The Prodigy announce new single/new album

[iamneorev]

Originally Posted by holden

Voodoo People v. 2018. Yawn. But then, what's old eventually comes around again as cutting edge.

You mean Their Law, he's using the Their Law synth preset, but playing different notes. The rest of the clip sounds absolutely nothing like Their Law or Voodoo People.

If this is bothering you now, then you haven't been paying close attention. Liam has been reusing/resampling sounds since the beginning.

- The opening of Smack My Bitch Up goes all the way back to Crazy Man in 1992
- Out Of Space bells have appeared in Diesel Power and Omen
- Everybody In The Place roll effect in The Big Gundown
- Rhythm Of Life and Break And Enter and his Jesus Jones remix shares bits and pieces

...just to name a few. There's little sounds ripped out and reused all over. Liam has always been about sampling, not just others but also himself.

Pay close attention.

[holden]

Originally Posted by iamneorev

You mean Their Law, he's using the Their Law synth preset, but playing different notes. The rest of the clip sounds absolutely nothing like Their Law or Voodoo People.

If this is bothering you now, then you haven't been paying close attention. Liam has been reusing/resampling sounds since the beginning.

- The opening of Smack My Bitch Up goes all the way back to Crazy Man in 1992
- Out Of Space bells have appeared in Diesel Power and Omen
- Everybody In The Place roll effect in The Big Gundown
- Rhythm Of Life and Break And Enter and his Jesus Jones remix shares bits and pieces

...just to name a few. There's little sounds ripped out and reused all over. Liam has always been about sampling, not just others but also himself.

Pay close attention.

Sampling oneself is fine (see Chemical Brothers), I suppose, and i know Liam has dug deep with other people's sounds to create new tunes. I'll withhold further judgement until I hear the full album. I'm just not impressed by Need Some 1 or really anything beyond AONO. It just is all in the same vein of tough guy aggro with hardly any melody or progression. prodigy wasn't like that in the 90's, so I know what they're capable of achieving. Maybe No Tourists will be a progression of style after all. But till it's out, I reserve the right to opine that these clips sound like ground already covered.

[iamneorev]

Originally Posted by holden

Sampling oneself is fine (see Chemical Brothers), I suppose, and i know Liam has dug deep with other people's sounds to create new tunes. I'll withhold further judgement until I hear the full album. I'm just not impressed by Need Some 1 or really anything beyond AONO. It just is all in the same vein of tough guy aggro with hardly any melody or progression. prodigy wasn't like that in the 90's, so I know what they're capable of achieving. Maybe No Tourists will be a progression of style after all. But till it's out, I reserve the right to opine that these clips sound like ground already covered.

It's all good, I haven't been blown away by an Underworld album in full from front to back since Beaucoup Fish. They've written some great songs since, but no albums that have enthralled like their big 3. All these legendary 90s electronic artists seem to have their big 3. Sure, I can put on any Underworld and listen to it. I don't mean that they suck and I hate it. It just doesn't excite me as much as say Dubnobass or Second Toughest or BF, but still not terrible albums.

Personally, I have enjoyed more material off The Prodigy's AONO to TDIME than Underworld's AHDO to BBWFASF. But hey, to each their own. It depends on the mood you're looking for. I have the same feeling for Chemical Brothers. They have never matched the greatness of EPD, DYOH, and Surrender. I LOVE Surrender. But for the most part I can put on any Chem Bros album and not hate it. But many of these artists don't match the greatness of their earlier stuff, but still enjoyable to me.

I enjoyed IMD and TDIME, AONO was 50/50. Have they had as much of an impact on me as Experience, Jilted, or Fat? No. But I still enjoy them. Prodigy are all about playing live now. It's where they make their money. So they write music that hits hard live... and these new tracks work live.

As for Chems, Push The Button and Born In The Echoes are on the bottom for me. Barking and BBWFASF are on the bottom of my Underworld list. Again, I don't hate these albums, just don't enjoy them as much as the others. But they don't want to make me claw my ears out like a Creed or Nickelback or David Guetta or Katy Perry album.

Shockingly, I thought Orbital's Wonky was their best album. I know, blasphemy, but I really enjoyed that album. I also love In Sides and Snivilization. Excited to see how Monsters Exist turns out.

[holden]

Cheers, friend, I get you!

It's tough to be a fan of long-standing acts that go through phases of evolution, status quo, return to the safety of the expected. I've had my ebbs and troughs with all the bands you mention. Thankfully, I've found enough in their latter day output to keep Cheering!

Believe it or not, I really liked the Prodigy in the past. I wish the best for their new album. I'd given up on the Chems after Push the Button, but Further renewed my devotion. Underworlds Barking isn't my fave, but I did like the change in scope and introspection of Bbwfasf.
Orbital have come and gone a few times, so I always appreciate that they have new music. But while Blue was a safe Gambit, and Wonky was a bit of a throwback, they show sparks of new creativity. T b d. (PS loving P.h.u.k.)

Hybrid is another band I left for dead after I choose noise, as orchstral scores with some breakbeat. But Disappear Here in 2010 totally changed the playbook. I'm excited by their new album and shifting direction.

In sum, I appreciate your allegiance to a band you love. Some people on this forum will defend anything Underworld produces. But as you've seen with the latest Iggy Pop collaborations, there's a healthy debate. I wonder how it is in the Prodigy forums?

Ultimately, musical taste is subjective. I'll check out No Tourists, definitely. I hope to like what I hear, because Prodigy was one of the bands that introduced me to electronic dance genres.

[iamneorev]

Yeah, Push The Button didn't do it for me. It's definitely on the bottom of the Chemical Brothers album list. I did like We Are The Night though, thought it was a step up and more enjoyable than PTB. Further was the closest I heard them get to their classic Big 3 sound and quite enjoyed it. They should have included Don't Think on the album and I could have done without Escape Velocity or if it was much later in the album. Born In The Echoes has a few solid tracks (EML Ritual, Under Neon Lights, Reflexion), but the rest were a bit meh. I like more tracks on BITE than PTB, so I guess BITE takes second to last place.

As for Prodigy fans, it's 50/50. You got folks who only like their first 3 albums and that's it and you got others who still love what they do. They made a ton of new fans with Invaders Must Die who are still around. They're actually doing quite well. Honestly, going back to their earlier albums, they always lose some old fans and gain new ones with each new album. I don't think The Prodigy care about breaking new ground or inventing a new genre, they just wanna do what they do best, have fun traveling, and playing loud/hard tracks that hit live.

Leftfield's third album Alternative Light Source was a bit underwhelming. Then again, it is really only one half of Leftfield now. Hard to top Leftism and Rhythm And Stealth. Leftism gets all the praise, but R&S is my jam.

I miss Fluke. I fucking love Risotto. Oto is also good. But man, for me, Risotto is a masterpiece. I wish they would reunite.

I thought Underworld lost something when Darren Emerson left. I will say Barbara Barbara is a step up from Barking. Twenty Three Blue should have been on the album. I did enjoy the Riverrun series and hope they reissue stuff from that era like they have been doing for each album.

[potatobroth]

Originally Posted by iamneorev

EML Ritual

a top 5 CB track for me. absolutely love this one.

[holden]

Originally Posted by iamneorev

I miss Fluke. I fucking love Risotto. Oto is also good. But man, for me, Risotto is a masterpiece. I wish they would reunite.
.

You nailed it! I remember exactly where I was when I bought and first listened to Risotto. Love Puppy, too. 2Bit Pie and Syntax were both amazing offshoot bands. But indeed, I hope that someday Fluke will fully reform. They're in my top 10 electronic bands guaranteed.

Back on track, I've been listening to Fat of the Land a lot lately. Just a stunning, startling album, even 20 years on. I hope that the new LP will similarly inspire. Some records are of their time, some immediately forgettable, others transcendent.

[iamneorev]

Originally Posted by holden

Back on track, I've been listening to Fat of the Land a lot lately. Just a stunning, startling album, even 20 years on. I hope that the new LP will similarly inspire. Some records are of their time, some immediately forgettable, others transcendent.

I think that new track "Light Up The Sky" sounds promising. I wasn't too thrilled with "Need Some1" as I heard an earlier live version with a different synth line that I prefer over the album version. But it seems "Need Some1" isn't meant to be their big official comeback single, more of a little welcome back taster. They did something similar with Invaders Must Die when they released the title track ahead of the album, but "Omen" was the real single they pushed. Actually, they've done this since the beginning now that I think about it. "One Love" came out almost a year before Jilted dropped and "Firestarter" was over a year before FOTL arrived.

I love The Fat Of The Land, my favorite Prodigy album. I started listening to them in 1993 when I was 9 years old. A lot of folks praise Jilted as their fave, which it is an amazing record, but FOTL is a whole other level. The accumulation of so many sounds and styles, just powerful. Like Nine Inch Nails' The Downward Spiral, it transcends electronic music and brought electronic music to a bigger audience. That era also had some great b-sides: "Molotov Bitch," "The Trick," "One Man Army / No Man Army".

In 2002, Liam finally put out their cover of The Specials of "Ghost Town" that was done during FOTL, but was scrapped after Tricky dropped his own cover around the same tine. So if you like the production of FOTL, check out "Ghost Town." It was included on the NME & Warchild Presents 1 Love and Independents Day ID08 charity compilations. Also, "Back 2 Skool" is an FOTL era leftover that was played live in 2002 and finally finished abd released in 2005 on the Their Law compilation bonus disc. That bonus disc also features "Voodoo Beats," which is Liam's remix of The Chemical Brothers remix of "Voodoo People" that he used to drop live during FOTL tours.

It's a shame for it's 15th anniversary, the label reissued the album with newly commissioned remixes instead of just putting the album together with its b-sides and any other unreleased material. Leftfield did the same crap with their Leftism 22 release meanwhile they have loads of b-sides and alternate versions from that era. No one wants new remixes.

There was an unreleased FOTL track called "Take Me On" that featured Skin from Skunk Anansie on vocals which never surfaced. Liam did sample some guitars from a Skunk Anansie track on "Serial Thrilla." She would eventually collaborated with vocalist Maxim on his track "Carmen Queasy" for his solo album Hell's Kitchen. "Climbatize" was also structurally very, very different and was intended to fear Perry Farrell on vocals. It was originally more of a building and evolving type of track. Liam met with Perry who asked them to play Lollapalooza at the time. Sadly, their schedule was full with writing the new album and shows they already booked. Liam had to turn him down, so Perry responded by telling him he couldn't do the track.

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Originally Posted by holden

You nailed it! I remember exactly where I was when I bought and first listened to Risotto. Love Puppy, too. 2Bit Pie and Syntax were both amazing offshoot bands. But indeed, I hope that someday Fluke will fully reform. They're in my top 10 electronic bands guaranteed.

whatever happened to those dudes? that Syntax record was brilliant. can't believe it was 14 (!!!) years ago! last I heard they were doing a 3-part EP called Tripolar but only the first one ever came out.