NATION OF GHOSTS – THE CHAMELEONS

Guitiar-driven melencholia that echos like a chamber of ghosts and then explodes like an IRA bomb, it’s beyond bewildering that The Chameleons did not rule the 80s in the same way that The Smiths did. Though they laid the foundation for Shoegaze, Noise-Pop, dream pop and a myriad of other genres, and influenced everyone from Echo And The Bunnymen to No Age, Mark Burgess and Company are often criminally over-looked and under-appreciated. They were one of the first and most prominent Positive Punk bands to utilize dueling guitars and an arsenal of effects pedals, with one guitarist playing open chords and another playing arpeggiations giving the feel of a sonic lantern guiding you through forest.  Mark Burgess had one of those awesome baritone voices that seemed to be a reality anchor to the dream-like swoon of the music he created. Depressive, angry but at times hopeful, The Chameleons were one of the greatest bands from the Positive Punk/Goth Rock era. Drift into the swell after the fall.