Friday, June 17, 2016

Shamen - Axis Mutatis - Arbor Bona, Arbor Mala - 1995

And so the fun continues!!!!

After Shamen's awesome Boss Drum album, they followed it up with Axis Mutatis.  Although, IMHO, it wasn't as good as Boss Drum, it was an incredible album with even more mixes by the Beatmasters and a host of talented mixers.  We had four incredible singles, and a wonderful mix disc called Arbor Bona, Arbor Mala.

This album came out the year before I got married, and I spent the better part of a year really soaking these guys in.  By the time I got married, my wife was sick of them, I played them so much.  They were trying to follow on the success they had with Boss Drum, but I think they missed the boat by switching their female vocalist.  Jhelisa should have stayed with them, as her vocals accounted for more on Boss Drum than Colin's vocals did, again, IMHO.  Of course, Mr.C's raps were great, and I would have been happy with more of them, in fact.

The first half of the album was pop hit after pop hit, while the second half was a little more grounded and album based, where they could focus on writing music rather than hits.  I personally am not a fan of Transamazonia, as it was TOO pop, and it makes the first half of the album seem like a greatest hits album, and somewhat disjointed.  But, Persephone's Quest, Axis Mundi, and even Moment really stole the show for me.

Although, I'll still dance my ass off whenever Destination Eschaton or MK2A plays...

I think I have all the mixes here, so build that collection, boys and girls!  This only comes along once in a lifetime!



MK2A 



17 comments:

  1. You sir, are the man!
    Thank you so much for this. HUGE shamen fan!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I would love to share a couple of special rare SHAMEN tracks that I have, if you a re interested!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Here: an awesome fusion of the tracks PHORWARD and MOVE ANY MOUNTAIN played live by the Shamen themselves!

    Download link
    https://we.tl/BDINRkmlQI

    Enjoy!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Brilliant post! I enjoy your work. Thanks for the shares.

    ReplyDelete
  5. @Jorda Lopez -> Thanks for the *RARE* Shamen live tracks |

    This blog really rules.

    Really.

    Music is life, thank you !!!!

    - Shaun Ryder -

    ReplyDelete
  6. The best gems of this release (MK2A and Transamazonia) links are unfortunately expired - any chance to reup?. Thank you.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. MK2A is expired. Any chance you might be interested in posting it again. i didn't even know there was a single for that track. I thought I had it all

      Delete
  7. Any chance of another re-up for MK2A? I'm surprised that I never saw these when the album first came out!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Arbor Bona Arbor Mala ,,,, Please x 3 re-up ! Please . tyvm

    ReplyDelete
  9. Wanted to download Destination Eschaton, Transamazonia, MK2A and Heal (The Seperation), yet all the links appear to be dead. As a recent fan of the Shamen and dance remixes in general, I'd love to see them re-uploaded. Would you please be so kind to re-up all of these, before this blog will end? Thanks for your effort!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Thanks a lot! I just downloaded the singles, couldn't wait any longer to take a listen.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Phwau !!! wild. very VERY nice !!! great grafix too... looks cooler than the realism 3d crap coming out today... this was the time that the resolutions were RIGHT BETWEEN blockygrafs and real-eye-res... the technology of sound got no better either afterwars... pretty much the PINNACLE. great post and thank-you.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Hello! great music of The Shamen boys, i am so sad because the links are down, can you reupload? thank you.

    ReplyDelete
  13. hi! can you please re-upload all of the shamen stuff. i missed it the first time round

    ReplyDelete