The Chameleons next week will reissue their fourth album — 2001’s post-reunion Why Call It Anything — in an expanded 2CD set paired with a live album, as well as release a brand new compilation called Dreams in Celluloid that will package demos and early studio takes with the rare Tony Fletcher Walked On Water…La La La La La-La La-La La EP.
Both two-disc sets will be released Monday via the band’s Blue Apple Music, which is offering a special package deal through Sunday with the two new releases available for a total of £15, or about $23.
The reissue of Why Call It Anything, made during the band’s early-2000s reunion, will be accompanied by the now-deleted 13-track Live at the Academy CD, which was recorded at the Manchester Academy in 2001, and features tracks off the album and earlier material.
The Dreams in Celluloid set features a disc with 13 demos and early studio takes dating back to the beginning of The Chameleons’ career, including songs such as “Fan and the Bellows,” “Dali’s Picture” and “Everyday I’m Crucified” that never made it onto the band’s studio albums. The tracks originally appeared on the long out-of-print compilations The Fan and the Bellows (1986) and Dali’s Picture (1993).
And the second disc of Dreams in Celluloid features the full four-track Tony Fletcher EP, which the band recorded in 1987 during sessions for a follow-up to Strange Days. The band broke up just days after the recordings were made, although they eventually were released posthumously in 1990.
All of the material was newly remastered this past spring, according to the band.
See full tracklists below.
Tracklist: The Chameleons, Why Call It Anything: Collectors’ Edition
CD 1: Original Album
1. “Shades”
2. “Anyone Alive?”
3. “Indiana”
4. “Lufthansa”
5. “Truth Isn’t Truth Anymore”
6. “All Around”
7. “Dangerous Land”
8. “Music In The Womb”
9. “Miracles and Wonders”
10. “Are You Still There?”
CD 2: Live at the Academy
1. “A Person Isn’t Safe Anywhere These Days”
2. “Perfume Garden”
3. “Anyone Alive?”
4. “Indiana”
5. “Caution”
6. “Swamp Thing”
7. “Lufthansa”
8. “Dangerous Land”
9. “Up The Down Escalator”
10. “Miracles and Wonders”
11. “Shades”
12. “Monkeyland”
13. “Second Skin”
Tracklist: The Chameleons, Dreams in Celluloid: A Collection of Rare Recordings
CD 1: Demos and Early Studio Takes
1. “The Fan and The Bellows”
2. “Dali’s Picture”
3. “Everyday I’m Crucified”
4. “Looking Inwardly”
5. “Nostalgia”
6. “Turn To Vices”
7. “Love Is”
8. “Nathan’s Phase”
9. “Dreams In Celluloid”
10. “Things I Wish I’d Said”
11. “Less Than Human”
12. “In Shreds”
13. “Prisoners of the Sun”
CD 2: Tony Fletcher EP
1. “Is It Any Wonder”
2. “Free For All”
3. “The Healer”
4. “Denims And Curls”
PREVIOUSLY ON SLICING UP EYEBALLS
- Vintage Video: The Chameleons in London, 1984 — watch full 100-minute concert
- Video: ChameleonsVox plays 50-minute set at Primavera Sound — full webcast
- Video: Mark Burgess’ ChameleonsVox performs 4 songs for KEXP in Seattle
- ChameleonsVox announce spring U.K. tour, playing Belgium fest with Clan of Xymox
- Mark Burgess to perform The Chameleons’ ‘Script of the Bridge’ in New York, Oakland
- The Chameleons reissuing 1985′s ‘What Does Anything Mean? Basically’
The Tony Fletcher EP is immense – worth buying for that alone.
Nice. One of the most underrated yet brilliant bands of the 80’s.
Just a little point of fact if you’re interested – you probably know the four Tony Fletcher EP tracks were the last recorded by The Chameleons before they split – and they split because their manager, Tony Fletcher died. However – the track “Is It Any Wonder” was first released before the EP. It first appeared on a UK cassette compilation called “The Turtle Breeder Demos”. “Turtle Breeder” was a UK fanzine which ran for seven issues – primarily put together by Dez Innocent, Lee McFadden (myself) and Paul Lemmon. Dez received the recording – and with it full permission to release the track – by Mark Burgess – after Dez interviewed him on the release of the self-titled “The Sun And The Moon” album in 1988.
Where’s the remaster of their third album, Strange Times? Maybe it has something to do with that particular album being on Geffen.
Just to echo the comments by Catherine above, is there any chance of a remaster of Strange Times at some point in the future. C’mon Geffen or who ever owns the rights to this recording now it’s about time this great album had the remastering treatment same as the other studio albums.