The Prodigy - Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned

Prodigy fans; simply twist a bit of rolled up newspaper and dip it in petrol. Hey presto! A Twisted Firestarter! Perfect for barbeques, bonfires, etc.

LOOSERS

I never said Underworld still have "it" or whatever, I don't think they do and I'd be pleasantly surprised by a new album from them being any good, or at least being relevant, I guess in Underworld's case I could imagine them going off on an interesting tangent.

But the Chemical Brothers, well it's like I said, there was praise from all corners for that Kylie remix, from people whom you'd not expect to bother with the Chemical Brothers as well as from fans. And crucially it was played in clubs and it was a REMIX. Can you imagine the Prodigy remixing anything?

Regardless of quality, that simple fact proves their distance from dance culture. The Chemical Brothers will still release a single and it will have high profile remixers on it cos it'll still be intended for clubs.

fwiw I think Star Guitar is close to their best track ever anyway.

i think for breaks/electro DJs NOT to play 'Girls' would be a bit daft myself (but i don't know what the latest cool breaks tracks are so maybe they are a bit more advanced/'new'/whatever)

Howlett has done remixes so of course I can imagine them (club cred more debatable). Nothing recent tho granted but I've always wished he would do more. Can't remember a Prodigy remix since DJ Hype's mix of 'Smack My Bitch Up' - yes he seems reluctant to permit remixes - arrogance? preciousness? maybe!

probably one of the best for me too. the main difference I've noticed with the Chemical Brothers over the years is the move from fuzzy sample-heavy (even just the funk snares or whatever) bombast to the more microtronic refined clubby style - but I really liked that new thing I heard at Glastonbury with the dramatic schizoid martial-arts fanfare type thing.

heh, this could just as readily be aimed at Dan and I i fear...

it's absolutely not, though!! where's the mentasms?? where's the rush?? even "smack my bitch up" had those crazy ascending synths that seemed to be on every track on the 1st two albums. the new one just sounds like out-of-date nu skool breaks tracks.

"Girls" itself is a great track but the majority of the album doesn't live up to it. It's nice enough but isn't nearly enough fun to listen to as previous efforts; half the tracks seem unfocused and unfinished.

Now if I wasn't going to have to read about this toss as a dance album and see it featured in dance sections all fucking year then maybe I could just say "ok who cares". But that's not the case.

great constants of dance of constants of great dance?? either way that doesn't sound like much of a good reason for Howlett using them again (why retread older ground as opposed to old ground??!)

oh come on! 'Girls' is a DANCE track, i'm sure there are others on there too. of course Prodigy should still be written about in dance mags. perhaps the crick for some is they'll get equal (ok probably more) coverage in Kerrang. but if Orbital are covered by dance press still then Prodigy definitely should be.

x-post it's barely a dance track. too caught up its in own identity.

sorry but this is insanity. if people can dance to Freq Nasty, Pilgrem, Stantons, Plump DJs, Jedi Knights then they can dance to this. it's not even that far away from 'Satisfaction' really - imagine a 4/4 over it if you must. i understand the 'dated' argument perfectly but you seem to be getting at something else which i don't recognise at all - the 'being tired of Prodigy being regarded by too many people as at forefront of dance' is also understandood but who does that now? really? THAT's irrelevant. only...Prodigy singles have a habit of this 'problem', caught between stools as the singles from MFTJG and FOTL were too (Paul Oakenfold played 'Skylined', Jon Carter played 'Mindfields', just as two examples but generally Howlett seemed the outsider, either too pop or not enough). Same thing seems to be happening again, but really I'm only re-iterating my comments on NYLPM here.

and it may be music you can dance to but it doesnt seem like dance music,there are no tracks as such
dunno specifically what song people are talking about but i cant imagine any of the tracks been played at a rave or anything,wheras all the classic prodigy tracks ive heard at raves and parties,even up to smack my bitch up

i suppose i shouldnt judge it on one listen,but i cant imagine being arsed listening to it again
i'll probably end up hearing it somewhere though

It's like Liam decided to make a Fatboy Slim album.

'Girls' is still really good all the same.

Apparently he's making a hiphop/funk record though which sounds awful.

i just found this in my cd's.
maybe i'll listen to it later.

It's not as bad as everyone loves to pretend it is, and "Girls" is vastly underrated.

by and large one of the wrongest threads on ilm

classic: the mashup of Breathe & Stop vs Rex the Dog's remix of of Girls that I made and played out a bunch of times in the mid-2000s
dud: the Prodigy's careers post-Breathe

This record fucking sucks.

I thought the whole Prodigy thing was fucked by this point - Howlett obviously had a creative block and didn't know which directiom to go in, Flint had let success go to his head a little bit too much, Maxim was off doing whatever the hell he was doing and the Thornhill had departed - not that this had much of an impact, mind.

*direction

I forgot this existed tbh.

I remember a friend claiming Invaders Must Die was a return to form, I didn't believe him.

a good friend 10 years my younger claims the Prodigy only really got good after Fat Of The Land. He hears Jilted Generation as sounding flat and lacking 'oomph', and (according to him) the songs take too long to get going.

he's heinously wrong of course, but it's an interesting take

I've met American Prodigy 'fans' who were unaware they had any albums before FOTL.

Sounds like your friend is coming at them from a rock rather than dance angle.

Invaders Must Die has some FANTASTIC material on it.

I don't remember the last time I played AONO, maybe that should be today's soundtrack.

Invaders Must Die has some FANTASTIC material on it.

otm.

Sounds like your friend is coming at them from a rock rather than dance angle.

― chap, Thursday, August 17, 2017 1:20 PM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yeah I think he first encountered them as a pre-teen during the nu-metal era. Some sort of high-impact activity he was doing at the time, and one of their latter albums was the soundtrack.

both this one & Invaders are really good records. I love Fat but had very little invested in the band otherwise, the feeling I get from people who hate on later Prodigy is they have very specific if-you-grow-it-will-be-in-this-direction expectations of the band. they're basically just big-beat rock and roll albums though. that is cool w/me. they're really good big-beat rock and roll albums.