shoegaze

The Chameleons are one of my personal favourite bands and are every bit as influential as Cocteau Twins. No, they weren't a shoegaze band (neither were Cocteau Twins for that matter), but I consider them to be an important element in the development of dreampop. I think some even considered The Chameleons a dreampop band at one point. Listening to Reg Smithies and Dave Fielding is what made me want to play guitar in the first place, so The Chameleons will always be special to me. What they did with Chorus and Delay effects was pure magic.

They never quite got the attention other post-punk bands like Echo & The Bunnymen, Joy Division, The Cure, or even Cocteau Twins got; but The Chameleons were certainly influential. Everytime I listen to bands like The Ocean Blue, Bell Hollow, Kitchens of Distinction, and especially Interpol, I hear quite a bit of The Chameleons. In fact, when Interpol's Turn On The Bright Lights came out I thought it sounded like The Chameleons with Ian Curtis on vocals. To me, they're just as important to the genre as Cocteau Twins, Lush, The Jesus and Mary Chain, My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive and Ride are. And just like Joy Division, The Cure and Cocteau Twins, one can hear The Chameleons' influence across dreampop, indie rock, and darkwave genres.

total pioneers, everything they've done is gold, end of story.

Script is such an amazing record. i think i read that the band hated the way it sounded or turned out or something, but i have no idea why. i agree with kestrel, every time i hear them i want to go home and play guitar!

Definitely under-appreciated geniuses. I'd say The Sound deserve the same level of recognition.

It's weird, as "post-punk" became a "thing" over the last few years (with modern bands name-checking Joy Division, Echo etc) - it caused a few of these other great bands to get some good re-issues and whatnot... but they still seem to get ignored by the mainstream press - and I'll never quite understand that.

Chameleons, The Sound, The Wake... all dreamy bands (with varying gaze-esque tendancies) and all deserving of more attention.

thanks for the info on that lasermonkey!

yeah, vinyl is crazy like that. i think after 16-17 minutes a side you drop 1db for each minute you go up past it. and double vinyl is $$$. i unfortunately have the MCA release and not the original Statik so 4 songs are missing even though it's mastered louder.