The Prodigy - "The Prodigy Experience"The early 1990's was a heady time for electronic music - if you were actually listening to it in the early 1990's that is. A period that for many people probably seems relatively dated in it's sound, the early 90's did not yield many great "techno" artist albums. "The Prodigy Experience" stands as one of the few examples in my opinion of a timeless blend of the era's many redeeming guilty pleasures, from the squealing chipmunk vocals, hyper pitched beats and whistles, to the dirty bass wobbles and anthemic piano lines.
What separated the Prodigy was their ability to display great, almost pop like hooks over top of "rave music" (which at the time seemed completely foreign to my friends and I). Growing up in the small Ontario town (and former quaker mecca) of Uxbridge, I was exposed to a more diverse range of music than was normal for teens from other small towns (respects to the James St. Bass show). Yes, the heady days of pick up truck sound systems in the parking lot outside the high school battling for metal supremacy weren't much of a resource for underground music. In fact the exposure to sounds like the Prodigy was really a fluke in many ways. I recall it was my friend Tim who arrived back from a trip to Ireland with a 12" by a group of digital punks out of Essex. I can still remember hearing "Out of Space" and being absolutely in awe of the sound. I can also recall trying to figure out what each of the groups four members played, only to soon realize it was one guy on a drum machine and a keyboard with three dancers.
The whole "Prodigy Experience" has much to offer though, and "Out of Space" only scratches the surface. From the bowel shaking bass solo mid way through "Charly" (that we could never quite hear in my friend Daryl's Ford Tempo), the demonic proclamation of "Fire", or the mash up madness of "Everybody in the Place", every song has something to grab your attention and keep you rushing. My fondest memories of this album were using it as the official soundtrack to marathon sessions of the video game Sonic the Hedgehog for Sega Genesis. Of course the gaming system is long gone, but Experience has managed to survive my ever expanding musical tastes all these years, playing in heavy rotation on my iPod at the gym.
The album like the game may seem dated by today's standards, but there really is no dismissing the fondness I recall having for them; a fondness that came with experiencing both in there prime.
3 comments:
Keith, great blog post! Nice to see this album still getting love after all these years. Personally, I still consider "Music for the Jilted Generation" as one of my favourite albums of all time. Sadly, the GNR-like wait for "Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned", that included a stop on the "Baby's Got a Temper" train, didn't payoff. Based on Mr. Howlett's past work though, I still have hope for the next opus. (please give me some sweet instrumentation a la Climbatize, Narayan, or the Narcotic Suite!) In the meantime, recent releases like the Singles double disc and the "Their Law" DVD will help tide us over. Signed, former owner of the Ford Tempo
ps - Thanks Tim! I remember that record too!
Snap! I couldn't agree more regarding the poor outing that was Always Outnumbered. Although Girls really was a great single (please see "only single) from that album.
More Prodigy stuff courtesy of Chart Magazine:
The Prodigy Working On New Album And Label
Thursday February 01, 2007 @ 05:30 PM
By: ChartAttack.com Staff
The Prodigy
The Prodigy have signed a worldwide deal with Cooking Vinyl Label Group via their own newly formed Ragged Flag label, which will give them an international platform for the release of their next album and an outlet for signing new talent.
"We have been planning this for a while, and we are looking forward to building our label up, starting off with the release of the new Prodigy album," says group founder Liam Howlett. "We have recorded a few songs already for this next album, and they are sounding big and mean."
While The Prodigy prepare to smack their bitch up once again, Cooking Vinyl managing director Martin Goldschmidt seems to have mistaken this year for 1997. "The Prodigy are one of the most relevant bands to today's world," he says.
The Prodigy became stars in the U.K. in the early '90s and were at the forefront of the electronica craze later in the decade as they topped the sales charts on both sides of the Atlantic with their third album, The Fat Of The Land. Spiky-haired, multi-pierced singer Keith Flint was one of the most recognizable faces in music at that time, but was replaced by guest vocalists Liam Gallagher, Kool Keith, Twista and Juliette Lewis on the group's 2004 album, Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned. Flint joined the band for a tour in support of the record, however, and the core group are currently comprised of producer/keyboardist Howlett, Flint and MC Maxim Reality (real name Keeti Palmer).
Few details are known about The Prodigy's new album, and they haven't announced any signings to Ragged Flag, but Cooking Vinyl (distributed in Canada by True North/Universal) is obviously hoping that their new agreement is a firestarter.
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