The Chameleons - Dreams in Celluloid (2013) and Why Call It Anything reissue (2001/2013)

The Chameleons are a frustrating band at times, mostly due to their difficult discography. I say this because they've only ever released four albums of original material, yet there are at least sixteen assorted "other" full-length releases, some of which even span two discs. For a fairly short-lived band that only released about 60 unique songs, that's quite a feat. They've complicated their catalog with an endless stream of compilations, live albums, acoustic re-recordings, and archival releases of demos, outtakes, b-sides, and radio sessions. Plus, most of these extraneous albums were printed in very limited quantities, making them hard to find and expensive to purchase. The recent reissue campaign has only added more material to the mix.

Last week they reissued their only album of original material released during their reunion, Why Call It Anything, and an apparently new collection of assorted rarities, Dreams in Celluloid. I felt compelled to share my thoughts and analysis of these albums because there isn't much information available anywhere else on what they actually contain. I'll discuss Why Call It Anything first.

[Why Call It Anything (original release): not Reg Smithies' best album art.]

[Why Call It Anything (2013 reissue): not an improvement over the original artwork.]

Artist: The Chameleons

Album: Why Call It Anything
Release Date: July 2001, reissued June 2013
Label: Artful (original), Blue Apple (reissue)

Producer: Dave M. Allen (original/disc 1 only), The Chameleons (all)

Tracklisting:

Disc 1 (original album):

01. Shades

02. Anyone Alive?
03. Indiana
04. Lufthansa
05. Truth Isn't Truth Anymore
06. All Around
07. Dangerous Land
08. Music in the Womb
09. Miracles and Wonders
10. Are You Still There?

Disc 2 (Live at the Academy):
01. A Person Isn't Safe Anywhere These Days
02. Perfume Garden
03. Anyone Alive?
04. Indiana
05. Caution
06. Swamp Thing
07. Lufthansa
08. Dangerous Land
09. Up the Down Escalator
10. Miracles and Wonders
11. Shades
12. Monkeyland
13. Second Skin

Why Call It Anything is a strange album. It was released in 2001, one year after the band reunited to release an album of acoustic re-recordings of their old material (Strip). It clearly sounds like the Chameleons, but it feels more direct, less dreamy and abstract. The songs have simpler arrangements, less dynamic range, and less subtlety. However, the album does pack some power, and the songs are surprisingly catchy. It's not a great album, but certainly a good one, especially for a band reunited after a 13-year hiatus.

This reissue is even stranger. It claims to be remastered but after examining the waveforms the only difference is slight compression and amplification (see loudness war). It also contains a second bonus disc supposedly containing the 2002 album Live at the Academy. However, that album was originally a two-disc release totaling 18 tracks, whereas this single disc houses just 13 tracks. No mention of these excisions is made. Supposedly, this disc is also remastered, but it sounds nearly identical to the original release, barring the familiar compression and amplification and the presence of less audience noise before and after the songs. The live performances are good, but what happened to "Pleasure and Pain", "Seriocity", "Soul in Isolation", "Splitting in Two", and "Tears"? And why does every live album released by a reunited band seem rather redundant after listening to their original live tapes?

[Dreams in Celluloid.]

Artist: The Chameleons

Album: Dreams in Celluloid

Release Date: June 2013

Label: Blue Apple

Producer: The Chameleons (all but disc 1 tracks 1, 5, 11, 12), Steve Lillywhite (disc 1 tracks 1, 5, 11, 12), Colin Richardson (disc 1 track 13), CJ (aka Chris Jones) (disc 2)

Tracklisting:

Disc 1:

01. The Fan and the Bellows

02. Dali's Picture

03. Every Day I'm Crucified

04. Looking Inwardly

05. Nostalgia

06. Turn to the Vices

07. Love Is

08. Nathan's Phase

09. Dreams in Celluloid

10. Things I Wish I'd Said

11. Less Than Human

12. In Shreds

13. Prisoners of the Sun

Disc 2 (Tony Fletcher Walked on Water EP):

01. Is It Any Wonder
02. Free for All
03. The Healer
04. Denims and Curls

Anyone familiar with the Chameleons' back-catalog can't help but notice that the first disc of Dreams in Celluloid looks a lot like The Fan and the Bellows (1986) and Dali's Picture (1993), two previous collections of early material. Any suspicions of redundancy will be immediately confirmed by a simple listening test or waveform comparison. Of course, the Chameleons have a long history of hiding their details, so it is extremely difficult to know for sure exactly what is what. Nonetheless, I will do my best to determine what exactly is to be found on Dreams in Celluloid. First, I will examine these earlier releases by the band.

Supposedly, "Dali's Picture is the original demo album the band cut and sent out to various labels" (source). The recordings are somewhat raw and there are few overdubs, so this is easy to believe. It is not easy to know exactly when these recordings were made or even who drummed on them – Brian Schofield was the band's first drummer, present for their first John Peel session in June 1981, but replaced by John Lever sometime between then and the December 1981 recording sessions with Steve Lillywhite for their first single ("In Shreds"). I suspect that Dali's Picture was recorded between those two events, most likely with John Lever, for the following reasons. Peel invited the band to his show on the strength of a demo, but that demo supposedly was a rehearsal recording before the band had found a drummer (according to George Gimarc's Post Punk Diary). Schofield's name appears only in the credits for the Here Today, Gone Tomorrow and John Peel Sessions collections and nowhere else in their catalog, and although that could just be revisionist history, the drumming on Dali's Picture does sound a lot like Lever's style. This is easy to hear by comparing the drumming arrangements on the songs recorded for both the Dali's Picture demos and the Lillywhite sessions.  [Edit 2026.02.15: Burgess's View from a Hill (2007) confirms all of my suspicions.]

The Fan and the Bellows was apparently originally an unauthorized release that was almost immediately blocked by the band, but it was then released in several countries on multiple labels anyway, so perhaps the band acquiesced in the end. Thankfully, someone bothered to print the copyright years and production details on the album sleeve (see here). One half of the album contains the four tracks recorded with Lillywhite ("In Shreds", "Less Than Human", "Nostalgia", and "The Fan and the Bellows"), a 7" edit of "Nostalgia", and "Prisoners of the Sun", the 1983 b-side of "Up the Down Escalator". "In Shreds" would become the band's first single, released in March 1982 and backed with "Less Than Human". "In Shreds" would later be re-issued in 1985, backed by "Nostalgia"; both tracks were appended to the CD release of their second album, What Does Anything Mean? Basically (1985).

The other half of The Fan and the Bellows appear to be demos from 1981, produced only by the band themselves. A quick check identifies "Every Day I'm Crucified" and "Love Is" as duplicates of the material on Dali's Picture, but mastered slightly differently. (The main difference is just less tape hiss.) "Endlessly Falling", "Turn to the Vices", and "Nathan's Phase" sound like they came from the same sessions but have been otherwise unreleased.

["In Shreds" 1982 Epic single. Artwork later reused for The Fan and the Bellows.]

["In Shreds" 1985 Statik single.]

Why is any of this important? Well, Dreams in Celluloid contains next to nothing when it comes to liner notes and details, so careful comparison with these past releases is necessary to figure out what is actually present on this new collection. It turns out that everything on the first disc of Dreams in Celluloid was previously released on one of these two prior compilations, and sometimes on both. Here's the breakdown:

01. The Fan and the Bellows – Steve Lillywhite session outtake, released on The Fan and the Bellows.

02. Dali's Picture – demo, released on Dali's Picture.

03. Every Day I'm Crucified – demo, released on both The Fan and the Bellows and Dali's Picture, but mastering sounds more similar to the latter.

04. Looking Inwardly – demo, released on Dali's Picture.

05. Nostalgia – b-side of 1985 Statik "In Shreds" single, from Steve Lillywhite session, also released on What Does Anything Mean? Basically CD and The Fan and the Bellows.

06. Turn to the Vices – demo, released on The Fan and the Bellows.

07. Love Is – demo, released on The Fan and the Bellows and Dali's Picture, but mastering sounds more similar to the former.

08. Nathan's Phase – demo, released on The Fan and the Bellows.

09. Dreams in Celluloid – demo (early version of "Second Skin"), released on Dali's Picture.

10. Things I Wish I'd Said – demo, released on Dali's Picture.

11. Less Than Human – b-side of 1982 Epic "In Shreds" single, from Steve Lillywhite session, also released on The Fan and the Bellows.

12. In Shreds – single, released 1982 by Epic and 1985 by Statik, from Steve Lillywhite session, also released on The Fan and the Bellows.

13. Prisoners of the Sun – b-side of 1983 Statik "Up the Down Escalator" single, also released on The Fan and the Bellows.

However, don't get too optimistic: there are just a few tracks from both The Fan and the Bellows and Dali's Picture that are not to be found on Dreams in Celluloid and are otherwise difficult to find. The Fan and the Bellows contains the only released version of "Endlessly Falling" as well as the 7" edit of "Nostalgia", originally released as the b-side of Statik's 1985 "In Shreds" 7" single. Dali's Picture contains otherwise unavailable demos of "The Fan and the Bellows", "Less Than Human", "Monkeyland", and "Nostalgia". Note that any of these titles mentioned above that appear on Script of the Bridge (1983) or the vinyl release of What Does Anything Mean? Basically (1985) are later re-recordings.

Lest you think that this is all of the original studio ephemera from the early days of the Chameleons, you would be wrong. A rare early recording of "Here Today" (different than the version found on Script of the Bridge) can only be found on the 1982 Statik compilation Your Secret's Safe with Us. [Edit 2026.02.15: According to View from a Hill, this was the first session with Lever.] Two other early recordings, "Dear Dead Days" and "Things I Wish I'd Said", apparently recorded in 1981 with early drummer Brian Schofield (source), can only be found on the rare Here Today, Gone Tomorrow (1992) and the 2008 reissue of Script of the Bridge. [These are from an earlier session than the rest, still before the first Peel session.] Both albums also contain an alternate version of "In Shreds", perhaps recorded in 1983. No further information is available for these three rarities. [This was an outtake from the Script sessions that the band decided did not improve upon the original single version.]

At any rate, the Lillywhite session tracks are quite good ("Nostalgia" is one of my favorite songs), "Prisoners of the Sun" is a decent instrumental, and the rest of the demos are nothing special but of some interest in terms of offering witness to the band's development. Dreams in Celluloid does cover the best material from this period, but it is sadly incomplete.

[Tony Fletcher Walked on Water EP. Good luck reading the text on the cover.]

Enough about the first disc of Dreams in Celluloid. Thankfully, the second disc is pretty simple: it's just a reissue of the treasured Tony Fletcher Walked on Water EP, recorded in 1987 right before the band broke up, halfway released in 1990 by singer/bassist Mark Burgess before being blocked by guitarist Dave Fielding. These four songs have also been released on Northern Songs (1994) and some editions of Return of the Roughnecks (1997). The EP has always been hard to find and it is unclear to me why anyone in the band would want to hide it. Simply put, it's amazing and stands up exceedingly well as a strong follow-up to Strange Times (1986). Each of the four songs continues the dreamy, powerful, melodic trend brought to the fore on the preceding album. There isn't a weak second on the whole thing.

Conclusion:

Both of these new releases are frustrating due to their incompleteness – they offer some good material, but at the cost of skipping over a few tracks that somehow got left behind and thus remain obscure and expensive to find. The remastering job on all the material is slight and perhaps even a downgrade due to loss of dynamic range. I'm at least happy that most of this material is finally in print again, especially the Tony Fletcher EP, but I'm disappointed that these collections are incomplete and offer nothing previously unreleased. (Even the cover art of Dreams in Celluloid, which I originally assumed to be a new work by Dave Fielding, was previously used in part for the "Singing Rule Britannia (While the Walls Close In)" single.)

["Singing Rule Britannia (While the Walls Close In)" single.]

Scores:

Why Call It Anything (original release): B

Live at the Academy (original release): B
Why Call It Anything (2013 reissue): C

Dali's Picture: C

The Fan and the Bellows: C+

Tony Fletcher Walked on Water EP: A+

Dreams in Celluloid: B

P.S. Both Here Today, Gone Tomorrow and John Peel Sessions remain mostly overlooked in the Chameleons reissue campaign over the past five years. While the former is scattershot and only occasionally interesting, the latter is a fantastic collection of very high-quality performances.

[Edit 2015.02.11: The John Peel Sessions album has been reissued and I reviewed it here!]

Paul McCartney - Live 2013.05.22 Frank Erwin Center, Austin, Texas

I missed my chance to see Sir Paul in St. Louis last fall because it sold out instantaneously. I decided I couldn't miss my second chance, in which I moved to Austin a week before Paul was coming to town. Since tickets again had sold out instantaneously for both nights, I was forced to buy second-hand, which is normally something I'd shy straight away from. However, I have no regrets.

Artist: Paul McCartney
Venue: Frank Erwin Center
Location: Austin, Texas
Date: 22 May 2013

Setlist:
01. Eight Days a Week (originally performed by the Beatles)
02. Junior's Farm (originally performed by Wings)
03. All My Loving (originally performed by the Beatles)
04. Listen to What the Man Said (originally performed by Wings)
05. Let Me Roll It (originally performed by Wings)
06. Foxy Lady (Jimi Hendrix cover)
07. Paperback Writer (originally performed by the Beatles)
08. My Valentine
09. Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five (originally performed by Wings)
10. The Long and Winding Road (originally performed by the Beatles)
11. Maybe I'm Amazed
12. I've Just Seen a Face (originally performed by the Beatles)
13. We Can Work It Out (originally performed by the Beatles)
14. Another Day
15. And I Love Her (originally performed by the Beatles)
16. Blackbird (originally performed by the Beatles)
17. Here Today
18. Your Mother Should Know (originally performed by the Beatles)
19. Lady Madonna (originally performed by the Beatles)
20. All Together Now (originally performed by the Beatles)

21. Lovely Rita (originally performed by the Beatles)

22. Mrs. Vandebilt (originally performed by Wings)

23. Eleanor Rigby (originally performed by the Beatles)
24. Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite! (originally performed by the Beatles)
25. Something (originally performed by the Beatles)

26. Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da (originally performed by the Beatles)

27. Band on the Run (originally performed by Wings)
28. Back in the USSR (originally performed by the Beatles)
29. Let It Be (originally performed by the Beatles)
30. Live and Let Die (originally performed by Wings)
31. Hey Jude (originally performed by the Beatles)

First Encore:
32. Day Tripper (originally performed by the Beatles)
33. Hi, Hi, Hi (originally performed by Wings)
34. Get Back (originally performed by the Beatles)

Second Encore:
35. Yesterday (originally performed by the Beatles)
36. Helter Skelter (originally performed by the Beatles)
37. Golden Slumbers → Carry That Weight → The End (all originally performed by the Beatles)

Paul McCartney needs no opener. He needs no one to fill time for him before he hits the stage. In fact, he needs little explanation at all.

Paul clearly still embraces his past. His recent setlists indicate a preference for his work with the Beatles, hits and otherwise, despite his large catalog. He may have released an album last year, but he only played one song from it on this night. (To be fair, it was mostly a covers album, and I'd much rather hear Paul play his own songs anyway!) The show started with a roughly even mix of Beatles songs and post-Beatles material, but as the night went on, he began to play more and more Beatles songs with just a few Wings songs scattered about. This seemed to be what the audience wanted.

His band was fairly standard: lead guitarist Rusty Anderson, guitarist/bassist Brian Ray, keyboardist Paul Wickens, and drummer Abe Laboriel, Jr. All four appeared to provide backing vocals, although the guitarists were the most prominent. Ray typically played bass whenever McCartney wasn't, since Paul cycled through a Höfner bass, an acoustic guitar, a grand piano, an electric piano, and a few electric guitars.

McCartney had plenty of options for a good opening, and I appreciated the immediately recognizeable but perhaps unexpected first chords of "Eight Days a Week". The first few songs thereafter offered no surprise until the band leapt from "Let Me Roll It" into an instrumental jam that sounded a lot like "Foxy Lady". Paul explained that it was a tribute to Jimi, whom he claimed to still deeply respect. He told the story of Jimi covering "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" in concert two days after the album was released, although I wonder if there was some connection to the apparently unanswered telegram that was recently uncovered from 1969 in which Jimi asked Paul to join him in a supergroup with Miles Davis and drummer Tony Williams.

This was followed by "Paperback Writer", which blew me away. The band handled the vocals superbly. Admittedly, I could hear a couple wavering notes, but that just told me that they weren't auto-tuned. The band extended the song into a bit of a jam at the end, one of the few moments they allowed themselves such an indulgence. Being such an excellent performance of one my favorite Beatles songs, it was a highlight of the night. This contrasted with "The Long and Winding Road", which featured the much-contested string section added by Phil Spector to the Let It Be version. I was expecting the unmolested version from Anthology 3 or Let It Be... Naked but I was shocked that Paul would reverse his former feelings on the matter. At any rate, it is still a good song, but the performance was not what I would have expected.

After forgetting a chord at the start of "Maybe I'm Amazed" and restarting the song, Paul brought out an excellent rendition of "We Can Work It Out", augmented by an accordion in place of John's harmonium. "Your Mother Should Know" was another pleasant surprise, and I wondered if he played the song conscious of the irony of the lyric. "Lovely Rita" and "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!" were also cool oddball songs to play; both were first debuted live on this tour. "Kite" was originally sung by Lennon and generally considered to be written primarily by him, and thus McCartney's description of writing the song together based on an old circus poster seems suspect. Since the two often disagreed strongly in public about who wrote how much of certain songs, this is no surprise, but I'd never heard them argue about this one before.

"Back in the USSR" was also a cool pick, augmented by video displays of flashy Soviet-style Russian text, but most of Paul's other choices were more predictable ("Let It Be" (albeit without the Spectorisms), "Hey Jude") or rather uninteresting ("Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da", "All Together Now"). "Blackbird" and "Here Today" were played solo by Paul on a platform at the front of the stage that rose up and then back down while he performed. The latter was described as a tribute to John Lennon, and Paul also performed "Something" (opening the song alone on his ukelele) as a tribute to George Harrison. There was no tribute to nor mention of Ringo, although I suppose he is still living and I believe they are still friends.

The most absurd moment of the evening came during the performance of "Live and Let Die". Before the song, a stagehand covered Ray's pedal board with an English flag, which struck me as odd but otherwise not particularly notable until I understood that this was intended to protect the electronics. The song began as normal, but during the chorus, after singing the title, the drums were punctuated by massive, loud bursts of flame from a row of cannons at the front of the stage. This was repeated at every instance of the hook, and the venue became noticeably warmer and filled with smoke. I certainly had not expected pyrotechnics!

There was no surprise that Paul came back for an encore, and little that he came back for a second. The first featured a great rendition of "Day Tripper" and concluded with a version of "Get Back" featuring an extended coda, which was of course originally just an edit appended to the song by Phil Spector (although I've always been fond of that little bit). The second started with the predictable "Yesterday", followed by a raucous and heavy "Helter Skelter", and completed, appropriately, by the end of the Abbey Road medley. "The End" featured Ringo's solo practically note-for-note, and the three guitarists traded lines just like in the studio version, starting off practically identical to the original but then veering into their own creations.

Setlist aside, the performances were consistently quite good, with Paul's vocals hardly any weaker than they were fifty years ago. It's amazing how well he has held up after all these years, especially considering how poorly many of his colleagues have fared. The only real downside to the night was Paul's stage banter. Much of it consisted of things like, "Oh yeah! Alright!" Otherwise, most of his talk was simply self-glorification, such as the aforementioned mention of Jimi Hendrix, but also tales of meeting Russian politicians who told him they learned English from his records and encountering countless fans who told him they'd mimicked his parts over the years. In each case he ended with something like, "How cool is that!?" and proceeded to just bathe in the adoration.

Despite Paul's self-indulgence, he was mostly indulging the audience by playing the songs they came to hear. I can hardly complain!

Score: A-

P.S. I saw the first night of his two shows in Austin, his first shows ever in the city. Apparently, before his show the next day, he gave an award from PETA to Lee Leffingwell, mayor of Austin, for having the most vegan-friendly city in the nation. Perhaps Paul's diet explains his sustained good health!

P.P.S. The setlist to the St. Louis show that I missed is rather similar and can be found here.

P.P.P.S. For the record, the audience cheered after Paul's false start of "Maybe I'm Amazed". Paul was quite appreciative of our tolerance.

Silversun Pickups / Grouplove / Cloud Nothings - Live 2012.12.12 Peabody Opera House, St. Louis, Missouri

I barely knew about this band a month ago, but when a friend told me about this show and provided me their umpteenth recommendation, I figured it was time to give them a try. At the time of writing, I only have their first album (Carnavas), which I rather enjoy despite some modest flaws.

Artist: Silversun Pickups
Venue: Peabody Opera House
Location: St. Louis, Missouri
Date: 12 December 2012
Opening Acts: Cloud Nothings, Grouplove

Setlist:
01. Skin Graph
02. The Royal We
03. Bloody Mary (Nerve Endings)
04. Simmer
05. Gun-Shy Sunshine
06. Little Lover's So Polite
07. Mean Spirits
08. The Pit
09. Catch and Release
10. Panic Switch
11. Dots and Dashes (Enough Already)
12. Lazy Eye

Encore:
13. Busy Bees
14. Well Thought Out Twinkles

I only knew in advance of there being one opening act, so I was quite surprised by the presence of the first opening band. Apparently, the Cloud Nothings' first two albums are some sort of indie power pop, but they must have only been playing material from their latest album, which is supposedly a dark, heavy, doom-laden digression in the opposite direction of their past work. I suspect I might enjoy the first two albums. I suspect I would despise the third. To say the least, the performance was awful. They played maybe four songs, two of which were essentially ten-minute guitar jams. The crowning jewel was the second of these extended pieces, in which the bassist played one note until the last 30 seconds. There were no vocals until the presumed bandleader began barking halfway through, followed with repeated, brutally screamed lyrics to the effect of "I am not a part of this". Then why was he on stage?

After the Cloud Nothings' brief set came Grouplove, apparently quite a hit with the teen and college crowd right now. As you can guess, I'd never heard of them. Their current claim to fame is being in an iPod Touch commercial. They are megahipsters playing the bounciest, indiest, most danceable music that really sounds like it wanted to have come out of 1991. This is only encouraged by the surfer-hippie vibe of the guitarists interposed against the confusion of a bassist that looked like someone from Lynyrd Skynyrd, a female vocalist with inhuman energy, and a drummer that looked like a track star but is actually the son of Trevor Rabin. This band had a lot of things going on at once but if you could stop staring at them jumping around stage you might realize that the music wasn't particularly complicated. I liked the stray harmonies they used, but most of their riffs were unsurprising. At least the lead guitarist, while hiding behind his long hair despite jumping around as much as the others, had figured out how to lay some cool effects on his instrument to make his lead parts sound unique. Otherwise, I was bummed by their reliance on backing tracks but impressed by their raw energy. They seemed really young, but not as young as the Cloud Nothings.

When the Silversun Pickups finally came out, it was hard not to notice a change in the line-up: bassist Nikki Monninger was replaced on stage by Sarah Negahdari from the Happy Hollows. Monninger had just given birth to twins and thus is on maternity leave. Negahdari was a little hard to take seriously (she was awfully bouncy and artificial in her movement compared to the rest of the band) but she seems to fill the role just fine.

The setlist focused on the band's newest album, Neck of the Woods, but a few of the favorites from the first two albums still made it out. While I admittedly did not recognize most of the material, I could feel the connection to the work I did know, as well as some level of distinction and growth from their early material. At the risk of being way off the mark, their earliest material seemed directly indebted to bands like the Smashing Pumpkins and My Bloody Valentine, but the newer songs seem to have taken that foundation and really made their sound their own. The influences are still clear, but I think they've become more willing to stand on their own feet.

The band seems to let singer/guitarist Brian Aubert really take center stage, but nonetheless, when I could hear the basslines, they counterpointed the guitarwork superbly, and keyboardist Joe Lester filled out the space beautifully. Aubert did all the talking and was the only one to move around the stage, while Lester and drummer Chris Guanlao hid behind their equipment and seemed to be happy to follow the flow. Negahdari's occasional harmonies also blended well, but I was continually impressed with how big they sounded for only having one guitar. Aubert is clearly skilled with his effects, and Lester may have also played a role in such sound manipulation, but it made for a powerful overall sound.

Generally speaking, the band rocked. They played for maybe 75 minutes and focused on their more energetic works, even if in some cases the energy was a slow and dramatic build. "Lazy Eye" is the perfect example of a song in that mold; it's a long song with a gradual build, and even though the biggest parts aren't that big, something about the whole feels like it was all so well worth it. It's a great song that is probably far simpler than it seems. I'd expected them to close the show with that song, but they closed their first set with it with the anticipation of an encore still looming.

Of course, they came back out and gave us two more songs, although there were probably more calls for Grouplove to come back out than for the Pickups. The final closer was another song from their first album, "Well Thought Out Twinkles". While not quite as effective as "Lazy Eye", it too has a strong, swirling, gradual build of guitar energy.

This was a fun show, only helped by the fact that the newly reopened venue is spectacular. The Cloud Nothings may have disappointed, but Grouplove was probably better than I would have expected, and Silversun Pickups lived right up to their reputation. They make strong music, even if it doesn't always feel like it's their own. They still do a damn fine job refining their influences and creating something surprisingly fresh.

Scores:
Cloud Nothings: D
Grouplove: B-
Silversun Pickups: B

The Smashing Pumpkins - Live 2012.10.18 Chaifetz Arena, St. Louis, Missouri

Although the number of original members of the Smashing Pumpkins remaining in the band has dwindled to just one (Zwan now officially had more original members of the Pumpkins than their current configuration), the band (i.e. Billy Corgan) is still making music – and despite the annoying production qualities of their recent recordings, some of the songwriting and instrumental work is actually quite good. After being surprised by Oceania, and slowly coming to mildly appreciate the rest of the Teargarden by Kaleidyscope project, I decided it was worth seeing them live when they came to my town.

Artist: The Smashing Pumpkins
Venue: Chaifetz Arena
Location: St. Louis, Missouri
Date: 18 October 2012
Opening Act: Anberlin

Setlist:

01. Keyboard intro → Quasar
02. Panopticon
03. The Celestials
04. Violet Rays
05. My Love Is Winter
06. One Diamond, One Heart
07. Pinwheels
08. Oceania
09. Pale Horse
10. The Chimera
11. Glissandra
12. Inkless
13. Wildflower
14. Space Oddity [David Bowie cover]
15. X.Y.U.
16. Disarm
17. Tonite Reprise → Tonight, Tonight
18. Bullet with Butterfly Wings
19. Shock Me (tease) → Detroit Rock City (tease) [KISS covers]
20. A Song for a Son

21. Guitar instrumental → Zero

22. Cherub Rock

Encore:

23. Ava Adore

24. Guitar Duel → Whole Lotta Love (tease) [Led Zeppelin cover]

25. Muzzle

Last time I saw the Smashing Pumpkins, they were playing a greatest-hits setlist based on their 20th anniversary. This time, they're promoting a new record and doing their best to get people to listen to it. If the first half of the setlist looks oddly familiar, it's because it's the exact tracklist of the new album, Oceania, which they've been playing in sequence at every night of the tour. The album is clearly an attempt to connect with their core audience that fell in love with Siamese Dream, as the clever use of melodic guitar hooks and impressive drumming dominate the album. It also features a surprising amount of keyboards (some almost overtly retro and cheesy) and some of the best bass parts ever seen on a Pumpkins release.

Corgan's many interviews lead one to believe that he is certainly trying to talk up his new bandmates and prove that they play key roles in the recordings. He might actually be telling the truth – new bassist and backing vocalist Nicole Fiorentino is at least more consistent than D'arcy was, even if she isn't necessarily better; the very young drummer Mike Byrne picks up right where Jimmy Chamberlin left off; and guitarist Jeff Schroeder, despite appearing even more shy than James Iha, somehow manages to meet Corgan's high standards. It's hard to tell how much of the guitarwork on Oceania is actually Jeff's (my guess is not much), but the basswork and drumming is almost assuredly from the new members.

Seeing the band perform live the new album in its entirety might have been cool if I hadn't bought the record yet, but since I had, it was a bit boring. The songs weren't really rearranged, there were no extended jams or new parts, and no extra members filled out the sound. While some of the guitarwork was exciting to see live, some parts were left unused, and samples were too often used to add the extra keyboard and percussion parts. In some cases, it appeared that those parts could have been played by the members of the band (or a touring keyboardist!) but instead the members just stood there. I was surprised; it struck me as inauthentic and unnecessary. All four members did play some keyboards, but not as much as one might expect for the work of setting up the instruments for each member.

After playing the album, stage hands cleared all the keyboards, as if the band was now returning to "normal". Few samples were heard from here on, and the band seemed to loosen up just enough to notice. They played a rocked-up cover of Bowie's "Space Oddity", which was great aside from some odd vocal rephrasings, before digging into a quick overview of some of the band's biggest singles. Unlike previous tours, where the band mixed major hits with top-notch album cuts and assorted oddities, there were no surprises to be found after the Bowie cover. A few songs were slightly rearranged, but those familiar with the Pumpkins' live history would not find anything new.

Many of the remaining songs felt predictable and relatively uninspired. "X.Y.U." has never been one of my favorites, and this rendition offered nothing noteworthy. "Zero" and "Cherub Rock" were also played straight by the numbers (except for the pleasantly cascading guitar instrumental preceding "Zero"), and even "Bullet with Butterfly Wings" was played conventionally after starting off with a heavier take borrowed from live renditions from years ago.

"Disarm" seemed like a lazy choice, as the band played a lackluster version dominated by a sampled string section. I feared the same treatment would be given for "Tonight, Tonight", but I was proven wrong. It instead began with the low-key "Tonite Reprise" as an intro, featuring Jeff on E-Bow. After playing about half of that version, Mike began playing the easily-recognized drumroll to lead into the full-band version of the song. Instead of a sample orchestra, Jeff continued using his E-Bow to play a similar part. It was an excellent version.

The only other new song played all night was "A Song for a Son". Clearly already recognized as a high point since the band's resurgence, the band hoped we'd recognize the song and started into a rocking job of it. Near the end, they dragged it into a quieter jam, but something sounded out of tune or just off. The bass seemed to resonate with something in the building, but it threw off the rest of the song, and when the band tried to bring the energy back up, it still didn't jell quite right. The core of the song sounded great, but the five or six minutes of whatever after that seemed a bit lifeless.

Although "Ava Adore" was done in a fairly solid heavy rendition, the ending of the song ended oddly. Although the two guitarists hit the brief harmonized solo perfectly, they ended the song with a guitar duel that got progressively weaker until it just fell flat. After Corgan started screwing up, they ended up just laughing and tossing around tired Led Zeppelin riffs. They meagerly tried to bring things to some kind of decent close, but they made up for it by tearing into a great version of "Muzzle".

I'm never quite sure what to make of the Smashing Pumpkins anymore. After a rocky start to their reunion, I'm happy that it seems like the band has settled on a stable configuration. It's still unclear if Corgan has abandoned the completion of his ambitious Teargarden project, but he's certainly given up on the original vision in favor of the traditional album format (which he'd previously claimed he had forsaken entirely). Something must have changed in Corgan's head, because Oceania is noticeably superior to everything previously released from the Teargarden project. The songwriting and performances are clearly a step up, although the production is still obnoxious. Seeing the album performed live brings up a big question: why doesn't Corgan realize that his live sound is better than his studio work?

Scores:

Live performance: C+

Oceania: B

P.S. This show was bootlegged and is available for download here. This is entirely legal as the band permits taping of their concerts. 

Crosby, Stills & Nash - Live 2012.07.28 Carson Four Rivers Center, Paducah, Kentucky

Ever since I became a fan of Neil Young and CSNY in college, I've been plagued by tours of Neil and/or the other three that were far too expensive for me to attend. I was even supposed to see Neil Young in high school – until I had to have an appendectomy the day before the show. I've still never seen him live, but when I heard about the other three doing a new tour, it was hard not to be tempted. Of course, the Saint Louis tickets were exorbitantly priced, but some enterprising sisters-in-arms discovered that CSN were scheduled to play in the rather small town of Paducah, KY, a mere three hours' drive away, for almost half the price. The apparent rationale was that the touring band's guitarist hails from Paducah! [Edit 2012.12.04: Never mind, apparently this a running joke with CSN, first used back in 1969.]

Artist: Crosby, Stills & Nash
Venue: Carson Four Rivers Center
Location: Paducah, Kentucky
Date: 28 July 2012

First set:

01. Carry On/Questions (originally performed by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young)

02. Chicago (originally performed by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young)

03. Long Time Gone

04. Just a Song Before I Go

05. Southern Cross

06. Lay Me Down (originally performed by Crosby & Nash)

07. Radio

08. Marrakesh Express

09. Almost Gone

10. Bluebird (originally performed by Buffalo Springfield)

11. Déjà Vu (originally performed by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young)

12. Love the One You're With (originally performed by Stephen Stills)

Second set:

13. Helplessly Hoping

14. In Your Name (originally performed by Graham Nash)

15. Girl from the North Country (Bob Dylan cover)

16. Guinnevere

17. Cathedral

18. Military Madness (originally performed by Graham Nash)

19. Our House (originally performed by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young)

20. Almost Cut My Hair (originally performed by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young)

21. Wooden Ships

Encore:

22. Teach Your Children (originally performed by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young)

23. Suite: Judy Blue Eyes

It's hard to know what to expect from a band as big and as old as Crosby, Stills, and Nash. The three of them are all about age 70 as of writing, each of them either balding or sporting wild gray hair. (It appears that David Crosby hasn't even come close to almost cutting his hair!) The three of them were joined on stage for most of the show by an organist, a drummer, a bassist, a guitarist, and a keyboardist (who just so happened to be James Raymond, Crosby's son). I was surprised by how little Crosby and Nash played instruments, but I was not surprised that Nash spent the night barefoot.

Opening the show with "Carry On" was also no surprise at all, but the performance rocked. What once was often a set closer extended with a lengthy jam was here kept to a more conventional length. Stills already proved himself to be the keynote musician, providing smooth and elegant guitar lines between the fantastic vocal harmonies. This trend only continued as the night wore on. Nash and Crosby dominated the melodious higher harmonies, while Stills played almost every guitar solo of the night. Although the songwriting and lead vocals were shared fairly equally, there is a separate concept of the division of labor. Nash and Crosby only occasionally played rhythm guitar or keyboards, leaving Stills and the backing band to do everything but the vocal parts.

I suppose it's always been this way, but I was surprised to see that Stills was the main musician of the night. His songs tended to have the most guitar noodling, but he paraded his guitar about more often than not. It's hard to complain, because he generally does an excellent job of providing the exact amount of guitar virtuosity to fit in these songs between the nominal focus of the band, the vocals. I was most surprised to see Nash or Crosby sing lead on some songs without even playing an instrument, but Crosby still played his wonderful part for "Guinnevere" note-for-note, and Nash hammered out "Our House" almost as if he'd been playing the part for 40 years. Anyway, I can't begrudge them; if I had a golden voice, why would I worry about playing the instrumental parts I wrote? Why not hire my son to do it for me?

Most of the highest-praised classics came in the second half of the show. Other than an odd Bob Dylan cover (and "Lay Me Down", written by Raymond), the band stuck to their own songs, using their standard mix of solo and shared songs. Ultimately, they played most of their first two original albums, a wide mix of career-spanning hits, and a few recent compositions. Nash's new songs shone the brightest: "In Your Name" was a beautiful and poignant condemnation of the misuse of religious judgment, and "Almost Gone" spoke out against the prison treatment of Chelsea Manning, the soldier that leaked countless documents to WikiLeaks. I'm always happy to see that an old band can still write meaningful music, even if most of the audience still just wants to hear the hits.

Crosby finished off the main set with two strong rockers, "Almost Cut My Hair" and "Wooden Ships". Both provided more showboat opportunities for Stills' guitarwork and Crosby's ever-powerful voice. During the encore break, my companions noted the two biggest omissions from the setlist up to that point and thus correctly predicted the encore selections. Both were again near-perfect performances, with "Teach Your Children" not having aged a day and "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes" still serving as a dynamic song with countless excuses for guitar showmanship from Stills.

If there is a weakness to be found, it is merely that Stills' voice is a bit rougher than it once was. Although all three had moments of vocal inaccuracy, their harmonies still sounded better than some of the bootlegs I've heard from the 70s. Furthermore, this just tells me that they are (literally) too good for autotuning. I don't expect a note-perfect rendition of studio material when I see a band like this live, and that's not what I'd want, anyway. I'm happy to see that all three are as jovial as ever, still capable of laughing, joking, and connecting with an audience. I'm glad Crosby hasn't cut his hair, that Nash still prefers shoelessness, and that Stills can still rock hard. It's hard not to be impressed by the fact they can still put on a show this good at the ages they're at.

Score: A-

P.S. I saw the new Neil Young documentary, Journeys, the day after the concert. It turns out that Neil has probably aged worse than the other three, although he's probably always rocked even harder, and he has an even better reputation for being uncompromising.

Andrew Bird / Eugene Mirman - Live 2012.03.22 The Pageant, St. Louis, Missouri

Artist: Andrew Bird
Venue: The Pageant
Location: St. Louis, Missouri
Date: 22 March 2012
Opening Act: Eugene Mirman

Setlist:
01. Hole in the Ocean Floor
02. Nyatiti
03. Danse Caribe
04. Desperation Breeds...
05. Polynation
06. Give It Away
07. The Naming of Things
08. Lazy Projector
09. Bein' Green [The Muppets cover]
10. Eyeoneye
11. Near Death Experience Experience
12. Effigy
13. Lusitania
14. Orpheo Looks Back
15. Plasticities
16. Tables and Chairs

Encore:

17. So Much Wine [The Handsome Family cover]
18. I'm Goin' Home [Charley Patton cover]
19. Fake Palindromes

When I first heard that the opener was a stand-up comedian, I was concerned. Knowing that a lot of stand-up doesn't do much for me, or outright offends me, I wasn't feeling too great about the prospect. But I figured it was worth giving a shot, so arrived early enough to catch Eugene Mirman's performance and a comfortable seat. I was surprised; he actually was fairly funny, but I was disappointed to find that much of his humor relied on ableism. He walked the line of overt offensiveness, and it's debatable if he strayed too far on the wrong side, but at least I could appreciate his political humor.

Andrew Bird came onto the stage alone to perform the longest track off his new album, "Hole in the Ocean Floor". His trademark looping was abundantly clear here, as without it the song would have been all but impossible. As it was, he was able to build up a huge network of parts that wove in and out of each other. Since it was just him, it was a rather transparent process: it was quite easy to watch as Bird added and subtracted parts as he went along.

For the rest of the main set, Bird was joined by guitarist Jeremy Ylvisaker, bassist Mike Lewis, and his usual drummer/multi-instrumentalist partner, Martin Dosh. Bird mostly stuck to his violin, but played guitar parts on many songs as well, and occasionally threw in glockenspiel bits when he felt like it. And of course, nearly everything he did was looped back. The last time I saw him perform, he appeared to also sample the guitarist's parts, but this time he seemed to just operate on his own instruments and voice. However, on some songs, it appeared that Dosh was manipulating some of Bird's parts, so I can only imagine that the wiring involved here is highly complicated. Dosh also performed some keyboard parts and threw down some percussion samples while ostensibly holding the beat with his drumset.

Ylvisaker was usually found to be doing something interesting with a slide or with some array of interesting effects, but he got off to a rough start when some element of his equipment appeared to malfunction. During "Desperation Breeds..." he was unable to perform for most of the song, and a stage hand rushed on stage to try to help. Bird didn't seem to mind too much; at one point he glanced back, noticed that Ylvisaker was out of action, and appeared to play what was presumably the guitarist's part on his glockenspiel. One quickly gets the impression that much of Bird's performance is improvised or at least only loosely scripted. After finishing "Desperation", Bird again looked back to see that Ylvisaker needed more time, and broke into what seemed to be an unplanned rendition of the brief instrumental "Polynation".

The setlist largely consisted of material from Bird's new album, Break It Yourself, which he said he really liked to perform, along with a couple favorite songs from each of his past few albums. Coincidentally (or perhaps not) many of these older selections were captured on the live Fake Conversations EP that he released a couple months ago as a giveaway for concert ticket buyers. As a result, there were few surprises to be found in the setlist, but that's not to say there were none. The biggest was probably the cover of "Bein' Green", which Bird claimed wasn't on the setlist but somehow just made him feel better. Apparently he was feeling "under the weather", which is strangely appropriate: a recent documentary following Bird's previous year-long tour, Fever Year, focused on the fact that Bird was battling some form of a cold for almost the entirety of the tour.

Bird's encore saw him come back to stage with just Ylvisaker and Lewis. The three crowded around a single retro-looking microphone and announced that they were going to play like in the old days. With no amplifiers, just acoustic instruments and voices, the three performed two covers and then retreated back to their normal posts. Dosh returned to his set as well, and the band played a manic, extended version of "Fake Palindromes". I had expected Bird to come out and play some more songs solo (as he had on his last tour) but this did not occur.

My biggest complaint of the night was that the encore seemed a bit dull. The idea of grouping around the single mic was interesting, but the covers weren't so special, and I would have preferred some more gems from Bird's own extensive back-catalog. The opener was okay but I probably would have preferred a hand-picked musical performer more in line with Bird's sound. (But I suppose Mirman was indeed better than the last tour's opening act, the Heartless Bastards.)

Scores:

Eugene Mirman: C+

Andrew Bird: B+

Radiohead / Other Lives - Live 2012.03.09 Scottrade Center, St. Louis, Missouri

I just couldn't say no to this concert. It was worth the expensive ticket, even if seeing a concert in 19,000-seat hockey arena is weird.

Artist: Radiohead
Venue: Scottrade Center
Location: St. Louis, Missouri
Date: 9 March 2012
Opening Act: Other Lives

Setlist:
01. Bloom
02. 15 Step
03. Airbag
04. Little by Little
05. Morning Mr. Magpie
06. Myxomatosis
07. Kid A
08. Videotape
09. The Daily Mail
10. The Amazing Sounds of Orgy
11. Karma Police
12. Identikit
13. Lotus Flower
14. There There
15. Feral
16. Reckoner

First Encore:
17. Separator
18. Weird Fishes/Arpeggi
19. Lucky
20. Electrolite [R.E.M. cover tease] → Everything in Its Right Place

Second Encore:

21. Give Up the Ghost

22. You and Whose Army?

23. Idioteque

This show rocked. I don't know when the last time was that I saw a concert this good – and I saw some good concerts last year! I think a large part of my satisfaction comes from just how good the openers were. I hadn't heard the name until I heard they'd be opening the show, but it turns out that Other Lives are a top-notch band. Hailing from Oklahoma and performing as a six-piece, they produced a dense, nearly orchestral sound. Despite the difficulty in ascertaining who was producing what sound in the mass of guitars, keyboards, and strings, they reminded me of a less abstract My Bloody Valentine, or a more compact Godspeed You! Black Emperor, or of the more complexly arranged Radiohead songs from OK Computer or In Rainbows. Suffice it to say, I liked them a lot.

Speaking of Radiohead, the first surprise of the show for the unsuspecting observer was the presence of two drumsets – guest drummer Clive Deamer has become a steady live member of the band for this tour. To open their set, Radiohead played three album-openers, each of which benefited greatly from the expanded percussion. While "There There" has always featured additional percussion from guitarists Johnny Greenwood and Ed O'Brien, "Bloom" also featured Jonny on percussion, and Clive's presence on almost every song of the show certainly set the theme of their performance.

The new material from 2011's The King of Limbs benefited greatly from this percussive focus. Since the album already showed an emphasis on reducing sonic complexity in favor of rhythmic precision and ingenuity, it only makes sense that the band would further expand on that front live. Despite my relative lack of enthusiasm for the new album, most of the songs carried a fantastic energy when performed live. "Feral" still remained a formless, weak, meandering half-song, and "Separator" lost some of its subtle wonder, but the others were surprisingly good.

The rest of the setlist was solid. They played their newest single, "The Daily Mail"; an obscure Amnesiac-era b-side, "The Amazing Sounds of Orgy"; and the brand-new, unreleased "Identikit". Other highlights from their extensive back-catalog were "Reckoner", "Lucky", "You and Whose Army?", and three Kid A songs that all garnered massive crowd approval. Oddly, nothing from before OK Computer was performed; other setlists from this tour usually have one song from The Bends, but at this point in Radiohead's career, they can probably afford to forget about their more mainstream alt-rock days.

The band was in top form, clearly extremely well-rehearsed. The rhythms were unbelievably tight and intricate. Clive added quite a bit in that regard to the classic material – especially to songs like "Reckoner" and the Kid A material. (Perhaps that's why those songs stood out to me so much.) On other songs, Clive's influence seemed minimal, superfluous, or even undetectable. I have no idea what he added to "Weird Fishes/Arpeggi" or "There There", for example. "Lucky" and "You and Whose Army?" were the only songs he sat out on, presumably because there was literally almost nothing to add. (Well, there was also "Give Up the Ghost", which was performed by just Thom, Johnny, and a sampled beat, but that's a different story.)

The only weak moments were "Feral", a screwy-sounding guitar part by Johnny on "Weird Fishes/Arpeggi", and some flubbed lyrics on "Karma Police" – which Thom joked about by then changing the chorus: "This is what you get when you forget the words". But every other moment was a perfect performance, and the encores were incredible. It's fascinating to see a crowd respond so well to a song as abstract as "Everything in Its Right Place". The closing song, "Idioteque" went over quite well, and the performance was even more intense than normal, escalating into an extended frenzied jam at its conclusion.

I'm not sure what else to say. It was an incredible performance, possibly even slightly better than the last time I saw them. And Other Lives were probably the best opening act I've seen since Haii Usagi opened for the Faint.

Scores:

Other Lives: A

Radiohead: A