En-Tact

A good enough listen that fills the background. The sounds have dated a bit but a fun nostalgic listen. No complaints. 2.7/5 -> 3/5

Maybe there was a time that this didn't feel dated and cliche, but all I can think is that any of these songs could have been on a surge soft drink commercial.

Definitely a bit dated sounding at points. It's VERY 90s. However, I really love the beats here and the synth sounds they achieve. Really fun stuff.

Scottish electronica. I was first nervous when I read that they were Scottish, but I was surprised. This album is fairly solid (unlike most other Scottish music on this list). Kinda like The Prodigy, or Primal Scream. For a Scottish band, quite good!

Favourite songs: 666 Edit, Move Any Mountain, Lightspan

Least favourite songs: Evil is Even

3/5

1 decent track and its the first one, feels bad listening to this for an hour

More pop focused than expected, this album dips in quality quite a bit in the middle, where tracks whiz by the listener in a blur of dated dance tracks that fail to hold a candle to most other dance musicians from the time. However, this album makes up for that in its pop sensibilities. From what I can tell the Shamen used to be a pretty different sounding band, and some of that difference comes together whenever their tracks turn into a homage (rip-off?) of Pet Shop Boys. It's cheap and cheesy, but the formula works, and it allows the first few tracks to be solid dance-pop tunes in an era full of them. I also think the album brings it back around in the end, with a lot of sampling that makes the mix feel busy and cluttered, but can come together to be okay. That's the name of the game here, okay. I don't think it's anything special, certainly not an album to hear before you die, but I've heard worse in the genre, and at least this one TRIES to do something. It's inoffensive, and I came away from it less hateful than albums in this genre generally make me, and that's gotta count for something, personally. Still, just meh.

I see why this is on the list, given the context, but it's horrificly dated now, and waaay too long. The last few songs are pretty much just reworkings of Move Any Mountain (which is a good song), with different titles. After an hour or so it started to wear a bit thin. Some interesting tracks here and there, but overall just interesting as a footnote in the evolution of electronic and house music.

Great running music. Too many refrains of I can move any mountain.

Ik heb The Shamen altijd wat links laten liggen, omdat die hits allemaal wel geinig zijn, maar zeker niet meer dan dat. Ik kende vooral het hieropvolgende album Boss-Drum. Het album van een aantal bekende nummers. Maar niet dat album staat in de lijst (wellicht ook een te kort album), maar dus dit minder bekende album. Een snob-keuze?

Zeker niet! Ik wordt positief verrast door dit album. De hit is nog wel een wat suffer euro-dance achtig plaatje wat ook op Boss-Drum had kunnen staan. Maar de rest is een hele fijn begin jaren ’90 geluid dat soms zelfs wat zelf flinke stappen de rave induikt. Een geluid dat ik wel mis in deze lijst. Waar is bijvoorbeeld Experience van The Prodigy? Jullie houden toch zo van debut-albums?

Sterker nog, ik ken veel van de geluiden uit latere rave platen. Althans, ik denk nu dat The Shamen vaak eerst was. Maar het is een onderzoek op www.whosampled.com waard.

Ik twijfel wat tussen een 4 en een 5. Laat ik de ondervertegenwoordiging van dit genre de doorslaggevende factor maken.

The opening track sounds SO dated. The drum machine in particular roots it firmly in that specific early 90's era, and to me it just makes it sound really hollow and superficial. I was fully expecting to give up about half way through this with a verdict, but to its credit it did pick up and there were some nice tracks in there. I don't know if this is a positive or not, but it drifted into the background really easily, so there's... that?

2.5 rounded up.

just not my cup of tea

This sounds like generic 90s techno, but not as fun as euro pop. Default tracks on a yamaha keyboard. Lyrics are bad (I CAN MOVE ANY MOUNTAIN). Why is this here? I would give this 2* for not being complete garbage, but I just gave a much more decent reggae album 2*, so this gets 1.

Below average Electronica...albums like this really seem of a certain time and place and if you weren't there is just doesn't seem as relevant. 2/5

It’s not very good. It’s really kind of poppy and random. It’s like what you would hear at a kids dance party.

It's pretty tough to figure out why this one is on the list. Hasn't aged well.

It’s like hip-hop infused electronic dance pop. Extremely early 90s sounding. I guess the progenitor of a lot of stuff of the time that sounded the same. I don’t hate it but would not choose to listen to it on my own. Though ironically I probably like it more now than I would have if I had heard it in the 90s despite how dated it sounds.

Starts off with a total faceplant of a first track. Downright shudder inducing - particularly when you get to the MC. Definitely feels like a collection of tracks vs. an actual album. They weren't even sequenced in an interesting way. No flow at all. There are more impressive electronic albums from the year 1990. I'd swap this one out for Meat Beat Manifesto's "99%." Just because The Shamen are a time capsule of the more embarrassing cliches of electronica's awkward adolescent phase in the early 90s, this doesn't necessarily qualify them for a place on the list.

Very meh. Starts off not strong, then the guy raps at one point? I didn't like this one at all. More UK stuff from the book that doesn't translate to the rest of the world.

An interesting curio from the time before techno became mass-marketed and saturated. The music is interesting and experimental, the lyrics are absolutely awful and sound like they were written on a cigarette packet at 3 AM. "Move Any Mountain" shows up three times on the album, which is a shame (n) because it overshadows some of the better instrumental tracks here.

I bet that was awesome dance music when it came out. Great rhythm. Not my style, not impressed with the musicality. Won't listen again.