Eddie Lock – Live At Sundance, Ibiza

As a huge fan of The Shamen, finding this CD on Discogs was like striking gold! Let me set the scene...

Back at the end of 1998, after the release of their final album UV, there was one last information update on the Nemeton website about the band 'shifting to the net' and becoming an online entity. This involved an 'asset expansion' of Nemeton including unreleased mp3 tracks and song samples, one of which was going to be I Do (12" Mr C Mix). Sadly none of this ever happened and so 24/12/1998 marked the very end of the band with none of the proposed continued online presence.

Earlier in 1998 I contacted the record label Moksha about several things relating to the UV album, including any information about I Do (12" Mr C Mix). The original track on the album was (and still is) one of my favourites and the possibility of a Mr C mix was exciting to say the least. Their reply was that the mix did exist and was pressed on a handful of 12" records, all of which were given to Mr C himself. In other words, there was virtually no chance of ever hearing it!

Back to the present and somehow I came across this release and the almost unbelievable notes that stated that it actually contained that very Mr C mix! Wow! Luckily I quickly found a copy to buy and have finally heard this fabled mix after over 20 years of waiting! The CD plays as one long track with no markers and so the mix needed finding and separating, it ended up at 5:44 in length. As the notes describe, the mix is very different to the original vocal version on UV and is very much in the style of Mr C's tech-house remixes and DJ sets of the time. Victoria Wilson-James' vocal from the original chorus is isolated and repeated here and sounds more like an ethnic tribal chant. Colin's 'shamanise I do' line also appears but unfortunately none of the verses do, although maybe they wouldn’t really have fitted with the more club orientated tech-house sound. There is one fantastic break and build in the second half of the mix which sort of echoes that in Mr C's mix of the U-Nations/Universal single. Audio quality is very good, there is no record noise and no crowd sounds.

Inside the front cover there is actually a picture of DJ Eddie Lock with Richard, Mr C, in Ibiza. The credits thank Mr C, The Shamen and The End, Mr C's nightclub. Obviously Eddie Lock was given, or lent, one of the I Do 12"s by Mr C to use in his set. Luckily that set was recorded and released!

Thanks to the contributors and author of the notes for guiding me to this much wanted and never-dreamed-of-finding rarity!