Names change, and line-ups certainly do. And maybe that's fitting for a band named after a color-changing lizard? The arrival of a new Chameleons record prompts speculation about what keeps a legendary band that same legendary band we first heard.
This very question of Is it still the same band? came up in this interview the site's Jay Mukherjee did with Mark Burgess last year, before he took the name Vox. And, re-reading the lead singer's comments on what makes Echo and the Bunnymen still Echo and the Bunnymen these days, a similar case can be made that Arctic Moon is definitely a Chameleons record in a very real sense given the presence here of Vox, the lead singer formerly known as Mark Burgess, and original guitarist Reg Smithies. They've seen this outfit change shapes from The Chameleons to Chameleons Vox, and back again. And, frankly, as long as those two are still involved it's still the band we fell in love with around the era of Strange Times (1986).
And the tunes certainly have the sweep and majesty of the best from earlier iterations of this outfit. "Free Me" is quite lovely, even in its near-desperatation, while the Suede-y "Feels Like the End of the World" marries melody to morbidity to consider if things really are that bad. The epic "David Bowie Takes My Hand" is a mood piece, with sonic references to the Starman's contributions to "Satellite of Love" by Lou Reed. The cut works, but long-time fans may be dismayed at the lack of guitar-squall on this. The pointed "Saviours are a Dangerous Thing" retains a little of the urgent currency of The Sun and the Moon, the project Burgess had with the late John Lever in the late Eighties, while the lovely "Lady Strange" takes equal inspiration from "Baby Strange" by Vox faves T. Rex, and "Lady Stardust" by Bowie, a song about Marc Bolan.
After an absence of more than two decades, The Chameleons returned to us with the Forever EP last year. The lead single then, "Where are You?", also here, offered up that refrain of "time's not real and there is no end" and it remains true. They morphed a bit, and the lead singer has a different name, but the end result is still The Chameleons. And Arctic Moon is a fine Chameleons record. Only a fool would try to remake Strange Times, and so what we get now is, like those albums from the revival of Echo and the Bunnymen and The Cure, enough of the same pleasures as to count for long-time fans.
Arctic Moon by Chameleons is out on Friday via Metropolis Records. Details also via Bandcamp.
[Photo: Mick Peek]