The Chameleons - Live at Gallery Club/Hacienda - Rough Trade

The Gallery Club
01 Paper Tigers
02 Nathan's Phase
03 Don't Fall
04 Pleasure & Pain
05 Here Today
06 In Shreds
07 Up The Down Escalator
08 Second Skin
09 Monkeyland
10 As High As You Can Go
11 Things I Wish I'd Said
12 View From A Hill

The Hacienda
01 Paper Tigers
02 Pleasure & Pain+
03 Men Of Steel
04 Years Ago
05 In Shreds
06 Don't Fall
07 Second Skin

Mark Burgess - bass/vocals
Dave Fielding - guitar
Reg Smithies - guitar
John Lever - drums

Formed in 1981 in North Manchaster, The Chameleons first solidfied their reputation as a cult item when they became favourites on the John Peel Show. This was followed by a short-lived signing to CBS before moving to indie Statik for whom they recorded their debut album Script of the Bridge. For the next few years they abandoned the studio and took to the road, gradually buildung a hardcore following and further cementing their status within the annals of British independent music history. In 1986 the band recorded a single "Tears" for Geffen/WEA records, which despite critical acclaim, failed to promote them to the mainstream. The album, "Strange Times" was released in 1987 but the death of the band's manager, along with frustration and disillusionment with the music industry eventually lead to the Chameleons splitting up.

Since then there has been dozens of posthumous releases of demons, live recordings, compilations and video footage. The Chameleons fan base has remained faithful and hungry for new product. In 2001 the Chameleons got back together to play a handful of Manchaster gigs. Such was the reception that the band decided to reform properly and record a new album. Maybe, at last, the Chameleons are destined to receive the exposure and success they rightly deserve.

The concerts featured on this DVD offer a great insight into the creative intensity and charisma of one of Manchaster's most talented bands. The Hacienda needs no introduction, for many it was a temple to the post punk movement of the eighties. The footage was all but forgotten, thought to have been lost. However, it was rediscovered in the mid nineties when maverick music video label, Visionary, acquired Factory/Ikon's Hacienda video archive. What proved even more exciting was the discover of another tape of the Chameleons playing at Manchester's Gallery Club. The footage was barely remembered by anyone concerned in its production - band included. Why was this video so important? Simple, several of the tracks included in the set had hardly been played before or after, let alone recorded, and the tape is probably the only documentation of them. Brought together for the first time on DVD, these two rare and important video performances stand as raw testimonies to one of Manchester's most under rated acts, playing to a hometown audience, at the peak of their career.