Script of the Bridge (25th Anniversary Edition) [Import]

Chameleons | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 3, 2008)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Blue Apple Music UK
• ASIN: B00195BM3Y
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #77,926 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

2008 digitally remastered two CD release, the 25th anniversary pressing of the Manchester band's brilliant debut album containing a bonus CD that includes three bonus tracks and a live concert recorded in Bremen, 1983. Features 27 tracks total including 'Don't Fall', 'Less Than Human' and 'Up The Down Escalator'. Also includes special 16 page booklet designed by the band.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Still vibrant., June 30, 2008

By 

Vajra Wright (Portland, OR United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Script of the Bridge (25th Anniversary Edition) (Audio CD)

Twenty-five years after its original release, The Chameleons' "Script of the Bridge" album is still a testament to the timeless nature of the music the lads from Madchester penned so long ago. Bands today are still name (and riff!) dropping The Chameleons. Honestly, if you played this to the uninitiated, chances are they'd think it was released recently.

To listen to this album is to take a trip down the rabbit hole. A strange and incredible journey that leads you to lands bleak and hopeless and heights dizzying and hopeful. In this package, you're offered balm for the Big Sad and hope that "this roaring silence won't devour us all".

An album most certainly for artists, by artists.

Welcome home.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars timeless classic, August 26, 2008

By 

hot4hypatia (29.48 N , 98.51 W) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Script of the Bridge (25th Anniversary Edition) (Audio CD)

If you are a fan of 80's rock/punk then this is a must have album. Almost every song is single-quality. Beginning with the rollicking 'Don't Fall' and concluding with the understated 'View from a Hill', each song has its own character and appeal. The lyrics, instrumentation and arrangements blend together seamlessly.
These guys played with U2 and other major bands back in the early 80's. Unfortunately, just when the band was coming to tour the US in 1987, they abruptly disbanded following the sudden death of band manager Tony Fletcher who died in a car accident in New York. There have been subsequent attempts to resurrect the band notably the 2002 release 'Why Call It Anything?'.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Stately, wintry post-punk. Great music!, December 30, 2010

By 

Angry Mofo "angrymofo" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Script of the Bridge (25th Anniversary Edition) (Audio CD)

This album is for fans of the post-punk sound, but I'm a big one. It's based on cold, echoing, reverberating guitars, much like its contemporaries by The Cure, New Order, and The Comsat Angels. But even though I'd heard these ideas many times before, Script Of The Bridge still offered me enough to warrant close attention. As in all the best post-punk, those echoing guitar chords are often arranged into hypnotic riffs that make effective use of pauses and changes in volume, such as the confident, weary stride of "Less Than Human." Even when the riff itself is pretty simple, there is some interesting detail in the execution. The hook in "Second Skin" is the same drawn-out four-note rise/fall sequence that appears in countless new wave and ambient songs, but here, each long note is actually split up into many repetitions of the same note, played in a fast drone. In other words, they're creating a slow sound by playing fast, creating a strange contrast: a slow, majestic advance, but with a feeling of energetic motion.

"Second Skin" seems much shorter than its actual seven-minute length. It flies by so easily and gracefully that one might even miss how complex it is. The opening on keyboards is heavenly, as impeccably produced as music could get before electronica came along. It then breaks into the main body, with its slow/fast contrast, but then it slows down a bit for a dreamy, echoing outro, where singer Mark Burgess first marvels, "No wonder it feels like I'm walking on air," and then is overtaken by layers of overdubbed voices, worriedly muttering, "Something's banging on my door." The stuff dreams are made of, indeed.

"View From A Hill" is the album's other dreamy soundscape, more keyboard-oriented, with a much longer instrumental section. At the other end of the spectrum are a few up-tempo numbers, like the first track "Don't Fall" and the indignant "Paper Tigers." "Don't Fall" clearly shows the punk roots of post-punk with a simple driving rhythm and the muddiest production on the album. "Paper Tigers," on the other hand, is much more refined, with a galloping drone-riff, possibly the best of the whole album, plus a sorrowful, grieving chant-chorus.

It's impressive that this was The Chameleons' debut -- it's much more fully realized than Three Imaginary Boys, Movement, or Waiting For A Miracle. It does have some filler songs: it seems to me that "Monkeyland" is a bit slow to start, and breaks up the energetic standard set by "Don't Fall" and "Here Today." Still, the music never really sounds bad, it consistently ranges from OK to great. The only problem is Mark Burgess' voice, as in, he doesn't have much of one. He has his theatrics down, with the right dramatic intonation and high-class diction, but his acting is dead set on "desperate soliloquy" mode. This serves him well on "Second Skin" and "Paper Tigers," but his voice has little range, and sounds flat, without the commanding authority of Ian Curtis, the flexibility of Robert Smith, or the warmth of Ian McCulloch or Paul Simpson. I was somewhat reminded of the guy from Wire, if the latter had taken one theatre course.

Burgess wrote a set of lyrics to match. Every song is a grandiose display of angst, expressed in hyper-dramatic but totally unsubtle ways, e.g. "I surmise I'm less than human in God's eyes." On one hand, there's the ornate vocabulary ("surmise"!); on the other, there's the simple chant-like song structure. And yes, "Monkeyland" even features the line, "is there anyone here who understands me, anyone at all?" It's fortunate that the music is there to tip the scales. The droning power of the guitars often overwhelms the vocals, so that they are only half-discernible. I think it's for the better, allowing the album to create a mournful atmosphere, a wintry landscape that only occasionally comes into focus around the singer, who is unfortunately not strong enough to carry the album by himself.

This is a seasonal album, best suited for wintertime. If you're able to appreciate droning, ringing guitars and melancholy atmosphere, it's for you. In fact, it may help if you're already a connoisseur of post-punk, since you'll be better able to discern the ways in which Script Of The Bridge stands out from the rest. This particular style of music is able to create a faraway, dreamlike mood better than any other.