By description, Chameleon sound exactly like my kind of American band toiling away in the local clubs. Shroom says: "Previously unreleased vintage studio tracks spanning 1976 to 1978. Beginning in the early 1970s and continuing until 1980, this relatively unknown band from Houston managed to record a stunning collection of songs that are the musical expression of the word Chameleon. Twisting and turning, changing colors, leaping out of your speakers at times with unbridled ferocity- this band will hold your attention throughout the 70+ minutes contained on this disc. Musicians Spencer Clark (guitars, vocals), Mike Huey (drums), Craig Gysler (keys, vocals), and Rick Huey (bass) rounded out the mid-70s line-up with a key change being made later in 1978 with the addition of Marty Naul (Oz Knozz) on drums. The band's sound and style reflect the artists they listened to and loved yet at the same time they managed to craft their own unique tones. One may hear reflections of Peter Gabriel-era Genesis, Canterbury heavyweights Camel, King Crimson, Dixie Dregs, and Eloy in their music."
In addition to this title, Shroom also announced their intention to release an archival CD/LP from a Dallas rock band called Shotgun. Apparently they received area radio play on the legendary KZEW from 1976 to 1978. The summer of 1977 is when I first started tuning in attentively to "The Zoo", but I just can't remember Shotgun. But that was a looong time ago, and I was only 12 years old. It appears they were a straightforward rock band with female vocals, but the descriptions I've read aren't very telling. I may get it just because of the local connection.
4 comments:
Does Shroom Angel make proper cds? In the old days of Shroom Productions they did dodgy cd-r bootlegs, which stopped playing properly after a few years. Makes me kinda reluctant to buy any of their new releases...
Yes, they do and they always have. I have many Shroom Angel regular CDs in my collection (I've posted a couple of reviews about them on my UMR site). However, what you're referring to is the limited edition CD-R's they put out later in their career (before just recently being resuscitated). To me, those were more like the cassette releases you would see in the 80s. I never bought them. I try to avoid CD-R's in general except as a backup storage unit.
Thanks for the question! Probably others had the same one.
Shotgun is the precursor to the 1980 Dallas band VISION which did have a female singer, however Shotgun did not. They played an amped up urban style blues rock which, stylistically speaking, is not too far from the sounds of bands like Led Zeppelin, James Gang, Leafhound, The Faces, and such. The recordings date from between 1974 and 1976. The music was taken from original multi track master tapes and sounds phenomenal. ShroomAngel made small quantities of limited edition CD-R's of music that was never meant for actual production on CD or LP, it was for hardcore fans only. The idea was that it had to be better than the stuff never being made available at all, but there had to be a compromise since it would never have sold enough to justify the costs of doing a real production. ShroomAngel never produced "bootlegs", all releases including ltd editions were authorized releases. We hope you will continue to support the work we do to make this lost archival music available.
Thanks for the comment Shroom Angel! I should have also emphasized that your CD-R's were not bootlegs. I never thought that either. More like the cassette releases of the 1980s - as you stated - for hardcore fans!
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