Chrome Box [Deluxe Edition] [Box] [PA]

Performer: Chrome
Distributor: E1 Distribution (USA)

Notes: Recorded between 1978 & 1982. Includes liner notes by Bob Lennon. CHROME was originally released as a limited edition six-LP box set in 1982, containing 1978's ALIEN SOUNDTRACKS, 1979's HALF MACHINE LIP MOVES, 1981's BLOOD ON THE MOON, 1982's NO HUMANS ALLOWED and the two-disc CHRONICLES set of rare and unreleased tracks. Though it's an expensive rarity in its original 1982 vinyl incarnation, the goth and industrial-influenced reissue label Cleopatra Records recreated the box set with this release, which also adds bonus tracks at the end of all the original discs as well. Easily the most substantial and essential overview of the original Chrome lineup fronted by Helios Creed and Damon Edge, which fused Captain Beefheart rhythms, No Wave aggression and a proto-industrial mindset that made Chrome probably the single most influential American act in the style, alongside Europeans like Throbbing Gristle and Einsturzende Neubauten. Liner Note Author: Dave Thompson . The eccentric musical visionary and virtuosic guitarist Helios Creed started his career with the groundbreaking Chrome, which combined the minimalist aesthetics of punk with the driving rhythms and innovative recording techniques favored by groups like Neu! and The Silver Apples. Along with similarly minded groups like New York's Suicide, Chrome would prove to be a major influence on groundbreaking industrial acts such as Throbbing Gristle and Cabaret Voltaire. No anthology can offer a complete overview of Chrome's sprawling discography, which includes nine full-lengths and countless demos and B-sides, but Cleopatra's expansive CHROME BOX does offers an accessible account of Chrome's history. The first disc focuses largely on the punk-inflected experiments of THE VISITATION and ALIEN SOUNDTRACKS, which saw the group doctoring the misanthropic three-chord racket of songs like "March of the Chrome Police" and "Zombie Warfare" with blasts of white noise and unsettling instrumental textures. The subsequent discs document Chrome's evolution into the fully-fledged noise terrorists heard on albums like RED EXPOSURE and BLOOD ON THE MOON. Those made of money who want to go ahead and take the plunge into full Chrome activity could do worse than to go straight to Chrome Box. The original release of the Box in 1982 served as both an overview of the classic Damon Edge/Helios Creed lineup and the inclusion of some extra goodies. Four previously released albums appeared in full -- Alien Soundtracks, Half Machine Lip Moves, Blood on the Moon, and the compilation No Humans Allowed. Also included were Chronicles and Chronicles, Vol. 2, containing what at the time was unreleased material from the band; those two collections were made available separately later. Many years later, after Chrome had been reactivated by Creed following Edge's untimely passing, the band's new label, Cleopatra, continued its own sporadic reissue program with a full reprint and remastering of the Chrome Box as a three-CD set. This version also has the advantage of including the three Chrome tracks from the Subterranean Modern compilation on Ralph Records from 1979. These include a rather devolved version of "(I Left My Heart) in San Francisco," which was specifically essayed by every other band on the original compilation as well. [Cleopatra issued a deluxe box set edition in 2008.] ~ Ned Raggett

Reimagining the cosmic angle of Hawkwind and the harsh psychedelia of Silver Apples for an urban dystopia, San Francisco's Chrome represented the extreme experimental wing of early punk and were instrumental in the creation of industrial music. The band underwent many line-up changes in their lifespan, but either founder Damon Edge or guitarist Helios Creed--recruited after their 1976 debut--or both were constants. Over the course of their late '70s albums, the band's sound morphed from noise-based, heavily affected guitar psych to a more synthesizer- and programming-driven approach. Damon Edge recorded many solo albums under the Chrome moniker in the mid '80s and early '90s, while Helios Creed retook the reins when Edge died from heart failure in 1995.

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