The Shamen

The Shamen
The Shamen (1990)
General information
Genre (s)	Techno , electronic music
founding	1985
resolution	1999
Website	http://www.nemeton.com/
Founding members
Vocals , bass	Colin Angus
Guitar , vocals	Derek McKenzie (until 1987)
Drums	Keith McKenzie (until 1988)
Last occupation
Vocals, bass, guitar	Colin Angus
Vocals, keyboard	Richard "Mr. C "West (from 1990)
former members
Keyboard	Peter Stephenson (1985-1988)
Bass, keyboard	William Sinnott (1987–1991 †)

The Shamen were a British band that mainly dealt with electronic music . The group was founded in 1985 in Aberdeen by Colin Angus ( bass , vocals , born August 24, 1961 ), Derek McKenzie ( guitar , vocals, born February 27, 1964 ) and Keith McKenzie ( drums , born August 30, 1961 ); Peter Stephenson ( keyboard , born March 1, 1962 ) was added a little later. The Shamen started with psychedelic rock and experimented with acid house as one of the first guitar bands in 1987 . William Sinnott ("Will Sin", born December 23, 1960 , †  May 23, 1991 ) came as a band member; Derek McKenzie, Keith MacKenzie, and Peter Stephenson left The Shamen one by one. As a duo, The Shamen turned completely to rave culture and techno from 1989 onwards . After Sinnott's death off the coast of La Gomera, Colin Angus continued with Richard West ("Mr. C") The Shamen, initially as a successful hit parade act; from the mid-1990s the duo became more experimental again, but achieved no more commercial success. The Shamen broke up in 1999.

history

Under the band name "Alone Again Or", The Shamen released their first maxi single in 1985, entitled Dream Come True . Guitarist , singer and songwriter at the time was Derek McKenzie. With the same line-up on the instruments, bassist Colin Angus took over the lead under the name "The Shamen". The first maxi as The Shamen was They Might Be Right… But They're Certainly Wrong (1985), an EP , still with the vocals of Derek McKenzie. With the establishment of their own label Moksha , The Shamen were independent from the release of their second maxi Young Till Yesterday / World Theater (1986, now also with Peter Stephenson). Stylistically, The Shamen moved between psychedelic rock and indie pop until the beginning of 1987 . The album Drop , which documents the early phase and contains songs by McKenzie and Angus, was released in 1987.

The Maxi Christopher Mayhew Says (1987, without Derek McKenzie, with Will Sin on bass and Colin Angus on guitar) was the first Shamen record with electronic beats , but still dominant guitars . The song contains a sample from 1955 by British MP C. Mayhew in which the Labor politician describes a mescaline trip. Over the years, song lyrics about psychedelic drug experiences have been one of the few constants in The Shamen's career. In the 1980s, The Shamen also spread political messages, for example on their Maxi Jesus Loves America (1988), the next but one . The Shamen achieved their first club hit with the Maxi Transcendental (1988) mixed by acid house producer Bam Bam . This transition phase between rock and techno is documented in the album In Gorbachev We Trust , which was released in 1989.

After the Phorward EP (1989, now as a duo with Angus and Sin), The Shamen signed with the indie label One Little Indian and released the album En-Tact in 1990 , their most important work in terms of artistic influence to date. With this album, The Shamen turned completely to techno and electro , again taking in psychedelic inspirations. The vocals were reduced, but most of the pieces were retained. Four songs, also published as maxi, were included on En-Tact , of which Progen (Move Any Mountain) (1990) became a big club hit (outside of Great Britain , especially in Switzerland ). En-Tact was released in 1991 in a second edition with remixes by William Orbit, Graham Massey, Meat Beat Manifesto, Orbital, Renegade Soundwave and others. Fourteen mixes of the song Progen were released under the title Progeny .

Shortly after a video shoot in Tenerife , Sinnott died on May 23, 1991 while swimming off the coast of La Gomera . After that, Colin Angus recorded the most commercially successful album Boss Drum (1992) with rapper and DJ Mr. C, who first worked with The Shamen on Progen ; it was more oriented towards house and pop and contained rap interludes by Mr. C. Five maxis released from the album reached the top 20 of the charts in Great Britain ; with the single Ebeneezer Goode (1992), which was criticized for encouraging drug use, The Shamen achieved their only number 1 placement.

From 1993 onwards, The Shamen lost its importance as a creative force. The album Axis Mutatis (1995) contains somewhat gentler sounds than Boss Drum , but is otherwise similar to its previous album . Hempton Manor (1996) submitted the band only to be able to fulfill the contract with One Little Indian; it is an instrumental club album that denies the pop audience. The last album UV (1998) appeared again on their own label Moksha, but was hardly noticed in the electronic music scene.

Together with Matt Cat, Colin Angus formed the short-lived project “Pablo Sandoz”. Colin Angus contributed the vocals to the song Falling by Conscience in 2010 . The piece is included in two versions on the album Gravity has gone .

In 2020, allegations were raised by a former companion of the bands that The Shamen had used parts of the text and vocals by Ebeneezer Goode without consent.

Discography

Studio albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US
1990	En-Tact	-	-	-	UK31 (10 weeks) UK	US138 (8 weeks) US	First published: October 1990
1992	Boss drum	DE72 (18 weeks) DE	AT28 (11 weeks) AT	-	UK3 platinum (35 weeks)UK	-	First published: September 1992
1995	Axis Mutatis	-	-	-	UK27 (2 weeks) UK	-	First published: October 1995

More albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US
1991	Progeny	-	-	-	UK23 (2 weeks) UK	-	First release: September 1991 remix album
1993	On air	-	-	-	UK61 (1 week) UK	-	First release: November 1993 live album
1998	The Shamen Collection	-	-	-	UK26 (4 weeks) UK	-	First published: April 1998 compilation

more publishments

• 1987: Drop
• 1988: Strange Day Dreams
• 1989: In Gorbachev We Trust
• 1989: Phorward
• 1993: Different Drum
• 1996: Remix Collection
• 1996: Hempton Manor
• 1998: UV
• 2002: Hystericool

Singles

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US
1990	Pro-Gen En-Tact	-	-	-	UK55 (4 weeks) UK	-	First published: April 1990
	Make It Mine En-Tact	-	-	-	UK42 (5 weeks) UK	-	First published: September 1990
1991	Hyperreal En-Tact	-	-	-	UK29 (5 weeks) UK	-	First published: April 1991
	Move Any Mountain En-Tact	-	-	CH4 (13 weeks) CH	UK4 (13 weeks) UK	US38 (17 weeks) US	First published: July 1991
1992	LSI (Love Sex Intelligence) Boss Drum	DE27 (11 weeks) DE	-	CH19 (7 weeks) CH	UK6 (8 weeks) UK	-	First published: July 1992
	Ebeneezer Goode Boss Drum	DE23 (11 weeks) DE	AT11 (10 weeks) AT	CH17 (12 weeks) CH	UK1 silver (10 weeks)UK	-	First published: August 1992
	Boss Drum Boss Drum	-	AT20 (8 weeks) AT	CH22 (3 weeks) CH	UK4 (8 weeks) UK	-	First published: October 1992
	Phorever People Boss Drum	DE31 (11 weeks) DE	AT17 (6 weeks) AT	-	UK5 silver (10 weeks)UK	-	First published: December 1992
1993	Re: Evolution Boss Drum	-	-	-	UK18 (2 weeks) UK	-	First release: March 1993 feat. Terence McKenna
	The SOS EP	-	-	-	UK14 (4 weeks) UK	-	First published: November 1993
1995	Destination Eschaton Axis Mutatis	-	-	-	UK15 (6 weeks) UK	-	First published: August 1995
	Transamazonia Axis Mutatis	-	-	-	UK28 (2 weeks) UK	-	First published: October 1995
1996	Heal (The Separation) Axis Mutatis	-	-	-	UK31 (2 weeks) UK	-	First published: February 1996

Web links

• Official The Shamen web site at nemeton.com
• Unofficial The Shamen Discography (English)
• The Shamen at Allmusic (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Discogs catalog http://www.discogs.com/Alone-Again-Or-Dream-Come-True/release/1260184
2. ^ Bainbridge, L. (2013). The True Story of Acid House: Britain's Last Youth Culture Revolution. London: Omnibus Press.
3. ↑ 90s90s: Did The Shamen steal a text? Retrieved July 1, 2020 . 
4. ↑ ^{a b c} Chart sources: DE AT CH UK US
5. ↑ Music Sales Awards: UK