Anniversary Record Club, Jul 2017: The Prodigy - The Fat of

Never owned this album despite being deep into electronic music's dabbling in stadium rock in the '90s. The Prodigy were too aggro for my high school tastes--I preferred the psychedelic leanings of The Chemical Brothers, the glassy-eyed debauchery of Underworld, and the simple pleasures of forgotten big beat-techno groups (The Propellerheads, Apollo 440, etc.). 

However, it's impressive that I can still distinctly remember several tracks from this album from a relatively straightforward techno act after only hearing it a few times when I was fourteen. The album is a showcase of how group mastermind Liam Howlett was a double threat in crafting both synths and beats that are earworms, a feat that is particularly impressive when compared with more critically lauded techno groups like Orbital.

As I noted in the introduction for this Record Club, The Prodigy took a five-year hiatus after the release of this one. And, really, how could you follow this up--this is as stripped down as big beat-techno gets--particularly with the rapidly-shifting trends of electronic music. It's music all about impact and complaints about repetitiveness and musical atavism seem beside the point. 

Nonetheless, it's far from a great record in my opinion. It IS repetitive, lacking in variety, and the singles ("Breathe" and "Firestarter") easily stand above the rest.

"Smack My Bitch Up" has aged poorly and feels facile in both its antagonism and uplift (incidentally, an ex-girlfriend called this track "the most erotic song ever").

"Diesel Power" is one of those well-meaning attempts by electronic music to give back to their hip-hop influences, in this case by giving Kool Keith a payday. Unfortunately, the beat lacks the grit necessary to underpin Keith's rap.

The uninspired "Serial Thrilla" is the low point of the album, but things pick up again with the early-morning rave madness of "Mindfields" and "Nayaran."

Spin magazine once called "Firestarter" "our ['90s kids'] 'Louie Louie,'" which I always thought was a funny description.

"Climbatize" is the most interesting track that I don't remember from my teenage listening. It has a hopeful feeling far removed from the destructo-beats of the rest of the album and could be considered the group's homage to the positive hardcore from their formative years in the early '90s. 

The punk of "Fuel My Fire" just isn't for me.
 
 

Whenever BT is not on the threads, people should be asking, "Remember BT?"

Do you recall what those other seminal acts were (the drum 'n' bass, particularly)?  Is The Prodigy considered hardhouse, then, presumably? 

The year is 1997. In America, teenagers across the nation are searching for the "next Nirvana," or at least that's what magazines and MTV told us we were suppose to be doing. Over in the UK some sort of shit was happening with drum machines and breakbeats and stuff. "Techno," they called it. It came to America in all its myriad forms and was apparently the "next Nirvana." It was not...

Pre-Existing Prejudices
While I rolled my eyes at the vast majority of the "techno" artists like The Chemical Brothers and their ilk who arrived in America and were promptly dubbed the "next Nirvana" by the American press, The Prodigy were one of the few that I gave a chance to. I mean, they had guitars and a sneering vocalist with shitty hair and tattoos. I purchased this album around the time that "Breathe" was a single in America and have heard all these songs a bunch of times in my life. Like most music from my high school career, I haven't really listened to this album in full since 2002 or so.

Songs
"Smack My Bitch Up"
This song has a fine hook but it's too repetitive and goes on for far too long. I think the radio version was a minute or two shorter and thus 16 times better than the album version. I vaguely recall staying up until late o'clock at night to see the video for this on MTV since they would only play it in the middle of the night.

"Breathe"
This was the song that caused me to purchase this album back in the day. I still think it's the best song on Fat of the Land. The kung fu movie sword sound effects are awesome and the guy with the stupid haircut is well deployed here. Like "Smack My Bitch Up," That being said I think this song kind of goes on too long, a problem that was remedied with the radio version.

"Diesel Power"
Kind of boring, but at least Kool Keith got a payday for this.

"Funky Shit"
OH MY GOD THAT'S THE FUNKY SHIT! I did not remember anything about this song except for the Beastie Boys sample and am certainly that I will promptly forget everything about this song again by the time I finish listening to this album album.

"Serial Thrilla"
I recall liking this song when I was a shitty teenager, but now it's just really boring. It's super repetitive and never really goes anywhere.

"Mindfields"
Another overly long, repetitive song. It's a lot less frantic than any of the songs that proceed it so I'll give it credit for being different at least.

"Narayan"
This is too goddamn long. I guess it's a fine if it's twenty years ago and I'm getting high and dancing with some sort of late 90s lady, but listening to it on headphones in my office while working on a spreadsheet it's kind of lame.

"Firestarter"
Fucking finally. After a pair of quasi-mellow chill out tracks we're back to songs that make you want to run a marathon while having a kung fu battle. Unfortunately, like almost every track on this album this song goes about a minute and a half longer than it needs to.

"Climbatize"
I do not remember this song at all. The beginning kind of reminds me of the Flash Gordon Soundtrack. This is a lot more upbeat than most of the other songs on the album. There are swinets and drums that give it a vaguely Eastern feel. The end's got a bass riff and synth lasers. All in all this is a pretty solid jam.

"Fuel My Fire"
A cover of an L7 song. I like the L7 version better and am probably going to go listen to Hungry for Stink now so thanks for that The Prodigy. This isn't terrible or anything it just seems really inessential. A fine thing for a b-side to a single or a bonus track on the Japanese version of the album, but as an album cut? Nah.

Final Thoughts
There are some decent songs on this album but they're all too damn long. I'm sure the length wasn't a problem for blissed out 90s club kids sucking on pacifiers and wearing shitty clothes, but while listening to this album sober and in an office, I ended up either zoning out about halfway through the song or checking the time remaining on the track every five seconds. I would probably be a lot happier with radio edits of the entire album.

Best Song: "Breathe"
Worst Song: "Serial Thrilla" or "Funky Shit"

repulsionist Interesting, thanks!