The Haven Opinion #5: Shamen - Ebeneezer Goode

[Shireblogger]

Number one for 4 weeks in September/October 1992, when dance music was dominating the charts. It was certainly popular with a large number of record buyers back in its day. But what's your view now ?

Is Ebeneezer Goode still a thumping rave anthem, that gets your feet on the floor and your arms in the air ? Does Mr C's Cockney accented rapping really annoy you, or is it quite charming ? And what about extolling the virtues of ecstasy - should this single be castigated (and banned) ?

Please give us your opinion, along with a score between 0 (very bad) and 10 (very good). You must write a minimum of 5 words and a maximum of 5 paragraphs for your score to count, and scores outside the range of 0-10 will not be included.

*Note, the flashing images on the video have been known to trigger epileptic fits*



Scores:
9 : Thorney
6 : vya
5 : raliverpool
0 : Last Dreamer
10 : kingpin
8 : wonderwall
2 : Smurfie
5 : steveh31
4 : smokeyb
8 : Andy
9 : Earl Purple
4 : vastariner
9 : Big Dan
8 : SherriffFatman
8 : meister
10 : Shireblogger
1 : daz
7 : borneoman
6 : rubcale

6.3 AVERAGE from 19 judges

[TheThorne]

Ok first of all I was a Shamen fan loved the previous album 'Entact' and 'Move Any Mountain' was a classic but my issue was when Will died Mr C became a larger member and took over their sound too much but I still really liked them .

This is the ultimate Mr C track , it is annoying and fabulous in equal measures and the fact I was into rave culture made it resonate with me. It is a novelty record I don't think The Shamen even deny that but musically it still has all their trademark sounds which make it an indie dance floor filler. another Criticism that Shamen lost their sound by being overrun by remixes especially Beatmasters, they were better than that. I still think it's the 2nd best track on 'Boss Drum' so it's a 9/10 for me.

[vya]

I was in the sixth form at the time, setting up a new – and thoroughly unofficial – school magazine of sorts. Subversive (well, crap) in the way that something put together by a bunch of 17 year olds from East London and Essex with attitude but rather limited experience of the broader world can be. Anyway we pondered what to call this organ of naffness. Had to get permission from the headmaster in an interview to be allowed to distribute the thing on school premises (I recall the line “When I was your age, one joined the conservative party to meet girls and play ping-pong” being part of his response.). Permission was granted, anyway. I realise this up until now may have sounded like an irrelevant digression, but the direct connection with this record was that we though it appropriate to call the magazine “Vera”. After all – this song provided us with a sloganeering salesline of some worth. Sorted, lovely. (Obviously the line we put about, which seemed to convince the Head, was that “Vera” was Latin for “The Truth” – ignoring that in Russian, the word would have been “Pravda”)

I really loved some of the earlier Shamen stuff, had been listening to them since "In Gorbachev We Trust" - I think they good REALLY good after they'd toned down the guitars and fine-tuned the experimentalism: "Hyperreal", "Progen", "Omega Amigo" were all beautiful and clever. Great to dance to, great to listen to, and genuinely , even, profound.

From that, shiny, sophisticated, enigmatic and deep, stuff (I remember reading an interview with one of the Shamen, I think in "Select" in mid-1990 about lucid dreaming and indeed shamanism, all of which fitted in perfectly with what they were about), "Ebeneezer Goode" was a bit of a digression. Perhaps, even, a transgression.

As self-consciously gimmicky, jokey rave records go, "Ebenezer Goode" is rather better than it might be, or perhaps ought to be. But the Shamen worked better when they were being pure Shamen, not bounding off in the direction of being Altern-8 - maybe the immense commercial success, and associated crossover, that rave music was suddenly making in 1991, 1992, (K-Klass in the top 10, the KLF at no 1!) had given them leeway to do this sort of thing. I think the intense energy of the track (which really does recall being 17 again), the breathlessness of Mr C’s rap (although I do think in the 6th form we were united in agreement concerning what his initial was, or ought to be, an abbreviation for) is part of what gives it its strength. Still, a curio, pantomime joke, rather than a classic, I think.

(6)

[raliverpool]

I love Move Any Mountain. The problem I have with this track is whilst it is undeniably catchy, it is obviously a BBC baiting "Please Ban this Record" novelty. Hence, it deserves to be compared with superior novelty singles like "Startrekkin'"; "The Chicken Song"; etc. Therefore, it is certainly not in my top 5 The Shamen singles.

5/10

[Deleted]

I hate such type of music. One from the worst UK # 1 in 90s.

0/10

[Kingpin]

I loved Ebeneezer Goode back when it came out originally and still love it now. I only ever went to a few raves and much preferred this kind of stuff to some of the more hardcore dance that was around at the time.

For me this record is still a 10

[wonderwall]

I really liked the shamen all the singles from the boss drum album went top 10 i think.I think the title track boss drum was my favourite from the album.
4/5

[TheThorne]

Apr 2, 2016 15:26:10 GMT 1 wonderwall said:

I really liked the shamen all the singles from the boss drum album went top 10 i think.I think the title track boss drum was my favourite from the album.
4/5

same here

[Smurfie]

Make It Mine was excellent.  Ebeneezer Goode and everything after not so, Mr C ruined a lot of their songs with about as much charm as Brian Harvey - 2/10 for EG. LSI would have gotten an a 8.

[Deleted]

Not sure what to make of this song I don't hate it, I didn't buy it and probably never would have, if it came on the radio or tv I wouldn't change stations.

It livened up late 1992 and it always amused me the itv chart show would only play 1 minute of it due to it's lyrics but still played the chorus in the broadcasts.

I much preferred LSI and Phorever People.

I would say 5/10 it really is a middling song for me.

[smokeyb]

What a marmite song, either love it or hate it.To be honest it wasn't the kind of music I was listening to at the time.Surprisingly at the time it did get a lot of radio play and although it wasn't a favourite of mine, I didn't hate it either.

Without Mr C it would get a 6, but with him I give it a 4/10.

[o]

Still sounds as good as it did when it came out. Yes it was trying to be controversial, but it was done in a funny way, I didn't know what Vera or salmon meant, I preferred their earlier singles but still a solid 8/10 for me.

[Earl Purple]

Mr C the cockney rhymer...

For me the Shamen were one of those artists who bridged the gap between dance-rave-techno music and indie, the Happy Mondays being another.

Around this time I used to go to a pub where the DJ was a good friend of John Matthews and JM had himself come to a karaoke there earlier in the year and many of his friends also went, and when he got into the chart I was extremely disappointed that he'd done so with an awful cover version of a classic song. It peaked at #2, kept out by this....

I once challenged the DJ to say he never played "Ebeneezer Goode" because he was jealous it had kept Undercover off #1 but he said no, it's a good song but he's not allowed to play it because the staff of the pub were worried it would encourage drug-taking there.

This is 3 years before Leah Betts.. Of course it's all covered up in a way to suggest it isn't about drugs at all but about a guy called Ebeneezer. The Shamen have admitted though it is indeed an intended double-entendre (unlike the Beatles who always claimed Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds had no intended connection whatsoever with LSD, even though the lyrics of that song clearly indicate the kind of hallucinations associated with taking it).

What they did after is of no significance. Extra kudos for keeping out that awful Undercover song.. I'm rating this song. 9/10.

[TheThorne]

wow wasn't expecting a 9 from you. Don't get me started on that Leah Betts, everyone knew the risks and she died from dehydration more than a bad E. 10000s of teenagers and people were taking Ectasy every week with no bad side effects whatsoever, the quality was starting to drop by 1994 but now 'Es were still good'


ahem..

And yeh LSD is a whole different ball game, none of that weird stuff with Ecstasy

[vastar iner]

File under Dodgy and Boo Radleys. Underground act with a lot of interesting things to say horlickses it all up to go mainstream with cliched and derivative nonsense. The satire was bludgeon rather than scalpel. Bonus point for getting Jerry Sadowitz on television and Brian Cant at number 1. Looked better at the time given the total gash that was getting to the top of the charts - it knocked off the beyond-atrocious Snap! - but now it sounds very of its time.

4/10.

[-Big Dan-]

It's certainly a product of its time, but I grew up on, and always loved, music like this. I still do. This is probably my favourite Shamen track as well. I'll give it a 9.

[SheriffFatman]

I was 15 when this came out, and it seemed fantastic that something which sounded so British and home made could be number one for a month when the top end of the charts seemed to mostly be made up of big budget American dross like Boyz II Men, Charles & Eddie and Whitney Houston.

In retrospect it was very silly, sounds incredibly dated and isn't as good as their other stuff I know. Just for the sheer excitement it caused when it came out though I'll give it 8/10.

[meister]

As a 16 yr old starting 6th form college, this was targeted for the likes of me. I loved the Shamen and bought a load of their albums and vinyl back in the day. I even had a vhs of all their promo vids, haha.

For a dance track I think it's fairly well crafted. I'll give it 8/10 as it is a bit dated now and it'd be out of place on my ipod.

[Earl Purple]

Apr 3, 2016 12:56:07 GMT 1 vastar iner said:

File under Dodgy and Boo Radleys. Underground act with a lot of interesting things to say horlickses it all up to go mainstream with cliched and derivative nonsense. 

Horrible nonsense attitude (typical of the NME) that helped kill britpop. "Wake Up Boo" was a great pop song and so was "It's Lulu".

Dodgy were never really an "underground" act but their music was probably more diverse than most people took them for.  I do agree in their case their biggest hit was not their strongest song. Not their fault.

Perhaps you'd like to include the Manics in this category too?

How are those bands "derivative" though? All music is, to some extent, influenced by what the band has grown up on (if that's what you call "derivative").

[wonderwall]

Boo radleys wake up album was a great pop album but giant steps was on another level.