Albums

• Experience
• Music for the Jilted Generation
• The Fat of the Land
• Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned
• Invaders Must Die

One of the biggest problems with Experience is that it started one of the most worrying trends with The Prodigy, in that songs from their albums were usually far inferior to their single counterparts.  The biggest case in point is Charly, which sounds incredibly poor when compared to the single version which had been released more than a year earlier.  It sounds like nothing more than an unreleased Howlett demo and it pains me to say that it should have stayed put as just that.   Everybody in the Place suffers from the same problems that Charly does.  Remember how fresh and exciting the single sounded? Well forget it buddy, you aren’t getting any of that here.  The sketchy bongo percussion loop which comes in at 15 seconds makes me laugh every time without fail. The whole thing is just a mess and is poorly constructed from the ground up.

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Music for the Jilted Generation (1994)

 

 

9/10

 

Producer: Liam Howlett, Neil McLellan

1. Intro
2. Break & Enter
3. Their Law
4. Full Throttle
5. Voodoo People
6. Speedway (Theme From Fastlane)
7. The Heat (The Energy)
8. Poison
9. No Good (Start the Dance)
10. One Love
11. 3 Kilos
12. Skylined
13. Claustrophobic Sting

Music for the Jilted Generation is the second studio album by electronica act The Prodigy.  Many people view Music for the Jilted Generation as The Prodigy hitting out at the laws which all but criminalised rave culture and all that came with it.  “No more partying in disused barns in Suffolk little children,” said the law, “I’m afraid you’ll just have to pop your Ecstasy and get off your face in your bedroom!”  Liam Howlett wasn’t too happy and this is best detailed in the track Their Law, where the vocal sample repeats, “F*ck ‘em and their law!” It’s one of their best songs, with an enlivening set of guitar riffs cutting through the soundscape, which are amplified at the half-way point by a timeless keyboard sequence.

 

The album’s artwork is truly classic and representative of the restrictive times we live in.  Inside the sleeve you find an artist’s illustration of the conflict between the ravers and the law, a disagreement which still ensues to this day.  The artwork shows a bridge crossing a gaping ravine, on the one side you have the law and on the other you have the ravers.  The artwork is both simple and yet highly effective in the imagery it portrays.  I’m not a raver, never will be, but I do feel that people are unfairly controlled today with regards to enjoying themselves.

 

The best thing about Music for the Jilted Generation is how well it has aged.  Anyone who has read my review of their debut album, Experience, will know that the biggest detracting factor I could find with it was that it now sounds terribly outdated.  Music for the Jilted Generation has no such problems and still sounds as fresh and exciting as it did when it first hit record shops a decade and a half ago.

 

The introductory track seamlessly flows into the 8 minute long Break & Entering.  It sounds how you’d expect it to, and indeed, it creates the effect of someone breaking and entering into locked premises, due to the sampled glass smashing effects.  As all good electronica epics do, it twists and turns its design and makes several transformations musically, continually building on its initial premise and improving upon it.

 

Voodoo People is a live favourite of the band, a favourite of mine too.  It starts in much the same way that Their Law does, with a heavy guitar riff providing the primary means of aural assault.  By the time the electric flute kicks in it has become an instant classic with one and all.  Like Their Law, it was released as a single in a slightly shorter and re-jigged format.  Speedway is an anthem to get the adrenaline surging through your veins if ever there was one.  Lasting for almost 9 minutes, it makes the most of its running time and provides constant entertainment.  Again, it sounds incredibly fresh and hasn’t become a product of the era it was created in.  When people have fond memories of The Prodigy it is because of recordings such as this one.

 

I mentioned in my review of Experience that many Prodigy tracks were altered for their single release.  While this is less noticeable on the singles taken from Music for the Jilted Generation, Poison still had some minor tweaks here and there.  I wouldn’t say that I prefer the single release to the album version, but it is worth checking both of them out, as they are two very different experiences.  Undoubtedly, the album version fits in place better on Music for the Jilted Generation.

 

No Good and One Love are both classics of the genre.  The latter had to have its running time cut, for when Liam came to the editing process he discovered that he had too much material to fit on the one disc.  One Love is a mish-mash of all sorts of differing sounds which in theory shouldn’t work, but like all good electronica tracks, it is able to deliver on all fronts.  The song has a very speedy programmed keyboard loop which is set over what sounds like sped up tribal chanting.  Do you dig it? Because I do!

 

And now onto what makes Music for the Jilted Generation the definitive Prodigy experience.  Ladies and gentlemen, I bring to you, The Narcotic Suite.

 

3 Kilos starts The Narcotic Suite off with a bang.  For the uninitiated, The Narcotic Suite is a set of songs which are a lot more thoughtful and open to personal interpretation than the songs which have preceded them.  Whereas the main bulk of the album is made up of hard hitting tunes to get jiggy to in that barn I was talking about earlier, The Narcotic Suite is simply for chilling out to, or as I see it, an unrivalled adventure of personal discovery.  Yes, I do sound pompous, but it’s just so damn good!  It is the jazz flute which makes 3 Kilos such a defining experience; it simply keeps on at you with this invigorating piece of flute playing and it ultimately becomes the best moment on the entire LP.

 

Skylined begins with the distorted sound of propeller blades encircling the listener, a gentle piece of bongo playing in the background and the sound of waves crashing.  As the shortest moment of The Narcotic Suite, Skylined is very tight with regards to the musical side of things, but it introduces enough pieces of innovative instrumentation to keep you on your toes.  Claustrophobic Sting closes the album and is the love child of Aphex Twin’s Richard D. James, only more terrifying.  A disturbing sample of evil laughter repeats itself and the track only becomes sketchier as time goes on; I particularly find the baby screams which are introduced at the 1 minute 20 seconds mark nothing short of terrifying.

 

When people call Liam Howlett a genius they are either mad or they are talking about Music for the Jilted Generation, which remains to this day the best Prodigy experience.  It incorporates enough in-your-face recordings to keep your typical electronica fan happy, but goes a step further and widens out its appeal by including The Narcotic Suite for the shrewder fan of the genre.

 

What else can I say? I feel the vocal sample in Claustrophobic Sting says it all, “My mind is blowing!”

 

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1. Smack My Bitch Up
2. Breathe
3. Diesel Power
4. Funky Shit
5. Serial Thrilla
6. Mindfields
7. Narayan
8. Firestarter
9. Climbatize
10. Fuel My Fire

We have all heard Smack My Bitch Up and we all love it (except our mums).  The track is built around a simple loop played over and over which eventually snowballs into an angry drunken ball of fury. Yes it’s childish, yes it’s simple, and yes, I do love it. Whether you like it or not it’s one of the defining tracks of the 1990’s.   Breathe works in much the same way although Breathe comes across as an actual song and not a piece of music.  It’s built around a schizophrenic turn from MCs Maxim and Keith as they try to compete with each other’s inner psychopath.

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Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned (2004)

 

 

8/10

 

Producer: Liam Howlett

1. Spitfire
2. Girls
3. Memphis Belle
4. Get Up Get Off
5. Hot Ride
6. Wake Up Call
7. Action Radar
8. Medusa’s Path
9. Phoenix
10. You’ll Be Under My Wheels
11. The Way It Is
12. Shoot Down

It was 7 years after their previous studio album when Liam Howlett decided to release a new Prodigy album.  An ill-received single, Baby’s Got a Temper, had been released in 2002 and had failed to make any kind of impact, it even went as low as sampling Firestarter from The Fat of the Land.  Fast forward to 2004 and The Prodigy is a very different beast to when its last album was released back in 1997.  The most drastic change in the history of The Prodigy took place: Keith Flint and Maxim, who were a heavy presence on The Fat of the Land, got effectively shunned from the band.  With Flint and Maxim out of the picture, this is essentially a Liam Howlett solo project and he is merely using The Prodigy as a vehicle for his musical hobby.  The album has many guest appearances from musicians including Juliette Lewis, Twista, the Gallagher brothers and saving the best ‘til last, The Magnificent Ping Pong Bitches!

 

Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned features very sleek, stylised electronica, which sounds incredibly modern and ahead of the times.  It failed to make much of an impact upon release, but I think this is purely down to the fact that many people just didn’t know quite what to make of it.  The general public no doubt wanted a follow up to Smack My Bitch Up with gratuitous profanity and when they didn’t get it, than ran for the hills.  But let me tell you this, while not being the best Prodigy album, Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned is certainly the most exciting and daring recording Liam Howlett has yet put to tape.

 

Girls is a good starting point to demonstrate what Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned is all about.  It was the first single to be released from the album and it relies heavily on uncompromising, chic electronica, which in turn makes it one of the album’s best tracks, but going one step further, it is quite possibly my favourite ever single from The Prodigy.  The contagious riffs which loop over sound as if they have come straight from the year 2020, where stylophones can cook us our breakfast and CDs are a thing of the past.  It has little depth, but is high on thrills, and my friends, this is what The Prodigy is all about in the new millennium.

 

It took a while for me to appreciate it, but Hot Ride is now a firm favourite of mine.  While still primarily a slice of clear cut electronica, it depends upon the heavy guitar and bass sections to bridge Juliette Lewis’ vocals.  Lewis sounds so confident come the chorus she just sucks you into the track; it truly gives Girls a run for its money.  The pace doesn’t cease for a moment, it just keeps on at you until you’re tapping your foot to the infectious riffs.  Action Radar is built around what appears to be a distorted fog horn and a heavy bass section.  Again, it sounds incredibly modern and Liam is keen to bring in more guest vocalists, so Paul Jackson sings the verses and Louise Boone whops out the chorus, “A little action is all I need!” And action this provides - by the spade full.

 

Phoenix is an almost identical ‘reimagining’ of Love Buzz by Shocking Blue; Liam merely throws in some extra beeps.  The guitar work is given more prominence and needless to say, it still remains a psychedelic monster of some considerable size.  I mean, it’s great, but it wasn’t broken in the first place and Liam has done cack all to change it, so should I really give him credit for it?

 

The Way It Is isn’t all that great if I’m being honest.  It features a sample from Thriller by Michael Jackson and it uses this to set its primary rhythm.  It just sounds far less exciting compared to some of the high points on the first half of the album.

 

The closing track, Shoot Down, divides opinion like no other.  I’m not a particularly big fan of Oasis, so to have not one, but two Gallagher brothers contributing guitar work and vocals, I’d have bet my life that it would have sucked.  So I was very pleasantly surprised to find that while it does not break down any boundaries, it gives far more to the second side of Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned than it takes away.

 

Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned is a Prodigy album like no other, thanks to its ultra-modern beats.  While it doesn’t achieve the consistency which made Music for the Jilted Generation so great, it is a marked improvement upon The Fat of the Land.  So, drop your Pendulum CDs and buy something original for a change.

 

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Invaders Must Die (2009)

 

 

8.5/10

 

Producer: Liam Howlett, James Rushent

1. Invaders Must Die
2. Omen
3. Thunder
4. Colours
5. Take Me to the Hospital
6. Warrior’s Dance
7. Run with the Wolves
8. Omen (Reprise)
9. World’s on Fire
10. Piranha
11. Stand Up

Invaders Must Die is the fifth studio album by The Prodigy and was released in 2009.  It had been 5 years since the last Prodigy album, Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned, which seems to indicate that Liam Howlett had been suffering from writer’s block - he also made the decision to allow Keith Flint and Maxim back into the band, something which I was initially dubious of, as they seemed to take away more than had added on previous records.

 

2005’s singles compilation, Their Law, reminded everyone why The Prodigy had previously been so vital to the electronica scene, but the public still needed new material to prove that The Prodigy were still relevant.  And as ever, the proof is in the pudding, as Invaders Must Die is one of the band’s greatest albums.  It’s blatantly obvious that Invaders Must Die lacks the depth which can be found on Music for the Jilted Generation, but as a tightly edited set of songs which have the sole interest of making you take to the dance floor, this album is pretty hard to beat.  There is very little evolution to be found on this record, in actual fact in The Prodigy timeline Invaders Must Die would have fitted in comfortably between Experience and Music for the Jilted Generation, for this is an old-school raver’s album through and through.  The only thing which sets it apart from the two aforementioned albums is the thoroughly modern production (which is where the only signs of progression have crept in).

 

The opening track and first single released from Invaders Must Die was the title-track.  You know that The Prodigy is back in action when you have their trade-mark bass and drums assaulting you with their brutal strength.  The production methods seem heavily indebted to some of the newer electronica acts of the moment, such as The Knife.  The album version of Invaders Must Die is significantly longer than the radio edit, which is a good thing in my book as it allows it time to sink in.

 

Thunder is as old-school as they come; a track which would have slotted onto Music for the Jilted Generation with no problems at all.  While it brings to mind memories of Speedway from said album, the sampled Rastafarian lyrics take you back to one of The Prodigy’s very first singles, Out of Space from Experience.  Oh, but people, Thunder is such an exciting occurrence, as it manages to not only match, but better both of the abovementioned tracks.

 

Take Me to the Hospital is named after The Prodigy’s own record label and is planned to be a future single from the album.  Again, Liam is still living in the 1990s, with a track which doesn’t so much stir your waning interest in the rave scene, but rather encourages you to jump head first into the misshapen rhythms which the track launches and persistently projects in your general direction.

 

Warrior’s Dance is my favourite track from the album and I know that a lot of people feel the same way about this.  The sampled vocals are very No Good (Start the Dance), but whereas that was an epic complete with a comedown and a rebirth of fury, Warrior’s Dance doesn’t let the pace drop for an instant.  The bass is so heavy my speakers are almost crying, indeed, the entire song turns everything up to 11.  There’s very little else that can be said other than it is a classic.  If I was forced to make a shortlist, then World’s on Fire is my second favourite track from Invaders Must Die.  I declare that Liam Howlett is bringing sexy back when the crazy piano work is brought in at the 1 minute 40 seconds mark. At the end of the day, it is yet another song which takes you right back to the days of old, when the electronica scene was just taking hold.  But the song isn’t entirely looking backwards, as the production manages to kick start it into the year 2009.

 

As a final word, the album doesn’t get away completely blemish free.  The reprise of Omen seems entirely unnecessary; it would have made for an excellent introduction to the original Omen, but seems out of place as 2 minutes of atmosphere slapped right into the final moments of the album.  Likewise, Piranha is also pointless, but for very different reasons.  It is an absolutely detestable thing and is without a doubt one of the worst things The prodigy have ever recorded.  Imagine the ghastly Fuel My Fire from The Fat of the Land combined with the grinding of Hadouken! and you will be halfway towards imagining the horror which lies within (and yes - Keith “I’m a punking instigator” Flint contributes the vocals).  The song is basically a note-for-note repeat of Troubled Mind by The Buff Medways, and yet it ends up unavoidably inferior.

 

To conclude, Invaders Must Die is the second greatest Prodigy record, second to only Music for the Jilted Generation.  Sure, a lot of you will not agree with this, but the album is too much damn fun to deny it its rightful place as one of Liam Howlett’s greatest achievements.  So, while Liam Howlett and The Prodigy haven’t learnt any new tricks in the year 2009, they have become the ultimate masters of the scene they so enthusiastically pioneered in the 1990s.

 

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