The Chameleons - Second Skin

Sometimes it’s better to have got the second skin. That’s wish which is coming from the song by The Chameleons. A true wish.

"One cold damp evening
The world stood still
I watched as I held my breath
A silhouette I thought I knew
Came through
And someone spoke to me
Whispered in my ear
This fantasy's for you
Fantasies are "in" this year

My whole life passed before my eyes
I thought what they say is true
I shed my skin and my disguise
And cold, numb and naked
I emerged from my cocoon
And a half remembered tune
Played softly in my head

Then he turned smiling
And said
I realise a miracle is due
I dedicate this melody to you
But is this the stuff dreams are made of?
If this is the stuff dreams are made of
No wonder I feel like I'm floating on air
Everywhere
It feels like I'm everywhere

It's like you fail to make the connection
You know how vital it is
Or when something slips through your fingers
You know how precious it is
Well you reach the point where you know
It's only your second skin

Someone's banging on my door"

Modern Eon - Fiction Tales

Only one album, five singles and several gigs in UK (including a tour supporting The Stranglers), but it was enough to stay in memories of many dedicated fans for over thirty years now. That’s all we can tell about the band Modern Eon which was part of The New Liverpool Scene that came to prominence in years 1979 – 1981 among other young artists gathered around local music club „Eric’s”, notable for promoting punk, post-punk and new wave acts. Several of these artists achieved some kind of success in music business, such as Orchestral Maneouvres In The Dark, Echo And The Bunnymen, The Teardrop Explodes, Dead Or Alive, Wah! Heat!,  Ellery Bop, Pink Military. Modern Eon was also on the best way leading to it but unfortunately it split up in the end of 1981 during work on a new matariel for their second album which was never completed. Returning to the band’s origins, it was founded in 1978 by Alix (real name Alex Johnson, guitar, keyboards, vocals) who invited Danny Hampson (bass), Ged Allen (guitar) and Joey McKechnie (drums) and they recorded and released first two singles : „Pieces” (Eon – EON 001) and „Euthenics” (Inevitable – Inev 003). Prior to the recording their first full-lenght album the band’s line-up changed, Allen and McKechnie were replaced by Bob Wakelin (synths, vocal), Tim Lever (guitar, saxophone) and Cliff Hewitt (drums). This squad is responsible for the album „Fiction Tales” (Dindisc, DID 11) which reached numer 65 on UK Album Chart and three more singles : rerecorded „Euthenics” (Dindisc, DIN 30), „Child’s Play” (Dindisc, DIN 31) and „Mechanic” (Dindisc, DIN 35), released without any bigger success. After the band’s dissolvement Alix opened his solo career under the moniker Che and rest of the group contuined their activity under new name This Time Next Year which occured a short-lived act. Then Bob Wakelin went into artworks for computer games and comics, Tim Lever played with Dead Or Alive before became music producer and remixer, Cliff Hewitt settled down in Apollo 440. My favourite Modern Eon’s song is „The Grass Still Grows”, a second track on album „Fiction Tales”, it’s tremendous, thrilling, a little hypnotic too.

The Opposition - Five Minutes

Cold wave is so specific music genre that only the most creative and imaginative musicians, who can be categorized to it, achieved some kind of success in rock music world or even a cult status among the dedicated fans.  One of them was a London-based band The Opposition, active mainly throughout the 80’s and early 90’s. In these several years their music evaluated from a rough and  austere post-punk to the pure cold wave and even closing more sublime and sopfisticated sounds and climates. The main core of this band were Marcus Bell (bass, keyboards) and Mark Long (guitar, vocal), responsible for almost all material released by the band on their singles and albums. The brightest moments in their career were albums : „Promises” ( Virgin, 206 157 ) from 1984, „Empire Days” ( Virgin, 207 329 ) from 1985 and recorded in 1990 after some hiatus „Blue Alice Blue” ( Opposition Declic, 000-121 ) . I personally think that several songs placed on these albums had quite a big potential to enter charts in UK and continental Europe, especially I’d like to mention sigles like „My Room Is White” ( Charisma, 811 412-1 ), „Five Minutes” ( Charisma, OPPS312 ) and „Crawl To Me” ( Opposition Declic 012 -5 ), but unfortunaly it didn’t happened ( except Poland where „Five Minutes” went to numer 29 on hit chart of Polish Radio Program III ). Sadly Marcus Bell died in 2014 (R.I.P.).