Chamaeleon Church: S/T (1968) Original MGM Vinyl

A month or so ago I did a review on the Boston band Orpheus' final album and mentioned that they were part of a small collection of bands that were being signed and promoted by MGM Records as part of the "Bosstown Sound", a manufactured music "scene" based in Boston that would act as the east-coast version of the San Francisco psychedelic scene. In addition to pop oriented Orpheus, MGM had signed acid-rock bands the Ultimate Spinach and Beacon Street Union to help spearhead the movement. And then there was Chamaeleon Church. They were sort of the odd-man-out in some respect in regards to the Bosstown Sound. Not nearly as overtly psychedelic as the Spinach or Beacon St., but far more experimental than Orpheus. The one thing these bands had in common was their producer, Alan Lorber, who is mostly responsible for creating the Bosstown Sound promo campaign. Lorber's unorthodox production will not satisfy everyone, as his method of decorating his productions with effects, dense instrumentation and unusual stereo panning can detract a bit from the rhythm section and perhaps the "core" of the song. But personally, I'm a fan of his, because as a bit of an audio nerd, there are very few producers who sound like Lorber so he's often an interesting listen. But let's discuss the band and the album.

Chamaeleon Church were Bonstonians Ted Myers on lead vocal and guitar, multi-instrumentalist Tony Sheuren, bassist Kyle Garrahan and drummer/keyboardist Chevy Chase. Yes. That Chevy Chase. Any time you look up info on this band the focus of the writing is mostly on Chase's presence as this album came out long before he had any success as a comedian or actor. But I'm not going there. I want to review the music, so lets do that shall we?

Their lone, self-titled album is one of my personal favorites. Their sound and material stands apart from other American pysch-pop acts of the era, due to not only Lorber's production, but Ted Myers surrealistic, dark and dreamy songs, as the entirety of the album is made up of songs Myers wrote or co-wrote with Sheuren. The album starts out with "Come In To Your Life" a Left Bank-esque track complete with bustling oboes and majestic harmonies. Very good song and great way to start the album. Track 2, "Camillia Is Changing" was the single that was selected from the album and while it may not have been the best bet for a hit, its still one of the highlights of the record.

The track revolves around a droning and echo-drenched guitar, a sugary sweet lead vocal melody sung by Myers, gentle harmony vocals and Lorber's trademark production techniques, providing reverse-echo effects to the background vocals giving the song an extremely dreamy quality. "Spring This Year" starts out a simple, melancholy guitar picked folk melody, where Myers laments, "Sping, this year, has made me look kind of foolish, flowers may sprout now, but I'm still left out now" before the chorus abruptly erupts into a circus of sound with eerie group vocals, somber accordian and mandolin and background noises that resemble some sort of county fair on LSD. Another highlight comes a couple tracks later with "Flowers in the Field". This song has an English psych pop quality about it with its bouncy electric harpsichord, regal vocal melody and a triumphant trumpeting outro, dressed up with field recorded sounds of birds taking flight.

Side 2 of the record is a much quieter affair. The second side begins with the lone Chase vocal on the album, a song called "Here's A Song", a world weary, piano focused tune written by Myers. It's a good song and Chase delivers a nice, restrained vocal. "In A Kindly Way" and "Tompkins Square Park" are both hypnotic and serene folk pieces, drifting along mostly with gentle electric and acoustic guitar melodies and big arrangements of harmony vocals. A few tracks later the album comes to a close with the most psychedelic song on the album, the eastern influenced "Off With the Old". The song is basically a folk-pop tune that's given the full Lorber treament, complete with crashing, echoing drum fills, and very prominent sitar riffs. Great close to a great album.

Unfortunately, the band did not last long after their debut was released, as Myers and Sheuren went on to join a later incarnation of  the Ultimate Spinach and Chevy Chase went on to become a multi-millionaire. The failure of the single "Camillia is Changing" didn't help the band's fortune, and even Chase's celebrity hasn't drawn much attention to the band. It's a shame, because its really one of the best and most unique psychedelic pop albums from the late 60s, and it has probably aged the best out of any of it's Bosstown Sound counterparts.

This record has yet to be legitimately re-issued. Iris Music Group, Alan Lorber's personal label, came out with a reissue a few years ago but the sound is obviously digitally enhanced and comes off sounding muddled and dull in places. I also believe that Lorber's label does not offer any royalties to the band members when you purchase an album from Iris, which may have something to do with what was agreed upon in the original contracts of these Bosstown Sound bands. My hope is to be able to garner enough attention to the record and have it issued by a label that can provide the band portions of the sales revenue for their performance and writing credits. But in the meantime, I'm offering my high quality vinyl rip, which is from an original copy issued on MGM Records in 1968. Ripped by EAC .WAV editor and converted into 256 kb/s mp3 files. No EQing and no click removal, just straight from vinyl to the computer. Enjoy: http://www.mediafire.com/?4h7qa1ntuf58ih4

-Casey