Post by Fuggle on Aug 23, 2004 19:03:05 GMT -5
By Ian Youngs
BBC News Online entertainment staff
Techno-punk outfit The Prodigy return with Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned - their first album since the global success of The Fat of the Land in 1997.
Liam Howlett is the musical driving
force behind The Prodigy
Halfway through The Prodigy's new album, alarm bells start ringing and the voice of rapper Kool Keith declares, over a swarm of sleazy beats: "We're back on form, you'd better wake up."
It is a bold warning from the band and their maestro Liam Howlett, who have struggled for almost a decade with the headline success that came their way in the mid-1990s.
Although they first arrived in 1991, the electrifying menace of 1996 number one hits Firestarter and Breathe made them household names through a mixture of sales and fear.
They were the biting, barking, frothing-at-the-mouth force epitomised by dancer-turned-vocalist Keith Flint - whose striking image represented the band despite the fact that his vocals have only appeared on five Prodigy tracks.
Howlett, who has always been the man behind the music, found the band's image becoming a parody of itself. Their last single, Baby's Got A Temper, was mauled by critics in 2002 and Howlett scrapped work on the new album.
Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned has grown out of the ashes, with the band's baggage jettisoned and Howlett no longer tied to their past.
Howlett is married to ex-All Saints
singer Natalie Appleton
So those who only know the hits will be surprised and disappointed - there is still some snarl and menace, but no heavyweight knock-out anthems to rival Firestarter.
What we get are 12 tracks that show The Prodigy have evolved with dance culture, taking in funky electro, hip-hop and disco, while not abandoning the heavy guitar riffs and pumping beats.
Fine. It is still music for a jilted generation and The Prodigy have been chameleons of dance since their rave favourites Charly and Everybody in the Place in the early 1990s.
The trouble is, they have been left behind by the likes of Basement Jaxx and Death in Vegas, who did this kind of genre-dissolving, adrenalin-pumping music before, and better.
There are some satisfyingly heavy basslines and squally neon hooks that will work well in clubs, but less so on the radio and in the charts.
Their new single, Girls, has a heavy hip-hop influence, vocals that are pushed firmly into the background, and a sticky but strikingly familiar tune.
Most of the tracks are funky and substantial enough to stand up, but most are also repetitive and relentless without enough tuneful respite. Again, good for clubs, less so for charts.
Surreal vocals
The Prodigy live members Keith Flint and Maxim do not feature on the album - although they will on the forthcoming tour - and vocal duties on the CD are left to a wider cast.
Natural Born Killers actress Juliette Lewis gives a surreal rendition of "up, up and away in my beautiful balloon" on Hot Ride, while Liam Gallagher does some nondescript snarling on the closing track, Shootdown.
But it is the less well-known names, such as US rapper Twista and lo-fi singer-songwriter Paul Jackson, who give the most memorable vocal performances.
For true fans and consumers of the large beat and funky bassline, this is a treat - for the rest, it will not register on your radar.
BBC News Online entertainment staff
Techno-punk outfit The Prodigy return with Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned - their first album since the global success of The Fat of the Land in 1997.
Liam Howlett is the musical driving
force behind The Prodigy
Halfway through The Prodigy's new album, alarm bells start ringing and the voice of rapper Kool Keith declares, over a swarm of sleazy beats: "We're back on form, you'd better wake up."
It is a bold warning from the band and their maestro Liam Howlett, who have struggled for almost a decade with the headline success that came their way in the mid-1990s.
Although they first arrived in 1991, the electrifying menace of 1996 number one hits Firestarter and Breathe made them household names through a mixture of sales and fear.
They were the biting, barking, frothing-at-the-mouth force epitomised by dancer-turned-vocalist Keith Flint - whose striking image represented the band despite the fact that his vocals have only appeared on five Prodigy tracks.
Howlett, who has always been the man behind the music, found the band's image becoming a parody of itself. Their last single, Baby's Got A Temper, was mauled by critics in 2002 and Howlett scrapped work on the new album.
Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned has grown out of the ashes, with the band's baggage jettisoned and Howlett no longer tied to their past.
Howlett is married to ex-All Saints
singer Natalie Appleton
So those who only know the hits will be surprised and disappointed - there is still some snarl and menace, but no heavyweight knock-out anthems to rival Firestarter.
What we get are 12 tracks that show The Prodigy have evolved with dance culture, taking in funky electro, hip-hop and disco, while not abandoning the heavy guitar riffs and pumping beats.
Fine. It is still music for a jilted generation and The Prodigy have been chameleons of dance since their rave favourites Charly and Everybody in the Place in the early 1990s.
The trouble is, they have been left behind by the likes of Basement Jaxx and Death in Vegas, who did this kind of genre-dissolving, adrenalin-pumping music before, and better.
There are some satisfyingly heavy basslines and squally neon hooks that will work well in clubs, but less so on the radio and in the charts.
Their new single, Girls, has a heavy hip-hop influence, vocals that are pushed firmly into the background, and a sticky but strikingly familiar tune.
Most of the tracks are funky and substantial enough to stand up, but most are also repetitive and relentless without enough tuneful respite. Again, good for clubs, less so for charts.
Surreal vocals
The Prodigy live members Keith Flint and Maxim do not feature on the album - although they will on the forthcoming tour - and vocal duties on the CD are left to a wider cast.
Natural Born Killers actress Juliette Lewis gives a surreal rendition of "up, up and away in my beautiful balloon" on Hot Ride, while Liam Gallagher does some nondescript snarling on the closing track, Shootdown.
But it is the less well-known names, such as US rapper Twista and lo-fi singer-songwriter Paul Jackson, who give the most memorable vocal performances.
For true fans and consumers of the large beat and funky bassline, this is a treat - for the rest, it will not register on your radar.