Customer Reviews

In Gorbachev We Trust

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The reason I bought this cd was not for its lyrical content though when spoken they add to the coherent composition of this thematically crafty, and well-rounded early piece from The Shamen.

Most people knew them from the Top Of The Pops smash; Ebeenezer "E's are Goode." Hence some hardcore dance, or rave purists were probably tempted to write them off for this, and like sounding singles. With keen interest in a few things nostalgic I find this album as something that now gives their image some dimension, making it clear that they aren't all about Mr.C prancing around the place yelling; "naughty, naughty, very, very naughty." I would buy this album solely for its irreverent cover art that must have spoke in volumes back then considering Britain was the Yanks ally during the Cold War years. The music on the other hand sounds fresh even today, and though the sound quality isn't so high the grooves are still danceable.


The opener
#1 Synergy would have sounded techno-futuristic in its day. Its 5 minutes plus of acidic grooves.
I found other tracks like
#3 "Raspberry Infundibulum", and #11 "Yellow Cellophane Day" to be more than weird titled tracks. To me they offered a crossover from psychedelic indie rock into sonically patterned, and groovy dance music. A brave move considering the band were actually into psycho rock first.
#4 "Prayer for War" is borrowed poetry from Mark Twain with heartfelt cheeky lyrics that are meaningful in today's war on terror context.
#6 "Jesus loves Amerika", and #8 "Misinformation" proves the depth of Shamen's political themes, and sample craft with TV tid-bits from evangelist preaching politics to satellite Cold war commentary. Their irreverence and artistic audacity continues with
#10 "In Gorbachev We Trust," the album title, a vocal vocoder track with cold war themes blending in the background. Finally to the lsd/e driven
#12 "Mathew Speaks Out." A beat banging treatise on the benefits on being out of your mind. The rest of the tracks are more crossover pop to acid dance with lyrics of passion, love etc.

Making "In Gorby we trust" in my eyes an early dance album with lyrical bite that captures the joys of personal, and political freedom, and also works as enjoyable, and colorful`protest music'. All this without taking itself too seriously in Shamen fashion.
Five stars from me.
Leyman/Lekan2005.

Released in 1989, this is almost the kind of Shamen most fans know and love. Therefore it's a radical change they made with this album. Throwing away the psychedelic indie rock they had used on the album Drop. And what a difference! Whereas Drop was more of the usual dour indie rock that you get no matter where you go. This, at the time, was something slightly different. It also showed that the band had a sense of humour. Admittedly you may want to have your sense of humour completely black. It's amazing to hear televangelists sounding completely unhinged to the point of being insane ( " GOD WILL DESTROY RUSSIA " ) - admittedly such hatred was understandable but there are some people who take things too far....! And for anyone who moans about getting biased reports from TV and newspapers, Misinformation will surely give you a chuckle. In fact, despite some of its politics being completely dated ( Russia, The Cold War etc. ) there are elements that surely hit home to some disenchanted people.

But it's not all doom and gloom - there are songs to lift you up and make you feel good. They wanted to change from being politics to partying.....but again at the time of these raves that were going on, these were intensely political statements itself. So it's funny, the album comes across as a really big political statement even though the songs about partying and drugs seem......well they seem normal these days....the edge has been taken off them slightly.

Most Shamen fans will see this as a transitional album to bigger and better things. And while some tracks do feel a bit off ( the start of Yellow Cellophane Day really doesn't do anything ), there are many delights to be found here that won't disappoint.

This is for me one of the best albums in the border between electronic music and pop music,before Bjork,and before many others (I don't say that this album should be better,but only different).You must regard that in 1989,album's edition year,this scene was not the big that nowadays is... There is at least three or four unforgettable songs in this album;moreover,you should listen to the lyrics:the compromise with their enviroment,politically but not only politically... It's not a concept album,but the concept is in the album... For people who think art had to be in the streets...