The Shamen - Strange Days Dream (1988)

The Shamen were a Scottish electronic dance music band, formed in 1985 in Aberdeen. The founding members were Colin Angus, Derek McKenzie and Keith McKenzie, with Peter Stephenson joining shortly after to take over on keyboards from Angus. The band were originally called Alone Again Or in 1984, under which name they released two psychedelic/electronic pop singles, and after the name change further singles picked up airplay from John Peel. A flexi-disc that came with the Scottish fanzine Skipping Kitten 2 in May 1986 raised their profile further still, and the band released their first album 'Drop' in 1987, which demonstrated their love of 60'd psychedelia, with influences such as Love, Syd Barrett and the 13th Floor Elevators, with covers of classic psychedelic songs by Syd Barrett ('It's All Around', 'Golden Hair', and 'Long Gone'), The 13th Floor Elevators ('Fire Engine') and The Turtles ('Grim Reaper Of Love') being recorded but left off the album. By mid-1987, Angus was discovering the sounds of early house-music pioneers such as S-Express and M/A/R/R/S, and increasing his knowledge of the latest studio gadgetry, and it wasn't long before he was applying these techniques to the band's music, mixing rock guitars, techno and hip-hop rhythms and sampled radio voices. The 1987 single 'Christopher Mayhew Says' was their first to experiment with beat machines and samples, fusing them with their psychedelic rock sound, but this new direction proved too radical for co-founder and vocalist Derek McKenzie, who left the band in late 1987 to study at university. Will Sinnott, aka Will Sin, joined the group that October on bass and keyboards, freeing up Angus to handle vocals and guitar, and this new line-up released their first full-length foray into a more dance-orientated sound with the 'In Gorbachev We Trust' album. The 10" mini-album 'Phorward' cemented their success, and from this point on the psychedelic pop took a back seat. I still think that 'Drop' is a brilliant album, and I loved their early work before the introduction of the electronic element, so the Italian 'Strange Days Dreams' album was most welcome when it hoovered up some rare early recordings, like those aforementioned covers and odd b-sides, but it also missed off a lot of music that it could have included, so this upgrade adds the 1986 flexi, some missing b-sides, an otherwise unrecorded John Peel session track, and those early recordings by Alone Again Or, for a more complete over-view of how The Shamen started out in the mid to late 80's. While I still followed the band in their more dance-friendly incarnation, I often wonder if they would have been as successful had they stuck with the psychedelic pop stuff, but bearing in mind the upsurge of acid house in the 90's I somehow think they made the right decision.  

Track listing

01 Drum The Beat (In My Soul) (single 1984, as Alone Again Or)
02 Dream Come True (single 1985, as Alone Again Or)
03 Smarter Than The Average Bear (Ursa Major) (b-side of 'Dream Come True')
04 Drum The Beat (Shall We Dance?) (b-side of 'Dream Come True') 
05 Do What You Will (b-side of 'Something About You' 1987)
06 It's All Around (b-side of 'Young Till Yesterday' 1986)
07 Grim Reaper Of Love (b-side of 'Something About You' 1987)
08 Stay In Bed (from the free flexi-disc with Skipping Kitten magazine 1986)
09 Long Gone (from 'Beyond The Wildwood: A Tribute To Syd Barrett' 1987)
10 Strange Days Dream (b-side of 'Young Till Yesterday' 1986)
11 Golden Hair (b-side of 'Young Till Yesterday' 1986)
12 Christopher Mayhew Says (A Lot) (12" single 1987 - exclusive mix of A and B sides)
13 Knature Of A Girl (Submission) (single 1988)
14 Shitting On Britain (b-side of 'What's Going Down?' 12" single 1988)
15 Fire Engine (b-side of 'What's Going Down?' 12" single 1988)
16 Darkness In Zion (b-side of 'Jesus Loves Amerika' 1988)
17 Nothing (John Peel session 1988)
18 What's Going Down? (single 1988)