Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Love featuring Zok Johnston
2. After All featuring Jael (of Lunik)
3. Just A Dream featuring Margaret Far
4. Run For It featuring Leigh Nash (of Sixpence None the Richer)
5. Truly featuring Nerina Pallot
6. Serenity
7. Touched featuring Rachel Fuller
8. Forever After featuring Sultana
9. Fallen featuring Rani
10. Orbit Of Me featuring Leigh Nash
11. Magic featuring Julee Cruise
12. Eternal Odyssey
13. Returning featuring Kristy Thirsk

Disc 2:

1. Stopwatch Hearts featuring Emily Haines
2. After All Andrew Sega Remix
3. Silence featuring Sarah McLachlan (Video)
4. Flowers Become Screens featuring Kristy Thirsk (Video)
5. Aria featuring Medifval Bfbes (Video)

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #43640 in Music
• Released on: 2003-06-24
• Number of discs: 2
• Format: Enhanced
• Dimensions: .26 pounds

Album Description
The aggregate responsible for inspiring Sarah McLachlan to enter the dance music realm is back with a fresh set of beauties for 2003, including guest appearances by Leigh Nash (Sixpence None The Richer) and they also managed to get Julee Cruise (Twin Peaks, Angelo Badalamenti) to record once more. This special edition of the album comes with a bonus disc of a track that didn't make the regular album and a remix of "After All", along with three enhanced videos of previous hits!

Amazon.com
Delerium’s Rhys Fulber and Bill Leeb lighten up their sound on Chimera, as the darker fixations of early records like Morpheus retreat yet further into the background. After Sarah McLachlan’s lovely turn on the single "Silence," and the massive success of 1997’s Karma, the duo have dutifully embraced their winning combination of ethereal female vocalists and ambient dance-pop. On Chimera, the formula yields a few worthy singles, such as the limber and catchy "Love" and "Run For It" (featuring Sixpence None The Richer’s Leigh Nash). And while the record too often settles for disposable, bland pop ("Touched" and "Magic," for instance), it also delivers potent hooks and moments of inspiration that will keep the band’s fan base happy. --Matthew Cooke

Customer Reviews

Not their best but still good
Delerium is easily one of my favorite groups. I have all their newer albums (Semantic Spaces, Karma, Poem, Odyssey: The Remix Collection) which I prefer to the gloomy darkwave of their melancholy archive days. And while their latest offering may not be their best, there's plenty of catchy tunes with beautiful female singing, making 'Chimera' (an imaginery monster made up of incongruous [out of place] parts) worth buying, whether a longtime fan or just a casual listener.

IMO this album is great but it definitely doesn't flow without faults. With every new record, the guys of Delerium (Bill Leeb and Rhys Fulber) seem to stray further and further from their trademark sound. I guess you could say it's the evolution of their music growing with the ages but it doesn't seem to be working in their favor. I mean, why change something that's already good? A lot of people were let down with 'Poem' so if you were one of those disenchanted aficionados then you'll be even more disappointed with 'Chimera'. I think the success of their club hits "Innocente" and especially "Silence", which were both overly played and remixed by one too many DJs, may have gone to their heads, steering them in the wrong direction. Even with Leigh Nash of Sixpense None The Richer contributing her vocals to "Run For It" and "Orbit Of Me", they're still not likely to get any radio exposure but they're certainly guaranteed to lose a couple once-devoted followers. Why? Well, for one, there's hardly any haunting Gregorian chantings and the ethereal sirens are mostly overshadowed with pop and dance beats. It's pretty sad but "Eternal Odyssey" is the only song on here reminiscent of their Karma days. So with that said, I still think some of these negative reviewers are being a little harsh, exaggerating their unconstructive point. It may not be their greatest effort but it's definitely not bad. After a short absence to work on his solo project, Rhys Fulber returns (but for how long?), bringing with him his love of Middle Eastern music. It's also nice to see Kristy Thirsk come back with a soaring performance to close 'Chimera' with. It's songs like "Fallen", "Truly", "Eternal Odyssey", "After All" and "Returning" that make the merit of this purchase commendable. And like a lot of new releases coming out, this includes a bonus disc with a remix of "After All" by contest winner Andrew Sega and the amazing "Stopwatch Hearts" with Emily Haines, which reminds me of something you'd hear on Conjure One (ala "Center Of The Sun"). You can also view three of their music videos from your computer with the Quicktime player. On "Semantic Spaces" a man is wandering the desert sand dunes, and on "Silence" a man and a woman bind one of their hands with a rope, linking them together, running on a rocky seashore until they break free. "Aria" is the only video I really like though because it actually features all the Mediaeval Baebes.

lush, sometimes overly sentimental, pop
Few musical groups have undergone the dramatic and consistent changes of Bill Leeb and Rhys Fulber as Delerium. Their early music (Morpheus, Syrophenikan) was dark industrial; later albums (Euphoric, Karma) became more dance-y and incorporated ethereal and beautiful vocals from Sarah McLachlan and Kristy Thirsk. Successive albums have become more sappy, and Poem was almost unbearable.

This album is ingenue-rich. Some of the collaborations work (Zoe Johnston, Jael, Margaret Far, Kristy Thirsk). Some of them don't (Leigh Nash, Rachel Fuller,Sultana, Rani, Julee Cruise). As for the latter group, I have enjoyed their work elsewhere, but here the lyrics are juvenile and the sound seems cloying rather than ethereal. There's a big difference but a fine line between haunting and mawkish, and Delerium & Co. keep jumping back and forth across it. Some songs are gorgeous, others are treacly, as if someone had distilled the essence of the movie 'Ghost' onto a disk.

If you liked 'Poem', you will enjoy 'Chimera'. If you are a fan of any of the accompanying vocalists, this will be of interest. If you liked early Delerium, this will not appeal to you.

Very Enjoyable... sit back, relax...
If you enjoy music that is about love, the hardships and the ups and downs that go with it, and enjoy music that is soothing, creative, smooth, and in many ways almost magical... you'll love this.

To be completely honest with you, I own many of their albums, and for years Delerium has been metamorphising and experimenting. When their album, Karma, came out they started their new journey toward something that would fit more of in the mainstream style of music.. yet with a little more mature, mystical, upbeat and almost classical-new age sound to it, than your typical pop song.

Karma, Poem, and Chimera are a wonderful joyride, and in my opinion the combination of lyrics, music, and vocals make them very pensive albums; each one was their own work of art. Delerium progressed, as we all try to do, and perfected their technique which led to them providing 3 entire albums of amazing music and vocals!

Karma was a move toward how they are today; it had fewer vocals and more instrumental pieces than the following two albums, perhaps most will remember Sarah McLachlan's vocals on Silence, as they watched the movie Brokedown Palace (which is where I got my first taste of Delerium), or other movies the song was featured on. However, instrumentals such as Forgotten Worlds, Lamentation, and many others are very notable and deserve a hearing ear; they grabbed my attention because they have a very interesting and almost otherworldly feel to them...

Poem, their next album, started their new trend, which was as I explained before, more mainstream in nature. Even though this could qualify as an album of pop songs, this whole album seems so much more sophisticated and has more of an interesting appeal than your typical pop album. This music is very ethereal in nature and the vocalists each contribute a unique touch that is beautiful, yet each song blends well with the next.

Chimera was an amazing follow up album to the album, Poem. Alot of similar style to it... yet with more wonderful music and vocals. This is a class of music that will remain timeless because of its smoothness and will always be good for relaxation, thought, fun, romance, and most of all just plain chillin... :) ... as for favorites, Eternal Odyssey on Chimera will always be one of my biggest reasons for liking music made by Delerium.