Chart entered : 7 April 1990
Chart peak : 55 ( 4 in re-mixed form and re-titled "Move Any Mountain" in 1991 )
Number of hits : 12
Here we have another mid-eighties indie band reborn as ravers.
The Shamen started out as a trio named Alone Again Or ( after the Love song ) comprising Colin Angus ( bass and keyboards ) and brothers Derek and Keith McKenzie ( guitar/vocals and drums respectively . They released their first single "Drum The Beat" in 1984, a mix of dramatic vocals and electronic funk that sounds like The Associates given a dance makeover. It is however completely tuneless and cluttered. By 1985 they had a one single deal with Polydor and released their second single "Dream Come True" in March that year. It has a cleaner pop production and the semblance of a tune but still sounds over-complicated and a bit like King in trying to fuse contemporary rock and funk sounds.
The Shamen started out as a trio named Alone Again Or ( after the Love song ) comprising Colin Angus ( bass and keyboards ) and brothers Derek and Keith McKenzie ( guitar/vocals and drums respectively . They released their first single "Drum The Beat" in 1984, a mix of dramatic vocals and electronic funk that sounds like The Associates given a dance makeover. It is however completely tuneless and cluttered. By 1985 they had a one single deal with Polydor and released their second single "Dream Come True" in March that year. It has a cleaner pop production and the semblance of a tune but still sounds over-complicated and a bit like King in trying to fuse contemporary rock and funk sounds.
They changed their name to The Shamen towards the end of 1985 in time for their next single a 12 inch EP "They May Be Right But They're Certainly Wrong". The dance moves had been jettisoned in favour of a Goth rock sound somewhat similar to The Bolshoi but with Latin touches. All three tracks would feature on their debut album eighteen months later.
In 1986, Peter Stephenson joined to relieve Colin of keyboard duties and played on their next single "Young Till Yesterday" in November that year. The song carries a simplified Won't Get Fooled Again message about disillusion in a murky mix of psychedelic guitars, harsh drums and echoey keyboards that recalls the likes of Danse Society or Comsat Angels. I haven't heard the next single "Something About You".
The album "Drop" came out in 1987 and was mainly a compilation of previously released material. "Happy Days" is the best realised song but it's strictly fodder for the independent charts at this stage.
By the time of its release , Colin was ready to move on from indie rock and pursue a more electronic sound incorporating sampling and other studio technology. This was evident on their next single "Christopher Mayhew Says" released in September 1987.Mayhew was a Labour MP in the fifties who was famously filmed taking an acid tablet for research purposes for Panorama in 1955. It was never actually broadcast but footage survived and was sampled by the group for the single. It retains their brittle Goth-dance sound but smothers it with a layer of electronic bleeps and samples from the experiment. The chorus is a mantra of the title.
It was a step too far for Derek McKenzie who decided to go to university rather than continue with the band just after its release. He was replaced by Glaswegian giant Will Sinnott who had been with cabaret troupe Edith and the Ladies. He took on bass duties while Colin moved up to the frontman role replacing McKenzie on both vocals and guitar.
The first single to feature Will was "Knature of A Girl" in February 1988, a tuneless drone but still anchored in their old sound. "Jesus Loves Amerika" their next single in June 1988 was their most coherent effort to date, an attack on right-wing Christianity in America that prefigures Jesus Jones in its mix of abrasive vocals, use of samples, loud guitars and hip hop beats.
They released their next album "In Gorbachev We Trust" at the beginning of 1989. Synthesisers replace guitars as the dominant instrument and the lyrics are predominantly drug-inspired as Will and Colin immersed themselves in the acid house scene. They linked together sixties psychedelic tropes with the sound of the second summer of love on tracks like "Adam Strange" whilst others are straight techno. There was still no likely hit though and the album didn't chart.
Feeling marginalised by Colin and Will's writing partnership, Stephenson and McKenzie left the band shortly after the album's release and weren't on the next single in April 1989, " You, Me And Everything", a grinding industrial funk number reminiscent of Cabaret Voltaire. It was the opening track on a mini-LP the duo whacked out the following month called "Phorward" . Now free of all baggage from the past the album boasts a full on techno sound but there's also a hint of a pop sensibility emerging on "Strange Day Dreams' 89" and Colin tries his hand at Scots-accented rap on "Negation State".
The band spent the rest of 1989 on the Synergy tour with Orbital and other rave acts bringing acid house to rock fans. It led to a new deal with One Little Indian Records. It also led to them meeting Richard West, a house DJ and rapper under the name Mr C.
He was invited to contribute a rap part to their next single "Pro-Gen" . The song is either a hymn to positive thinking or about the feeling of invincibility engendered by taking certain illegal substances. The Beatmasters mixed the song and their contribution is crucial in cleaning up the sound for a pop audience. The main synth riff is melodic and while the chorus is little more than a chant of "I can move , move, move any mountain" ( hence its subsequent title ) it's a strong enough hook to make the song work as a pop hit. The subsequent version has a brighter sheen but isn't that much different. In the cruellest of ironies, it was filming a video for it that led to Will's death. Far from being invincible, he drowned while swimming shortly after the video was completed in Tenerife.
As opposed to Orbital, this lot actually writing hooks and having vocals helped them cross over into my pre-teen mind. Certain later hits had a "naughty" (to a degree mostly beyond my knowledge of the time) edge.
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