Chrome: C or D?

I have an original Chrome Box on vinyl, straight from Subterranean. At best, I'd say I might have listened to the Chronicles, 1 & 2 a couple times. They're basically one long whoosh of space jam with little variation. In the style of Third from the Sun but monotonous and not nearly as good.

No Humans Allowed is OK as noise and pastiche. Decades ago I thought "I Am the Jaw" was neat, a real room clearer. I was much younger, though.

Blood on the Moon -- the title track and "Insect Human" are good.

Which leaves the two unequivocal stars of the show: Alien Soundtracks and Half Machine Lip Moves.

However, for the best Chrome experience I rely on those two and Third from the Sun. Together, they pack the most wallop per minute and Noiseville furnishes them.

That said, The Chrome Box on Cleopatra is a good price and a reasonable shuffle of Chrome's best period. For example, it includes the strongest material from Third from the Sun -- an album not included in the old box. At this point I would part with my original. But it always included LPs which were the equivalent of filler, rare filler, granted. That was the nature of the Chrome beast.

Had Red Exposure and listened to it a lot when I was into the more straight bleak noise side of Chrome. Can't say I miss it. Apparently Beggars Banguet didn't either.

well Gorge, if you ever want to sell me your Chrome LP box I promise it will remain in good hands and be played on the radio at regular intervals.

I am a pretty big fan of the Chronicles, something about the stretched-out format really works for me. This is my biggest disappointment with the CD box, in that it drastically edits these tracks which IMO are better served by long buildups.

It and a short interview were the basis for a Chrome cover story for an old fanzine I did way back in -- hmmm -- '82, I guess. I no longer have the 'zine but the box has stayed with me all these years. It was really ambitious for its time. A six-record vinyl box set for Chrome in 1982 or so! The first Chrome vinyl I saw that actually made it into a chain store -- the old Listening Booth in my neck of the woods -- was Third from the Sun. Everything else I either got through mail order or at a funky place in State College, PA, which I don't even remember the name of.

This is undoubtedly the creepiest thing I've ever posted to the internet, but, Gorge . . any chance you could post some pics of that original boxset?

I'll make some scans later today. There's not much to see. Chrome and Subterranean definitely took the stark and cryptic approach. I guess the idea was if you bought it, you already knew all you had to.

first time I heard of chrome was when a sound choice reviewer compared my band to them in '87. went on the hunt for chrome stuff and could never find any. then touch and go reissued alien soundtracks in '90 and I discovered that the comparison was quantitatively sound but qualitatively invalid. we were no chrome!

uh what was your band?

totally obscure & forgotten

With that name, I'm not surprised.

"TOAF, to use their noted acronym..."

Is that how your allmusic entry for them starts?

A reissue of the Lyon concert boot would be nice at this point.

I haven't heard Chrome yet. Almost bought the original Chrome Box (CD version) the other day, but I held off briefly and it was gone the next day. Wish I'd picked it up now!

So the Chrome Box is only £10 + shipping on Amazon marketplace now - if I already have the T&G Alien Soundtracks/Half Machine CD and Red Exposure on vinyl, would I be better off buying the Chrome Box or just get Blood On The Moon separately? What are the bonus tracks like? Anything essential from singles/comp tracks or whatever that's not on the individual albums? Anyone care to break down exactly what's on the box and what's missing from the box?

Don't have time to break it down, but you also get most of 'Third from the Sun', singles, compilation tracks and bits of Chronicles. So, better to have a complete set of original vinyls of course, but for a tenner, I'm happy.

I broke down and picked one up. yeah it's worth it. I've been planning to set down and figure out what is and isn't on there from the albs, but as milton pointed out above the ep/singles/odds & ends are not filler. I'm thinking that between this and the noiseville alien soundtracks I'm pretty well set. if it's true that cleopatra only pressed 500 then you should probably hop on it.

also, why didn't anybody tell me how awesome red exposure is?

who besides me thinks we need a ts: alien soundtracks vs. half machine lip moves thread

Go for it.

Also:

also, why didn't anybody tell me how awesome red exposure is?

I did! Well, over here.

Chrome box is:

missing 4 Alien Soundtracks tracks

missing "Critical Mass from HMLM

missing "Room 101" and "Night Of The Earth" from Red Exposure

all 3 tracks from Subterranean Modern comp LP!!!

excerpt from "Read Only Memory", also has "The Manifestation Of The Idea" from that same EP

"information" 7" B-side

In A Dream/Dangerzone 12"

missing "The Strangers" from Blood On The Moon

1 non-LP "Instrumental"

has all of "Third From The Sun" except it has the 7" single version of "Firebomb", approx. 1 minute shorter.

then it has drastically edited versions of all the Chronicles tracks.

But I like The Strangers :(

I guess it is worth getting for the singles tracks and Third From The Sun then, esp for £10.

red exposure sounds like a joy division record made by maximalists

it was only recently that I realized the cover of 3rd from the sun is not a drawing of some weird alien, but is a lion door knocker with cut out eyes pasted over it.

http://www.staticwhitesound.com/chrome/discography/300x300/3rdFromSun_Siren.JPG

so has anybody been to one of those helios creed's chrome shows yet? tour's coming to boston next week.

I saw it a couple of years ago.
I found it kind of lacking. The band is pretty annoying, especially the drums. They used some graphic projections that may have been impressive to someone who's never seen a computer before. Helios Creed was hella stoned, though, which was a nice effort. I'm not big on reunion shows, however loosely that term can be applied to the Helios Creed plays Chrome thing.
It's just impossible to reproduce what I love about those Chrome records on stage, I think.

They never really were a live act, though the Lyon Concert boot is pretty good IIRC. Saw Helios solo live back in the 90's, and he was great. I'd basically drop whatever I was doing and go see them anywhere I could afford to get to.

i'm probably going this friday

I opened for them twice in '98 or so. They were not good then. I'm sure they are no better now. Some things are best in your imagination. Or memory. Or whatever.

from '07

the projections are funny. they look like that visualizer thing that itunes has

http://cgi.ebay.com/CHROME-Alien-Soundtracks-cassette-unreleased-tracks_W0QQitemZ350102483040QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item350102483040&_trkparms=39%3A1|66%3A2|65%3A1|240%3A1318&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

OW! If Helios has any more of this stuff in a box under his bed, I want to hear it

wonder if these tracks will come out

I'm excited that there is unreleased material from this period, but I don't know if there's enough interest for a proper release, and given the complex history of the band, I wouldn't be surprised if a lot has been lost. I'd be curious to know if Helios is aware of this auction, and if he has anything to say about it.

milton linked to another tape at some point that had longer versions of some AS tracks, wonder if these are the same.

There are 25 second samples on the auction listing, sound like totally new songs. Of course, they could just be different intros. Never could tell where Chrome were going to take things.

looks like it could be the same, compare the order of the new songs & older songs on the cassette with this:

http://www.staticwhitesound.com/chrome/discography/Ultra_Soundtrack.htm

I want to hear

"Unfortunately, this copy (the only one known to exist) was re-recorded over the first 5 minutes with some folk music, destroying most of the first 2 tracks."

Hippy bastards! Still, sounds like that cassette could be a complete version of this,

The staticwhitesound discography is terrific. I have an ancient cassette of the Chromasome Damage bootleg - nice to have David Tibet's confirmation that the intro and outro are old Crowley recordings.

As for the Ultra Soundtrack tape, has anyone ever thought to ask the Mitchell brothers what the story is?

the second one died in 2007, so we can't ask them.

perhaps there's an unreleased interview somewhere...

milton linked to another tape at some point that had longer versions of some AS tracks, wonder if these are the same.

okay, I kinda need to hear this

here are those alien soundtracks demo mp3s from the ebay auction zipped up for yr delectation in case they never see the light of day again

http://www.sendspace.com/file/abu6pc

that tape went for cheap, only $810, wondered if they threw in free shipping

so I tried to sort out where the various cleopatra box set tracks originated, and here's what I came up with. cleopatra could've saved me the trouble by putting this info in the set or putting it on their website. bastards.

this is not definitive as I don't have the original vinyl to compare, but by checking a couple different sources (staticwhitesound, discogs, rateyourmusic) and looking at track times I think this is mostly correct.

after going through this exercise I find it's hard to level a claim that the chronicles tracks have been unfairly truncated by cleopatra, since chrome itself issued the chronicles tracks on several releases with varying lengths and it appears like cleopatra picked from already existing versions.

example: "wings born into the night"
chronicles I - 16:00
raining milk - 6:40
chronicles vol I & II - 15:42
cleopatra chrome box - 6:45 (I'm assuming this is the raining milk version)

the biggest crime of the set is dropping half of alien soundtracks, losing classic tracks like "nova feedback" and "st37". but you do get a bunch of tracks not readily found elsewhere. and a pin. and a sticker.

Disc 1
1. Chromosome Damage (Alien Soundtracks LP)
2. The Monitors (Alien Soundtracks LP)
3. Pygmies In Zee Park (Alien Soundtracks LP)
4. Slip It To The Android (Alien Soundtracks LP)
5. Pharaoh Chromium (Alien Soundtracks LP)
6. Magnetic Dwarf Reptile (Alien Soundtracks LP)
7. TV As Eyes (Half Machine Lip Moves LP)
8. Zombie Warfare (Half Machine Lip Moves LP)
9. March Of The Chrome Police (A Cold Clammy Bombing) (Half Machine Lip Moves LP)
10. You've Been Duplicated (Half Machine Lip Moves LP)
11. Mondo Anthem (Half Machine Lip Moves LP)
12. Half Machine Lip Moves (Half Machine Lip Moves LP)
13. Abstract Nympho (Half Machine Lip Moves LP)
14. Turned Around (Half Machine Lip Moves LP)
15. Zero Time (Half Machine Lip Moves LP)
16. Creature Eternal (Half Machine Lip Moves LP)
17. Anti-Fade (Subterranean Modern comp)
18. I Left My Heart In San Francisco (Subterranean Modern comp)
19. Meet You In The Subway (Subterranean Modern comp)
20. Excerpt From Read Only Memory (Read Only Memory 12")
21. Informations (New Age 7" b-side)

Disc 2
1. New Age (Red Exposure LP)
2. Eyes On Mars (Red Exposure LP)
3. Jonestown (Red Exposure LP)
4. Animal (Red Exposure LP)
5. Static Gravity (Red Exposure LP)
6. Eyes In The Center (Red Exposure LP)
7. Electric Chair (Red Exposure LP)
8. Isolation (Red Exposure LP)
9. In A Dream (Inworlds 12")
10. Danger Zone (Inworlds 12")
11. The Need (Blood on the Moon LP)
12. Perfumed Metal (Blood on the Moon LP)
13. Insect Human (Blood on the Moon LP)
14. Brain Scan (Blood on the Moon LP)
15. Instrumental (Non-LP Track) (Chromosome Damage - live in Bologna LP)
16. Out Of Reach (Chromosome Damage - live in Bologna LP)
17. Blood On The Moon (Chromosome Damage - live in Bologna LP)
18. Innervacume (Chromosome Damage - live in Bologna LP)
19. Planet Strike (Chromosome Damage - live in Bologna LP)

Disc 3
1. The Manifestation (Of The Idea) (No Humans Allowed LP)
2. Firebomb (Firebomb 7")
3. Shadows Of A Thousand Years (Firebomb 7")
4. Future Ghosts (3rd from the Sun LP)
5. Armageddon (3rd from the Sun LP)
6. Heartbeat (3rd from the Sun LP)
7. Off The Line (3rd from the Sun LP)
8. 3rd From The Sun (3rd from the Sun LP)
9. Anorexic Sacrifice (Anorexic Sacrifice 7")
10. Beacons To The Eye (Anorexic Sacrifice 7")
11. Open Up (Locust Door) (Chronicles I)
12. Gehenna To Canaan (Chronicles II)
13. Wings Born In The Night (Raining Milk)
14. Tribes (Ultra) (Raining Milk)
15. Gehenna Lion (Raining Milk)

Edward, thanks for the hard work. And, yeah, this information should have come with the box.

That would have been too easy.

conversely, here is what's missing from the cleopatra box set:

Alien Soundtracks
03 All Data Lost
04 SS Cygni
05 Nova Feedback
09 ST 37

Half Machine Lip Moves
11 Critical Mass

Read Only Memory (there is an 8 minute excerpt)
A1. You Can’t See Them - They Can’t Touch You
A2. Inacontact
A3. Read Only Memory
B1. In Front of the Crowd
B2. I am the Jaw

New Age 7"
A1. New Age

Red Exposure
02 Room 101
09 Nights Of The Earth

Blood on the Moon
02 Inner Vacume
04 Planet Strike
05 The Strangers
07 Out of Reach
09 Blood on the Moon

Chromosome Damage (Live in Bologna)
A1. [ La Gitana - Aleister Crowley * ]
A2. Perfumed Metal
A4. Insect Human (We are Connected)
B1. Sun Control
B4. Armageddon
B6. [ The Pentagram - Aleister Crowley * ]

No Humans Allowed
(same Read Only Memory tracks)
B1. You Can’t See Them- They Can’t Touch You
B2. Inacontact
B3. Read Only Memory
B4. In Front Of the Crowd
B5. I am the Jaw

3rd from the Sun
01 Fire Bomb
07 Shadows of a Thousand Years

(everything below is all chronicles material, renamed, repackaged, etc.)

Chronicles I
A1. Anorexic Sacrifice
A2. Tribes
B1. Wings Born in the Night

Chronicles II
A1. Beacons to the Eye
B1. Gehenna Lion (Gehenna to Cannaan)

Raining Milk
A3. Gehenna to Canaan
A4. Légendes des Fantomes Futures
B1. Beacons to The Eye
B2. Raining Milk
B3. Anorexic Sacrifice

Chronicles Vol 1 & 2
01 The Chronicles of the Sacrifice
02 The Chronicles of the Tribes
03 The Chronicles of the Open Door
04 The Chronicles of Born in the Night
05 The Chronicles of the Beacons
06 The Chronicles of Gehenna

at one time I had copies of the unedited tapes from their 1981 shows in bologna and SF. I should dig those out.

don't get too excited. the sound was pretty dodgy on them.

but hey, it's chrome.