DUGAN McNEILL - In The Velvet Night (1989)

Chameleon's discography related album, vocalist & bass player solo album.
To be clear, this is an 'adult rock & pop' oriented album, with AOR traces.
Think 89-92 canadian sound, like Glass Tiger, Bryan Hughes Group (Beau Geste), then add some english style, and hi-tech imprint in some songs.

"Stranger Than Paradise", "There Goes My Heart Again" and specially "Love You Today" are the highlights for me.
Pretty unknown album.

01 - Walls Come Down
02 - Israeltown
03 - Stranger Than Paradise
04 - Eyes Of A Child
05 - Take A Chance
06 - There Goes My Heart Again
07 - Ghost On The Radio
08 - I Will Be There
09 - Love You Today

Dugan McNeill: vocals,bass, guitar, keyboards
Donny Paulson: guitar
Dik Shopteau: bass, guitar
Kurt Barkdull: drums, percussion
Charlie Adams: drums, percussion
Stephanie Eubanks: backing vocals
Yanni: keyboards (uncredited)


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CHAMELEON - Hologram Sky (1984)

Band's last album, only released on cassette format.
The trend to new-wave style experimented in 'Balance' leads entirely in this final recording.
Production (again in charge of Yanni) is much modern oriented, less AOR keyboards and more rhythm guitars.
Michael Anthony and Johnny Donaldson were replaced for this recording by Peter Diggins.
Thanx to Erik U for the files.
I've enhanced the sound, fixed a little channel problem in one track and added artwork.
Collector's item, very rare.

1 - Soldiers Dancing
2 - One More Time
3 - Hologram Sky
4 - The Party's Over
5 - Falling Star

Dugan McNeill: bass, vocals
Charlie Adams: drums, percussion
Yanni: keyboards, synthesizers, producer
Peter Diggins: guitars, vocals


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CHAMELEON - Balance (1983)

Third album, actually a minLP, as they were called then.
Wise titled, a balanced mix of styles, eclectic stuff.
Songwriting is solid, you can percieve the group's maturity here.
AOR spirit, tinged with new-wave influences.
That's evident in the opener and "One More Time", both bright and poppy.
But rockers are still present.
"Teazer" is an uptempo with nice guitar licks, and a great chorus.
And "She Never Gets What She Wants" is pure AOR melody, maybe the best song ever written by the band.
I like this 'EP' a lot, a highly recommended listen.
Never released on CD, crystal clear vinyl rip cleaned by myself for your listening pleasure.

1 - Little Sister
2 - One More Time
3 - Don't Wanna Love You
4 - Teazer
5 - Combination
6 - She Never Gets What She Wants

Michael Anthony: keyboards, vocals
Johnny Donaldson: guitars
Dugan McNeill: bass, vocals
Charlie Adams: drums, percussion
Yanni: keyboards, synthesizers, producer


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CHAMELEON - Techno-Color (1982)

Did you ever heard about YANNI?
Greek keyboardist, classical / new-age composer, famous for his magnificent "Live at the Acropolis" video concert (a highly recommended experience), deemed to be the second best-selling music video of all time (behind Michael Jackson's Thriller).
Well, his career began in a pomp - AOR - rock & pop band.
And a very good one: CHAMELEON.

Second album, and the best of all in my assessment.
This one displays all the hallmarks of AOR we all love: stabbing keyboard lines (thanks to Yanni's entry), great guitar riffs, pumping rhythm section.
Bombastic production, big drums (I mean BIG) and colorful harmonies.
Almost a conceptual album, most of the songs are 'chained'.
I love the sound and the way synthesizers were used, they couldn't baptize this work better: "Techno-Color"

You must listen this album, a different plate in AOR history.
I've added as bonus, a b-side single, and one track from their 4th recording, only cassette.
Never released on CD, crystal clear vinyl rip cleaned by myself for your listening pleasure.

01 - Techno-Color
02 - Techno-Cat
03 - Primary
04 - Number
05 - I Can't Tell You Now
06 - Rock & Roll (No Place To Go)
07 - Techno-Too!
08 - We're Back
09 - A Girl Like You
10 - Sorry For Our Love
11 - Secondary
12 - I Remember
13 - Friday On My Mind (Techno-Color single B-side) [bonus]
14 - Soldiers Dancing (Hologram Sky cassette '84) [bonus]

Mark Anthony: vocals, keyboards
Dugan McNeill: vocals, bass guitar
Johnny Donaldson: guitars
Charlie Adams: drums, vocals
Yanni: keyboards, synthesizers


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CHAMELEON - Chameleon (1981)

I'm starting the discography of this barely known band: CHAMELEON.
Emerged from Minneapolis in the early 80's, the good thing about them is diversity.
Their selftitled debut makes clear that we're not in presence of common AOR.
Peculiar lyrics, unusual arrangements and imagination abound, also some traces of late 70's british style.
Besides, american rock & pop influences (i.e. THE CARS).
The album sounds a bit outdated, but this was a promisingly debut by this rare avis band, and worth a listen.
Never released on CD, crystal clear vinyl rip cleaned by myself for your listening pleasure.

01 - Stranded
02 - All Night
03 - This And That
04 - Forever
05 - I'm In Love With You
06 - Let's Dance
07 - Fallin' In And Out Of Love
08 - Darcy Don't
09 - Oh Love
10 - Holdin' On
11 - Tonite, Tonite

Charlie Adams: percussion, vocals
Dugan McNeill: vocals, bass
Mark Anthony: vocals, keyboards
Johnny Donaldson: guitars


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