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The Prodigy
‘Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned’
Record Label: Maverick/XL
Release Date: September 14, 2004
CD Review by Michael Giambra / Rockstarpix.TV
WATCH THE LIVE VIDEO HERE
Furious electronic beats are both sexy and powerful. Prodigy beats posses the raw power to move the masses. Listening to the latest album “Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned” (Maverick 2004) it is evident that Liam Howlett and the Prodigy still embrace this phenomenon. I confirmed this personally with them, on stage back in 1992, when I helped promote The Prodigy playing an old converted Baptist Temple club named ‘Heaven’ in upstate New York (Rochester). In the early 90’s the Prodigy were the hottest UK upstart representing a frenzied beat-mad generation. An alternative to the numbing effects of mainstream grunge rock, electronic punk and DJ music was an escape pod from the depression and ‘nevermind’ that was dominating commercial radio. The inspired and original beats of Liam Howlett and the Prodigy were jolting to life the collective mind expanding mixture of the club-kids, party monsters and the bastard rebirth of the new-romantics. Carefully crafted techno-beats injected with raw adrenaline and a punk ethos that would change the way we would look at electronic music forever. Tuned-in, on edge and cleverly clad in matching white space suits, the Prodigy performed a show that would leave acid-etched outlines on my mind to this day.
Since the original inception of the Essex, UK based DJ project in 1990, the Prodigy have always stood for the live musical experience. Liam Howlett, Keith Flint, Maxim (Reality), and Leeroy Thornhill make up the Prodigy proper. Thornhill had departed the band in 2000 to pursue a DJ project under the moniker Flightcrank. Recently he came back to the Prodigy and performs a DJ set before shows. This was the line up in 1992 that made up the “Experience” tour. These boys were kicking in the doors and knocking over stages of ecstasy laced discos and dirty funk speakeasies across the country. The four spacemen of the apocalypse had come to town to spread news of the revolution to come. Electronic punks were lighting up the airwaves and renegade dance floors, bands like the Prodigy, Chemical Brothers, 808 State, Front 242 and Moby were sending a raw un-coded data messages in the form of hyper-hypnotic BPM (beats per minute) DJ beats and digital rapture. Like a minefield of palpitating hearts, the Prodigy unleashed a firestorm of dance and music that created shock and awe. This stop in upstate New York was no different for the Prodigy, they were touring supporting the epic Prodigy debut album “Experience” ‘the white album of the jilted generation’. Taste the sultry punk shaman drum and bass lines of “Poison” or “Firestarter” and you will get the picture. There is nothing like experiencing a Prodigy concert up close and gyrating in your face. Dirty pulsed rhythms of the streets like Public Enemy and the Sex Pistols fueled and inspired this fire starter. The crowd at a Prodigy show becomes one with the beats and music while dancers expressively pound out the tribal rhythms.
Liam Howlett and the Prodigy were standing up for their music, and perfecting the live performance of electronic punk. This is a difficult task to bring life and meaning to an electronic DJ and vocal performance. If you have ever seen a live concert by any electronic artist it typically involves a couple faceless nerdy guys behind turntables and keyboards pumping their fists and trying to stir life our of their audience. Moby once attempted to change the way electronic music was delivered live and he went on tour with a live band with traditional ‘rock show’ instruments for his ‘Play’ album. The experience was unique but it still paled in comparison to a live Prodigy show. Liam Howlett and the Prodigy deliver beats that cascade the room and rock your body. It is a memorable and unique experience indeed. The MTV controversy was soon to follow the jet wash success and after burn of the Prodigy. The Prodigy was censored on MTV in 1996 for the clever video storytelling mystery of “Smack My Bitch Up”, where a bender ‘mystery date’ night on the town is illustrated in great detail and titillating outcome.
The last release before their fourth album “Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned” was the single “Baby’s Got a Temper” (2002). Reflecting on the ‘Temper’ single release, Liam Howlett decided that it was time to destroy the formula for what the Prodigy had become, loose the bullshit and set course back to the seminal punk beats that sparked The Prodigy originally. Howlett scrapped a years worth of new tracks, closed the doors of his sterile stale studio surroundings and retreated to writing in his bedroom on his laptop. “I’d find a place I’d be happy in, usually in my bedroom, usually at about midnight, usually with a couple of glasses of wine, James Bond on the DVD… you know what I mean. I was writing for the fun of writing again.”
It is evident that Liam Howlett has rediscovered his beats after a full listen of the new album. “Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned” is a collection of dirty, sleazy punk tracks that do not stray from the original course mapped by Howlett. The album also includes notable vocal contributions from Liam Gallagher, Juliet Lewis, Kool Keith, Princess Superstar, Ping Pong Bitches, Twista, Shahin Bada (better known as the spine tingling chanteuse from ‘Smack My Bitch Up’) and unknown lo-fi singer songwriter Paul Jackson from Dirt Candy. The difference here is that the vocal contributions were merely samples of voices brilliantly woven into the fabric of the beats. Ultimately, the beats are the stars on this project but the collective embodiment of precise technology, ancient Arabic chants and machine gun rapping of Kool Keith raises the album to a high-art form of entertainment. With “Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned” Liam Howlett leads The Prodigy back to the fertile soils of their creation and then proceeded to scorch its very earth. “Always Outnumbered” is a brilliant re-birth journey of The Prodigy that remains interesting and bleeding edge to any listener. Credit is due to Liam Howlett and his talented contributors on this exceptional project.
Rockstarpix.TV Rating: A ( 9, a solid classic returns The Prodigy to the throne and temple of electro-punk)
Writers Note: I am hoping that the Prodigy come back to the US so I can follow up this review with a live interview with Liam Howlett. Keep it tuned to Rockstarpix.TV for future updates. Mike Giambra sends Special thanks to Souxie Z. and Kip Kouri at Magnum PR and David Grant at Maverick Records for making this project possible!
‘Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned’
Record Label: Maverick/XL
Release Date: September 14, 2004
‘Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned’, the brand new album from The Prodigy will be released by Maverick/XL. The album features 12 Liam Howlett penned tracks, including first single ‘Girls’ which finds The Prodigy returning to their old skool roots, with the focus firmly on the beats.
‘Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned’ is a trashy, adrenalised, sleaze-funk masterpiece. For this album, Liam has recorded vocals and treated them like samples, using them to create an overall sound - the guests who have partaken in the process include Juliette Lewis (‘Hot Ride), Princess Superstar (‘Memphis Bells’), Ping Pong Bitches (‘Girls’), Twista (‘Get Up Get Off’), Shahin Badar ( ‘Get Up Get Off’), Kool Keith ( ‘Wake Up Call’, ‘You’ll Be Under My Wheels’), Liam Gallagher (‘Shoot Down’) and Paul Jackson (‘Action Radar’). All tracks were written, programmed and assaulted by Liam Howlett.
The Prodigy’s line-up stays the same and will be returning for live dates later in the year.
‘Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned’ will be available on CD and vinyl. The track listing is as follows:
1. Spitfire
2. Girls
3. Memphis Bells
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. Shootdown
www.prodigy.co.uk
produced by Michael Giambra / rockstarpix.tv Copyright 2004
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