Shamen, The - Young Till Yesterday / World Theatre

This release marks the point when Colin Angus took over from Derek McKenzie as the leader of The Shamen. On the Scots' first EP all songs were by McKenzie, here there's two songs of each of them, and from their third release onwards Angus was at the controls. The Drop LP, covering these three maxis, contains both songwriters' (and singers') work, and it shows that they rarely shared the job: Both had their distinct styles, and they were together in a band that actually only needed one of them.
Pointing the way, Angus' track Young Till Yesterday, a moderately noisy psych pop tune, is on A1 here. His second contribution is A Strange Day's Dream, a darker, slightly oriental sounding tune with a stomping bass drum (later remade as an acid-crossover piece and released as SDD'89 on the Phorward EP).
Without Colin Angus, The Shamen would never have made their pioneering releases between late 1987 and 1991, when they crossed, step by step, from acid rock to acid house. But as a psychedelic songwriter, at the stage of this 12", Derek McKenzie deserves the crown. World Theatre is an airy, yet deeply melancholic tune, one of the best songs on Drop as well (beaten only by Where Do You Go, also by McKenzie). The secret gem, as it wasn't re-released as often as the other three songs on this one, is It's All Around, which also shines with a truly psychedelic melody.