Phorward – The Shamen – Released May 1989, Moksha Records
Phorward is the third full-length release by psychedelic indie kids-turned rave geezers, The Shamen. Initially released on 10” vinyl, Phorward is not considered a full album but rather a “mini album”.
Phorward was released just a few months after their second album, In Gorbachev We Trust and represents a watershed moment for the group.
While In Gorbachev saw The Shamen marching towards the shores of acid house, Phorward was their Rubicon moment, as they abandoned their rock roots and crossed over fully to embrace the acid house explosion.
Various CD versions of Phorward exist, with extra tracks and remixes padding the runtime to full album length. They vary by region and release date, so we’ll just be covering the core here.
The original 10” disc came with three tracks each side, starting off with a hypnotic slab of industrialised, acid-scorched psy-rock and finishing with an acid house anthem.
And, although some of the music sounds notably dated (I mean why wouldn’t it after 35 years?) there’s still some evergreen nuggets on here.
Moving Phorward
Since I got a massive backlog of stuff to get though, this will be a swift review, sticking solely to the highlights, starting with the opener, You Me & Everything (Else).
There are some many different conceptual waveforms in here, different influences to be split apart and viewed in isolation with a sonic prism.
There’s the indie scene the group evolved from, the psychedelic rock that influenced them, hints of The Doors, Jefferson Airplane, Love and early Pink Floyd, the jackhammer percussion of Art of Noise and, of course, the bubbling acid sound of a Roland TB303.
And they all just synch together perfectly to create an enduring earworm that still holds up as one of the group’s finest.
Splash 2 is a type of house track we just don’t get anymore, just a long electronic jam with layers and layers of samples heaped on top. These types of sound collages were popular in the 80s, think M.A.R.R.S’ Pump Up The Volume, Bomb The Bass’ Beat Dis and others going all the way back to Paul Hardcastle’s electro classic, 19.
I do kinda miss tracks like that, bursting to the seams with samples and old recordings, maybe it’s time they made a comeback.
Negation State is a electro-rap type tune. Musically it doesn’t hold up as well as some of the other tunes though its themes, written at the tail end of the Thatcher era, are just as significant today…
“Dead dreams, running in the streets
The country’s raged by the robbers and the cheats.”
This album (mini album if you’re being pedantic) truly shines, however, whenever the psychedelic rock and acid house streams are crossed.
Track four, Reraptyouare, is another case in point Once again, it’s very much in the psychedelic rock style, with distinct hippy vibes but delivered over a thumping acid house beat.
We also have a lot of the sounds which would go on to become Shamen staples, most notably that highly-effected gated guitar sound, or at least I think it’s a guitar.
It’s actually hard to tell now, which is kind of the point. From here on in The Shamen have effectively ceased to be a rock band and are more like electronica with rock elements.
SDD89 is essentially an acid house remix of Strange Days Dream, a track which appeared on the band’s 1987 debut album Drop.
The original was a suitable dreamlike piece of 60s-sounding psychedelia with a name, that was clearly inspired by 1967 album by The Doors.
Amazing the difference two years can make, from 60s nostalgia to ‘avvin’ it acid – The Shamen are clearly making a point here with this revamped track.
Finally, we have title track Phorward. No rock pretentions here, no guitars or live instruments whatsoever, just straight, no nonsense acid house – a thumping beat, a relentless 303 and a repeated sample of a voice asking, “can you pass the acid test?”
This one blew clubs apart back in the day and remains a banger to this day.
No Turning Back…
This is where we get off, since it’s where the original 10” vinyl release ends – firmly and defiantly in the acid house camp.
Phorward’s release was meant as a giant neon arrow pointing in one clear direction.
From here on in, a new sound would prevail with Colin Angus and Will Synnot carrying on following the band’s post-Gorbechev schism.
Phorward’s overall influence on the UK dance scene was profound. By making such a dramatic transition from rock to dance music, they set a precedent for other bands to follow. One could, for example, make the case that, without Phorward blazing the trail, we might never have gotten Screamadelica.
Mr C would later join the group while Will Synnot would sadly pass not long after, though not before the release of one last album, still widely considered today to be one of the best.
Personally, though I enjoy and appreciate this, I always viewed Phorward as merely the group’s formation lap ahead of their true masterpiece, 1990’s En-Tact.
An album which is hands down the group’s best release and one of the finest albums of the 1990s.