6 / 10
OF COURSE, IT SHOULD BE BOLLOCKS. The Shamen might've started off their self-prescribed 'voyage' as psychedelic pranksters with a passion for Aldous Huxley and The 13th Floor Elevators but, with the release of That Song, they transmogrified into the Bernie Cliftons of rave. Twelve years on and The Shamen have called it a day, but on this, their last LP, Colin Angus is still banging on about seventh senses, Victoria Wilson James is still singing the chorus bits and Mr C? Mr C's still the mockney toaster we love to loathe.
The thing is, it's nowhere near as bad as you'd think. About as fashionable as a fractal jockstrap, true, but as a half-tidy trance-pop album for the more unhinged office raver, 'UV' actually does moderate business. The beats boom, the squelchy bits are squelchy and 'Serpent' never stops going on about crystals and Atlantis.
True, trance is hardly the cutting edge of the nation's dancefloors but as a swan song, 'UV' does just enough to remind you that The Shamen were once a band you didn't hide at the back of your record collection.
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