli più autentici e ottantiani.
Partiti come una versione stemperata e sognante dei loro concittadini Joy Division, nel 1983 esordiscono con l'epocale "Script of The Bridge". Disco cupo e malinconico, condito con riverberi di chitarre e atmosfere eteree che daranno vita, qualche anno più tardi, alla stagione del "dream pop" tanto caro a formazioni quali Lowlife, For Against e Cranes.
Amici intimi dei The Sound dello sfortunato Adrian Borland, e con più di un elemento sonoro in comune, i Chameleons si apprestano a produrre nel 1985 l'album "What Does Anything Means? Basically". Certamente non più debitore nei confronti della darkwave e vicino a quanto prodotto, almeno ai tempi, da formazioni quali U2 e The Smiths.
Ma come suonerà il terzo parto di una simile band? Dimenticate il passato e immergetevi nell'ascolto di un'opera che, lentamente, abbandona i classici stilemi della new wave per approdare ad un pop-rock ragionato e alle volte sinfonico. Non è progressive ma poco ci manca.
Date un ascolto a tracks come "Tears", "Swamp Thing" o "Paradiso". Prestate attenzione all'impalcatura sonora e alla durata delle canzoni in esame. Ok, non si tratterà dei Pink Floyd né tantomeno dei Marillion, ma è evidente un evoluzione verso un formato canzone maggiormente complesso e vicino all'Art Rock.
Non disperate! La lieve malinconia che da sempre ha accompagnato i Chameleons è viva e vegeta anche in questa loro terza release. Mai, però, come nel debutto e nemmeno come in ""What Does Anything Means? Basically".
Un disco "maturo", un disco scritto da musicisti che sembrano avere superato la fascinazione per un determinato genere e un disco, questo è certo, che saprà farsi apprezzare senza molti problemi dagli ascoltatori più intelligenti.
Dopo "Strange Times" la disfatta e, nei primi anni del nuovo millennio, la rinascita. Ma questa è tutta un'altra storia.
Elenco tracce testi samples e video
01 Mad Jack (04:00)
He's cold to the kiss
In ignorance he's dangerous
In innocence he's bliss
And he stalks the night
With sonar senses
And he holds you tight
Masturbates the madness in you
He dreams when he's not sleeping
Plays the trusted friend
Trust him, friend
About as far as you can piss
And he holds the night
Walks in shadow
And avoids the light
Masturbates the madness in you
His frightened eyes
Can't disguise
Blatant lies
Blatant lies
Step inside
Well just watch him now
Where he's walking
It's a vacuum world
And every word
A silent, strangled scream
He's God tonight
Walks on water
And he's always right
Talks about the madness in America
Oh he's God tonight
He walks on water
And he's always right
Talks about the madness in Africa
His frightened eyes
Mad Jack's eyes
Can't disguise
Blatant lies
Frightened eyes
Mad Jack's eyes
Are open wide
It's been a long time Jack
Welcome back
Have some speed
Have some smack
If you want to dance Jack
Don't look back
02 Caution (07:52)
We have no future, we have no past
We're just drifting ghosts of glass
Brown sugar, ice in our veins
No pressure, no pain
Everybody looks the same to me
Rows and rows of faces on the balcony
I can hear them calling down to me
Come up here - set us free
Got sugar in our brains
Or a dagger in our hearts
This is not my home, no
Everyone's bought and sold
This is not my home
Everybody's walking round the dead and cold
One by one by one we disappear
Day after day and year after year
You are run about our wasted there
Nobody hears cause nobody cares
Put a dagger in my heart now
Cold here and I shudder and I shiver
I want to look twenty but I can't deliver
Pains in the heart
Ba-ba-bow-wow-wow
It's cold in here
Can you hear my teeth a-chatter
The time has come for all of us to scatter
Caution to the wind
Caution to the wind
Dagger in the heart
No
This is not my home, no
Everyone's bought and sold
This is not my home
Everybody's checking out the dead and cold
We have no future we have no past
We're just drifting ghosts of glass
Brown sugar, ice in our veins
No pressure, no pain
Nothing on earth could help me, no
04 Soul in Isolation (07:30)
Soul in isolation
I can hear you breathing down the hall
Soul in isolation
I can hear you whisper through the walls
And if i had a mind to now
I could call to you
Or i could simply shut you out
No more,would you cry,cry,cry
I give you my time to kill
But you'll never never break my will
Or i could sink a sleeping pill
And in the morning could be sleeping still
But,most of you are much to ill
Oh, way beyond a surgeons skill
In bondage to a dollar bill
What more can you buy,buy,buy
Oh when you think of it,when you think of it
We're all souls in isolation
Alive in here,im alive in here
I'm alive in here
Oh, when you think of ,when you think of it
Try here
A word in your ear
Go back to the trees
Big bad giant standing tall
Crushing all the creatures great and small
I'd like to see this giant fall
When will it come?
Words that rattle round my head
Struck like lightning,someone said
Diamond bullet,in the head
Right in the brain
Are they right in the brain?
Will i see the jailers face?
Did my mother lead my place?
Will i live to see his face?
Or will another come to take my place?
In total isolation
Surrounded by fears
Too many clowns ,too many tears
Isolation
Surrounded by crowds
In another world,head in the clouds!
I'm alive in here, i scream!
But you still can't hear
I'm alive, turn on the light
Oh when you think of it,when you think of it
We're all souls in isolation
Alive in here,im alive in here
I'm alive in here
Oh,when you think of it
Souls in isolation
We're always searching for something
Searching
Dear,dear,dead days i'm longing for you
Sweetest virgin
Now de-flowered
05 Swamp Thing (05:58)
I can already hear your tune
Calling me across the room
When the world and his wife are on my back again
Not enough pleasure, too much pain
When the world is too much with me (Please leave--just go away)
I lose my mind completely (Please leave--just go now)
In the side street something's moving
Look around, look around
All around you walls are tumbling down
Stop staring at the ground
I can practically see your face
And another revolutionary falls from grace
Hear the thunder in your brain
Not enough sunshine, too much rain
When the light of life has gone (No change for the meter)
And then the king of spivs will come (Selling blood by the liter)
When nothing's sacred anymore
When the demon's knocking on your door
You'll still be staring down at the floor
Not too many hours from this hour
So long
The storm comes
Or is it just another shower?
Picking up the pieces
Half alive in a nine-to-five
Vacant eyes
Is it any wonder?
Rhyme and scream at the TV screen
Close your eyes
Now the world is too much with me (Please leave--just go away)
Before I lose my mind completely (Just leave--please go now)
Now nothing's sacred anymore
When the demon's breaking down your door
You'll still be staring down at the floor
Not too many hours from this hour
So long
The storm comes
Or is it just another shower?
Now the rain has come
Or is it just another shower?
07 Seriocity (03:09)
I used to be so sure
I used to be so certain
Now it's gone
Always needing more
Bleating out excuses
I have none, none
Cast reflections on the water
Now that the deed is done
We'll wait
And watch the ripples fade away
Hearts are breaking
Someone's daughter
Joins with someone's son
It goes on and on again
On and on again
We Watch the ripples run
I used to be so sure
I used to be so certain
How could I be so wrong
Always needing more
At last the chains are breaking
Watch me now
Watch me run
Over fields and past the houses
Like a bullet from the gun
Watch the figure fade away
Hearts are breaking
Someone's daughter
Joins with someone's son
All alone again, all alone again
Watch the ripples run
Over fields and past the houses
Watch the rabbit run
08 In Answer (04:46)
One afternoon
A part of me parted too soon
It slipped away
I don't know what to say
Eyes that drew me in
To wonderful, wonderful sin
And it blew me away
I don't know what to say
In answer
Nothing matters to me
One cold grey afternoon
A part of me parted too soon
And it blew me away
I don't know what to say
Eyes that drew me in
To wonderful, wonderful sin
And it blew me away
In answer
Nothing matters to me
Believe me
You own my soul completely
And from day to day
And from hour to hour
I will be
Always in your power
Set my spirit free
As I fell to the ground
My head swam around and around
And I didn't know
Which way was up or down
One cold grey afternoon
A part of me parted too soon
It slipped away
I don't know what to say
In answer, in answer
You're all that matters to me
09 Childhood (04:46)
I saw innocent kids turn cruel
In the playground at school
Poor Claudius played the fool
Survival is cool
One for the space
To prowl as you please
Two for the pulpit
Down on your knees
We've opened out hearts to shame
No-one's to blame
Hey!
Everything was clearer than today
You have to hang on to your childhood
Open your eyes
Or stay as you are my friend
You have to hang on
Hang on
My life is a Milbury's home
On Hereford Way
My life is a Barclays' loan now,
And a mortgage to pay
Let's drink to freedom
And family ties
Here's to the bags
That are under my eyes
We've opened our eyes to pride
But there's nothing inside
Hey!
Everything was clearer than today
You have to hang on to your childhood
Open your eyes
Or stay as you are my friend
You have to hang on
Hang on
How have you been
I hope you go far
Together we'll stand
And prop up the bar
I'm watching you now
Cleaning your car
Open your eyes
Or stay as you are
Just a little more heart now
Just a little bit
Hang on
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