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Wheels Within Wheels: Chapman Joins the Fashion Jungle

by The Fashion Jungle

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1.
Sputnik 02:21
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2.
Phoney English Accent 03:44
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3.
Little Man, Long Shadow 04:03
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4.
End of the Affair 03:27
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5.
Groping for the Perfect Song 03:09
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about

Beginning the longest-lived and best-known Fashion Jungle lineup, bassist Steve Chapman joined in late 1981. These recordings with Steve are from 1981 and 1982. Jim Sullivan of the original Fashion Jungle appears on "Phoney English Accent" and "End of the Affair."

As I recall, Steve came to us through an ad in Sweet Potato, a Portland music tabloid. He was married, had a child, cooked at a Middle Street restaurant and was a guitarist as well as bassist. I still remember our first meeting, in my parents’ basement in South Portland.

In common with Jim Sullivan, an original FJ multi-instrumentalist who stayed on into winter 1982, Steve had a grasp of music theory far surpassing anyone else in the band to that point. Where Jim’s music was angular and Steve’s lyrical, both wrote sophisticated melodies that I learned from, and that continue to stand out in the band’s catalog.

That musicality was apparent in Steve's bass playing, too. He anchored the sound as a bassist should, but was both unwilling to be limited to the foundational role and effortlessly able to embellish a song with taste and imagination. That ability stood the FJ in good stead through our several years as a trio.

So there we were in late autumn, 1981: Ken, Doug and new guy Steve, creating the Fashion Jungle that, in the years to come, became a noted presence in the Portland alt rock scene. Even in the case of the wheel of fortune, there are wheels within wheels.

"Sputnik" copyright © 1982 by Stephen Chapman. "Phoney English Accent," "Little Man, Long Shadow," "Groping for the Perfect Song" and "End of the Affair" copyright © 2010, 2012, 1983 and 1984, respectively, by Douglas L. Hubley. All rights reserved.

credits

released March 14, 2021

Steve Chapman, bass. Doug Hubley, guitars and vocals. Ken Reynolds, drums. Jim Sullivan, saxophone and rock organ.

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Doug Hubley Portland, Maine

Doug Hubley is a musician and writer in Maine.

He has covered arts and lifestyle for publications in Maine and Massachusetts.

Doug began learning guitar in 1966, and hopes to finish the job one day. He has played with such bands as the Fashion Jungle, the Cowlix, the Boarders and Howling Turbines.

Today he is one-half of Day for Night, an acoustic country band also starring Gretchen Schaefer. ... more

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