Songoftheday 4/5/18 - I will not fail nor falter I shall Succeed, my perception is altered I do believe...
from the album En-Tact (1990)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #38 (one week)
Weeks in the Top-40: 2
Today's song of the day comes from the British dance act The Shamen, who originally started out as a rock band in Scotland in the mid-80s. Led by guitarist/keyboardist Colin Angus in Aberdeen, the group originally recorded psychedelic fare like early single "Young Til Yesterday" from their debut album Drop. However, Angus found himself gravitating towards the nascent "rave" scene, and with the band shedding all the original members, including lead singer Derek McKenzie, Colin recruited the band that would record their breakthrough album En-Tact. Lead singer Will Sinnott, or "Wil Sin", took over as the bass player and singer of the act along with rapper Mr. C, and their second single from the record, "Pro-Gen", which was the original version of what would be "Move Any Mountain", became their first minor British hit at #55...
The follow-up single, "Make It Mine", did a bit better, just missing the British top-40 by a couple of notches at #42. They cleared that hurdle with their next release, "Hyperreal", which made it to #29 in the UK in the spring of 1991 and featured member Plavka Lonich, but she wouldn't even last to the summer. In July of that year, with a new remix from the Beatmasters, "Pro-Gen" was re-released as "Move Any Mountain (Progen '91)". The act traveled to the Spanish Canary Islands resort of Tenerife to film a new video; sadly, after completing it Sinnott tragically drowned on a nearby island on vacation. Nevertheless, Angus, Mr. C, and all carried out, and "Move Any Mountain" eventually found itself crossing the Atlantic become the band's first and biggest American success...
"Move Any Mountain" became the Shamen's sole top-40 pop hit in the U.S. in February of 1992. The single also spent two weeks at #1 on Billboard's Dance Club Play chart. Internationally, the record climbed to #4 in their native UK, and reached the top ten in Switzerland (#4), Finland (#5), Denmark (#8), and Belgium (#8). It also got to #17 in both Ireland and the Netherlands, and #21 in Sweden. In America, "Make It Mine" was released as the next single following the success of "Move Any Mountain", and while it missed the pop chart, it was their second #1 club hit here.
Later in 1992, Angus, new singer Jhelisa Anderson, and the group came back with their next album Boss Drum, which would end up being their most popular record in the UK, reaching #3 on the albums chart. The lead single "L.S.I. (Love Sex Intelligence)" landed them their second UK top ten hit at #6, while making it three #1 club hits in a row in the US (it missed the pop Hot 100, but did spend a week at #72 on Billboard's Pop Airplay chart). Back it Britain, that hit was even surpassed by the ambiguous pharmaceutical anthem "Ebeneezer Goode", which ended up spending four weeks at #1 in the UK. That was followed by the title track "Boss Drum", which went to #4 in the UK and got to #8 on the American dance chart. Then, the soul-house throwdown "Phorever People" became the Shamen's fourth and so far last #1 dance hit in the States, while being their most recent top ten hit in Britain at #5.
Two years later, Anderson was replaced by former Soul II Soul vocalist Victoria Wilson-James for their Axis Mutatis album, which spun off three more UK top-40 hits. One of them, "Destination Eschaton", hit #15 in their homeland and climbed to #14 on the American club play chart. "Heal (The Separation", was their final original top-40 UK hit at #31. In 1996, a new remix of "Move Any Mountain" returned the song to the top-40 in Britain at #35. Their most recent studio album, UV, was released independently in 1998, before the Shamen split up for good.
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Here's the Shamen appearing live on Top of the Pops...
And next up is the "Land Of Oz Mix" done by Paul Oakenfold that helped the song top the dance chart in America...
In 1996, new remixes, including ones by the Beatmasters, got the song back into the British top-40...
Lastly, here's Mr. C performing "Move Any Mountain" with fellow rave legends Underworld in concert in 2009...
Up tomorrow: House-soul singer possesses romantic items.
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