List | S | The Shamen | 'En-Tact' CD 1991


Track: Name: Time:
1. Move Any Mountain 3:26
2. Human NRG Massey 4:36
3. Possible Worlds 3:43
4. Omega Amigo 4:42
5. Evil Is Even Edit 4:21
6. Hyperreal Orbit 5:19
7. Lightspan 4:37
8. Make It Mine 3:30
9. Oxygen Restriction 3:48
10. Hear Me 5:10
11. 666 Edit 4:47
12. Make It Minimal 3:16
13. Hyperreal Selector 3:59
14. Lightspan Soundwave 4:18
15. Progen 91 I.R.P. In The Land Of Oz 5:21
  Total 65:27


Comments:
More technoey than In Gorbachev We Trust and the guitars have taken yet another step back, even though they're still there (mostly apparent in 'Make It Mine', since it's built around a dist guitar riff). The lyrics are less sharp, and mostly about more fuzzy and spiritual things (drug propaganda?), some words about human potential and some basic peace, love and happiness. There are some semi-political points, but they're rather scarce and not nearly as hard and direct as on '...Gorbachev...'.
Tragically, one of the driving forces behind The Shamen at this time, Will Sinn, drowned during a video shoot (for 'Move Any Mountain', I think it was). Furthermore, this album also sees the emergence of Mr C, that annoying blond rapper with the hideously ugly accent. Fortunately, he rarely dominates the tracks; doing that is still Colin and I suppose to a degree also Will.
The tracks are more often than not (re-)mixed by some rather well-known techno profiles, such as Graham Massey (of 808 State), The Beatmasters, Renegade Soundwave, Orbital, "Evil" Ed Richards (of which I know very little apart from that he's mixed a few Shamen tracks rather successfully), William Orbit (these days probably mostly well-known for Madonna's 'Ray Of Light' since Liam Howlett declined sneeringly), Meat Beat Manifesto and Paul Oakenfold.
My favourite tracks include, apart from the various Move Any Mountain mixes, tracks like the dreamy 'Hyperreal' (from which http://www.hyperreal.org/ got its name - the track also includes singer Plavka, mostly well-known for the Jam & Spoon track 'Right In The Night') and the noisy 'Make It Mine', along with instrumental tracks like 'Lightspan' and 'Evil Is Even'. The '666 Edit' is basically just a remix of the 'Landslide' version of Move Any Mountain, with the addition of some vocal samples and fun stuff like the (at the time) sterotypical "yeah! whoo! yeah! whoo!" beat loop followed by a "wrong track!" exclamation and a switch back to the regular remix. Some cheap crap techno outfit recently based an entire track around the Mr C vocal sample "bang to the beat of the drum!" that kicks off the track. I wish crap like that would be outlawed.
Another track worth mentioning is 'Hear Me', which essentially is merely a speech by Alan Boesak regarding the forthcoming freedom in South Africa (apartheid was unfortunately still alive and well at the time), over a drum machine beat and occasional musical snippets.



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