



The first time I heard Chrome, I was tripping on at least two tabs of blotter acid. A friend of mine from school was a massive Chrome fan. I was a massive Tuxedomoon fan. A third friend present was a budding Residents freak. Although we were all three out of our everlovin’ minds, we could still agree on what to listen to when friend #1 pulled out the Ralph Records compilation, Subterranean Modern, which collected tracks from each of these decidedly avant-garde Bay Area-based groups, plus MX-80 Sound. Talk about a lysergic compromise!

Imagine if you will being exposed to this and then this (these are the two Tuxedomoon tracks) and The Residents’ “Dumbo, The Clown (Who Loved Christmas)” while in a state of, how shall I put it, being extremely tuned in to it. Then he flipped the record over and we were assaulted by Chrome’s “Meet You in the Subway” (see video below) with its primitive, crushing guitar, distorted vocals and almost motorik beat (dig those fuckin’ drums!). It was hooky and it was noisy and it was punky, psychedelic and heavy metal all at the same time. Evil sounding. Violent, even. My face melted off and slid onto the floor.

Chrome sounded like the Stooges channeled through a Philip K. Dick novel.

“Meet You in the Subway” is one of my favorite songs of all time but I hadn’t really listened to Chrome much in recent years. Then I picked up the Chrome box set earlier this year and played the shit out of that for about a month. When I was offered a copy of the “new” Half Machine from the Sun album of Chrome’s “lost” tracks by the publicist working the release, my immediate reaction was “Yes, please.” New vintage Chrome? I’m in!

The tracks on the album date from the era of Half Machine Lip Moves and Red Exposure, which is to say 1979-80. It is quite literally the great lost Chrome album—recorded when these guys were ON FIRE—that no one was waiting for or expected and that I guess even the surviving creator had more or less forgotten about, or considered lost.

Apparently someone had been shopping the tapes around when Helios Creed (his Chrome partner Damon Edge died in 1995) got wind of it and started a successful Pledge Music campaign to raise funds to buy back and complete the tapes for release:

“We had so much material, good tracks went unused. I didn’t even realize the tapes were lost (and sold) due to an unpaid bill! I forgot about them until they were played for me recently, some 30 years later, but listening to the work I was brought right back in time where we had left off. I remembered for instance that I felt ‘Something Rhythmic’ was a special track, maybe even a hit. I guess it wasn’t time to complete these tracks then, because now is their time.”

I’d have to say that he’s probably right about that given the number of times that I’ve played Half Machine from the Sun, but especially “Something Rhythmic (I Can’t Wait)”, since last week.

Half Machine from the Sun is eighteen tracks available as a two-record set—including a collectible colored vinyl version—CD and high quality digital downloads. If you like Chrome, it’s an absolute must.



“Something Rhythmic (I Can’t Wait)”



“Meet You In The Subway”