MUSICSHOCK

THE CHAMELEONS – Script of the bridge – My review

Posted on 9 June 2019 by alexshockmusic

THE CHAMELEONS – SCRIPT OF THE BRIDGE

My review

Manchester … early ‘80s … an invasion of bands surrounded initially this city and then the rest of the world, showing fully that this was indeed the place where different musical genres could influence musicians and listeners. Even today this fertility is the characteristic of an immense city as to its musical proposals.

In 1983 an album was released that was decisive, able to influence a flood of musicians.

Obviously within this album you can recognize clear references and not only properly connected with the city of Manchester.

But let me tell you that this album stands out for a feature that today unfortunately can escape for many reasons, even before its songs: the sound, its sound is the first trademark of the Chameleons, the one that made them unique at that very moment.

Then obviously 12 songs come that burn our hearts, lubricate our thirsty desire for beauty, this album is unquestionably one of the most beautiful and important of the ‘80s and not always these two things can be connected.

An album full of melancholy, with stories filled with lucid observations, especially from that outskirts of Manchester from which the band came, that is to say Middleton.

Mark Reg Dave and John: four souls united by a very different, deep, intense communicative need and each of them in this album shines without any doubt.

An album composed of 12 songs: at that time there were vinyls, side A and side B, and the listening included turning the vinyl, lowering the stylus and continuing to listen to it.

A compact album, the undisputed father of a myriad of followers, many musicians have begun to play only after having listened to it and it could not be otherwise.

I who am attentive towards the lyrics can say that the ones included in this album are unique, really capable of shaking the heart, of squeezing it.

The powerful dark tense music does nothing but exalt all this in a splendid idyll.

Many have defined it a New Wave album, a post punk work and other similar things: in my opinion, none of this …

SCRIPT OF THE BRIDGE is a parenthesis, an album that does not need to be placed in a musical genre: it can really be loved by so many people if you manage to deepen your listening, to fully explore its infinite beauty that lasts longer than its official 57 minutes.

It is an album that enters our hearts through tears, it is a lucid, well-hidden social treatise, but the eyes that look at the reality of those years and the hands that are writing now are inextricably linked to that difficult historical period.

Manchester and its district at that time were full of difficulties, of bitter stories, of poverty and hardship, all situations that you can find in this album which is a jewel.

This time I will not describe the album song by song, it is a private matter, I am always shaken whenever I listen to it and I would not like to write nonsense.

I limit myself to describing in the best possible way the importance and context of these songs to which I am intimately linked.

I don’t want to scratch the Diamond that it is.

Many have known this album after years and this unfortunately takes away the lucidity in understanding how unique it was. Please believe me: sometimes being in the right place at the right time is the only way to understand everything deeply.

I listened to it for the first time in January 1984: I was overwhelmed, I realized that I had found a sort of brother in these 12 songs, I danced to them in my room, then I played them as a DJ and doing it in my beloved Manchester is something I will never forget.

This album was the most important one for at least two generations of people and it’s not hard to understand why.

Among the things that seduce there is obviously the talent of two incredible guitarists, REG and DAVE, with the latter absolutely holding a talent at the level of a few other guitarists in the world. Mark is a bass player who plays his instrument perfectly for that precise and imaginative music.

John … I just want to cry … I don’t know what to say, but I find the courage to maintain that only he could be the drummer of the Chameleons, alchemical, the poet of drumsticks, a pure passionate.

These four guys with this album have changed the music world and this fact should not be missing absolutely during your listening: the life described here was that of those times in that city but, believe me, it still sounds current …

The beauty of this album reduces me to tears, it arouses in me a nostalgia and a sadness that cannot be divided, they are Siamese twins who will live in my heart forever ..

Alex Dematteis