Shamen* – En-Tact

This LP cannot be underestimated in of it’s importance.
Although House Music had been around in various forms since the mid-80’s, there were few LPs by “dance” artists that stood up both as a collection of great tracks, and one that could claim to be truly groundbreaking by 1990.
As a band The Shamen had been evolving for years, from an early-80’s post punk Aberdeen 4-piece psychedelic indie combo, to an act whose live shows were essentially acid-house-techno-dance music all-nighters; before most of us had even heard of the term.
The Shamen were doing these dance extravaganzas aka as Synergy and touring the UK and Europe before the bigger outdoor raves started happening around the country (Other dance events at that time were mostly DJs/ club nights with live act PAs).
The Shamen were quite probably the “coolest” act on the charts in 1990, and their singles - from the Bam Bam produced Omega Amigo onwards - were not only credible dancefloor hits they were also increasingly chart-bound as we moved from 1989 to 1990.
It has to be mentioned that ALL the singles featured on THIS LP are also worth picking up on their respective 12” versions too.
Sadly it was a short-lived “cool” for The Shamen as the Dance/ Rave classics that we now associate with the House/ Rave scene were now very quickly overshadowed their contribution.
Their later releases (including Ebenezer Goode) might have been cheekily subversive but they became less essential to the dance music scene from 1991 onwards.
Their choice in aiming for chart success came at the price of credibility.
But from 1988-1991 The Shamen WERE the definition of cool.
Essential LP.

This promo is cheesy as hell, and a bit unsavory. Will had died four months before this, then they reconfigured the album to add more Mr C vocals and put this promo out in the U.S. to say “this is us now”. I’d like to blame some idiot at Epic’s marketing deoartment…but who knows, really.

Great album over two 45rpm discs with an embossed sleeve, what’s not to like? Great production and pressing, equally at home in the club or taking a trip back to 1990 on a Sunday afternoon.

Track 8 is substancially louder than the others in this release. Does any one else noticed the same issue?

I think the album was reissued with the new (U.S.) tracklist in October 1991 because Will Sin had died in May of that year. I assume Colin invited Mr. C to become a permanent member of the group rather than go it alone, and they then decided to alter the tracklist of the album to feature more Mr. C vocals: the easiest way was to shorten the instrumental Will Sin-flavored tracks and include recent remixes that included more C raps. It’s still a decent enough album, but not nearly as good as the original version.

The advance promo CD in the U.S. is a weird velvet Digipak with a photo of a morose-looking Colin and C on it (honestly it’s a ridiculously lame promo other than the music.) It was obviously a weird ploy to introduce the newly-minted duo to the U.S., which is a bit weird since it feels like it erases Will somewhat.

Make sure to get the original 1990 pressing. It contains the original version of Hyperreal— heavy with mood, atmosphere and superior to the 1991 Orbit remix IMO

At least a perfect sleeve design …… . Already more heavier wax. Sleeve is embossed which makes a difference.

This black-covered version is the only one to get. Avoid the blue-covered one with all the remixes - it's not a patch on this original one.

The Shamen have such a cheesy reputation now but it surely ain't based on this record. Easily 30 years since I listened to this and it still holds up really well. Really inventive and intelligent dance music.

Evil is Even is good .... in a good way, but I'd say Hyperreal Selector is the real deal jammy-jam, movin' groovin' ... too bad they didn't put that song on the original LP ( only available on CD)