1985
3 keepers (original album)
keeper avg .300 (original album)
The Chameleons opt to begin the second album with more of a slow burn than their debut, starting with the funerary instrumental "Silence, Sea and Sky," followed by the up-tempo but relatively restrained "Perfume Garden"****. Like on the previous album The Chameleons are defined by Reg Smithies and Dave Fielding's layers of delayed guitars over Mark Burgess and John Lever's driving rhythm section. "Singing Rule Britannia (While the Walls Close In)"**** best highlights the melodic combination of those combined parts, while Mark Burgess delivers one of his most anthemic melodies (and ends the song in homage to The Beatles "She Said She Said"). With a simple, exuberant riff "Looking Inwardly"**** is like the early punk/new-wave U2 without Bono's wailing, while "One Flesh" has similar energy.
"Intrigue in Tangiers" and the more energetic title song have the moodier tone of "Don't Fall" (1983), while "On the Beach" musically achieves a good combination of that tension and melodic release. Tense, chromatic strings create a gothic mystery in "Home Is Where the Heart Is" (the "according to Hoyle all cards on the table" song), and the album ends with the quiet, introspective "P.S. Goodbye." The CD version adds the "In Shreds"****/"Nostalgia"**** single (which preceded the album in the same year), both top notch Chameleons tracks, similar to U2 and Psychedelic Furs respectively.
P.S.: In my review of Script Of The Bridge I commented that "Less Than Human" foreshadows (the brooding, minor theme of) Angelo Badalamenti's "Laura Palmer's Theme," heard throughout the Twin Peaks series. Incredibly, I could say the same about "Silence, Sea and Sky" resembling the major theme of the same song. I'm sure the common inspirations for all the above mentioned songs are numerous but it would be interesting if it could be confirmed that Badalamenti was influenced by both and amalgamated them.
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