Chameleons - Script of the Bridge

  by John Clarkson

published: 22 / 8 / 2008

Label: Select Label
Format: N/A

intro

Anthony Strutt writes about Manchester post punk group the Chameleons' 1983 debut album, 'Script of the Bridge', which has just been re-released in a 25th anniversary double CD remastered edition

The 25th anniversary edition of the debut album of my favourite ever band from the district of Manchester, the Chameleons, gets a double CD remaster treatment and comes with a booklet of notes, unreleased photographs and full lyrics, as well as a bonus disc of 18 unreleased tracks. The Chameleons only recorded three albums, ‘Script of the Bridge’ (1983), ‘What Does Anything Mean / Basically’ (1985) and ‘Strange Times’ (1986) in their original life time, and then another three, ‘Strip’ (2000), ‘Why Call It Anything ?’ (2001) and’ This Never Ending Now’ (2002) after they reformed in the late 90’s. In between there has been over 20 albums of demos, live, compilations, rehearsals, as well as solo projects. ‘Script of the Bridge’ is not an easy album. It reflects the time it was made and the life lived at the time, in a hard city. The vocals of Mark Burgess, who has recently published his autobiography, ‘View from a Hill’ , have always been reflective and sound like a battle cry to fight the bullshit that life has to offer. His bass work here is loud and assists Dave Fielding and Reg Smithies’ shimmering guitars, which are equally beautiful and haunting. ‘Script of the Bridge’ is an album I have listened to a lot over the years. This time it comes with three demos, of which one was never released, and an additional live gig from Bremen in Germany from 1983, which was always an easy tape to find on Chameleons’ hardcore live tape collections, but it is good to have it on CD at last. One of the greatest albums of all time !

Track Listing:-

Picture Gallery:-