One of the bands I most associate with the Chameleons is Levitation (Terry
Bickers' band after the House of Love)--somewhat in terms of the sound,
but more in terms of the melodicism and intensity of the
songwriting. I've actually had friends tell me they sound like the
Chameleons when I've played them. And they've long been near the top of
my list of favorite bands.

So I was floored a few weeks ago when I happened across two separate
MySpace pages containing five Levitation songs I'd never heard. This page
contains four tracks from the never-released Terry Bickers version of
Meanwhile Gardens:

http://www.myspace.com/levitation23

All of these are good, and I'd put "Garden's Overflowing" and "Bodiless"
right up there with the best songs they ever did--brilliant stuff. And
this page contains "Cutwater", which was only released on a
limited-edition 7" single:

http://www.myspace.com/levitationmusic

This song has a vaguely "Is It Any Wonder?"-esque riff to it.

For those of you who've never heard Levitation, you should definitely take
this opportunity to check them out for free. That second page has three
other tracks of theirs that are on albums you could probably pick up if
you look around a bit; "Pieces of Mary" (from Need for Not) in particular
is a perfect introduction to the manic genius of the band. If you do try
it out, don't give up until you reach the end, because each Levitation
song is like four of anyone else's (sound familiar?).

Finding nearly an album's worth of unreleased material from one of my
favorite bands was like having my own private Christmas. What I wouldn't
give to find an extant band making music a fraction this good....

- John