Labelle - Chameleon
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Category: Music CD
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CD Details
Artist: LabelleEdition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 1991-07-01
Music Label: Sony
Soundtracks:
- Get You Somebody New
- Come Into My Life
- Isn't It A Shame
- Who's Watching The Watcher?
- Chameleon
- Gypsy Moths
- A Man In A Trenchcoat (VooDoo)
- Going Down Makes Me Shiver
Music reviews of Chameleon
Music Review: Underrated is too weak a word
Rating: 5 Stars
After Vicki Wickham's makeover and a modestly successful collaboration with Laura Nyro on Gonna Take a Miracle, Labelle released three albums so commercially unsuccessful they were dropped by two major labels. Then, under the direction of Allen Toussaint, they had a smash hit with "Lady Marmalade" and its parent album Nightbirds.
Momentarily stars, Labelle recorded "Phoenix" as a follow-up, but it was not very successful and (like their sole RCA album "Pressure Cooking") missed the CD era completely.
Although Labelle were drifting apart by this point, "Chameleon" showed the three women working together in finer form than ever. The energy level of Nona Hendryx's compositions and the singing is far ahead of much of their previous work, and the freer song forms suit Labelle perfectly. The opener "Get You Somebody New" - one of only two songs not written by Hendryx - is gut-wrenching in its power, whilst "Come Into My Life" balances it perfectly with light, but equally emotional, textures. The ballad "Isn't It A Shame" may be very generic in its lyrics but Patti's voice is purely erotic in a way very seldom seen on any recording, and Nona and Sarah provide eerie backing over the full eight minutes. "Who's Watching the Watcher" is Nona's most socially conscious number ever, and rocks hard without the pomp that was to ruin what I've heard of Nona's solo work.
It is the second side, though, that is the real treat. "Chameleon" is a beautiful piece of pure soul with supremely tuneful vocals, and the ecstatic, passionate yet somehow light "Gypsy Moths" is even better, a call to dance that rivals anything P-Funk were producing at the time. The mantra-like "so you can dance" is truly entrancing and almost spiritual.
The absolute stunner, though, is the second-last track "A Man In A Trenchcoat (Voodoo)". Its quiet, percussive intro and vocals gradually develop into fiery soul without relenting for the full eight minutes, quite like Can's "Future Days" does only with more emotion on the surface. Nona's lyrics this time seem to be discussing psychological problems, but they match the mysterious growth of the song very well and she and Sarah back up Patti's soulful leads superbly. The last track, "Going Down Makes Me Shiver" is the most conventional, but also has Patti's biggest vocal on the record.
As a finale to a difficult career for Patti, Nona and Sarah, "Chameleon" was indeed grand, but it was a commercial failure reaching only #94 on Billboard. After Labelle split up, it became clear that they were much more than the sum of their parts: Patti was soppy and Nona pretentious, but here together they create something wonderful and never appreciated.
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