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Prodigy

The Prodigy * The Day Is My Enemy (cd 2015)

A while ago a Prodigy show in Amsterdam was announced, sold out in no-time of course, but I am going to see them live again; same place, different album. No longer unexpectedly, the band prereleased two tracks and now the new album.

“The Day Is My Enemy” sounds even more ‘punkish’ than previous material. Some tracks are very energetic, other seem less so. Different guest vocalists have cooperated to this album, one of them is the immediately recognisable Jason Williamson from the weird and nice band Sleaford Mods that I recently ran into. Williamson’s lyrics contain the f-word frequently and the same I can say about other tracks on this new Prodigy album. The band says that the new album sounds rawer, perhaps that also goes for the lyrics then.

The track with Jason William’s vocals is called “Ibiza” and the tough rap-like vocals go very well with the electropunk of Liam Howlett. There are a couple of other great tracks, others are just nice. The music of The Prodigy tends to grow on me and perhaps hearing them live might give these tracks an extra boost. As for the moment I can say that if you enjoy the developing style of The Prodigy, you will probably like their latest effort. I cannot yet say if this album is better than “Invaders Must Die” (2008), but time will tell.

Links: The Prodigy, Take Me To The Hospital

Prodigy * Invaders Must Die (cd 2008)

Invaders Must DieFive years after the previous album I had expected some more attention to the new album of the Prodigy. In fact, I had to search to find a copy in one of the local cd-shops. “Invaders Must Die” is worth the effort though. Continueing the development in style, but this time with many references the earliest material, the new album contains nicely explosive “electro punk”. On Youtube you can already watch two of the videos that come on the DVD, “Invaders Must Die” and “Omen”, the first two tracks. When you like these two, you can savely buy the rest of the album. “Invaders Must Die” might for the first time not put all the previous releases in its shadow, but it is a great album. A bit short though, 45 minutes.
Links: The Prodigy, Take Me To The Hospital

Prodigy * Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned (cd 2004 xl recordings)

It has been seven years since the previous ‘real’ album of (the) Prodigy. The logo on their new cd does have the “the” again and the website is theprodigy.com. The new single “Girls” didn’t really convince me and this album has been postphoned so often that I had no idea what to expect from it anymore, but still I was curious enough to quickly get the new album now it is finally out. I must say, it really doesn’t disappoint me! The album opens with a promising “Spitfire”. After this the track “Girls” doesn’t even sound so bad and among the rest of the songs there are a couple of great and a few good ones. “Songs” is a good description for the tracks by the way. Much more than before vocals can be heard. They are by different people, mostly distorted and give several of the tracks a ‘punky’ feeling, a bit like the older track ‘People Like You (just fuel my fire)’. For the rest I have the idea that the album is less danceble than previous albums. The tracks are mostly build around ‘big beat’ kind of rhythms like in the track “Diesel Power” or “Smack My Bitch Up”, but maybe a bit less energetic than the last named track. However the music sometimes reminds me a bit too much of alternative (but popular in certain circles) techno anarchists like the Chicks On Speed, Prodigy of course also come with their (his?) own ideas with funny rhythms and strange samples and sounds. ‘Back to the 80’ies’ is a description of the cd as well with 80’ies artwork and disco and wave influences. All in all maybe not totally surprising, but surely not a copy of their earlier work. As a matter of fact, there is a definate development in the sound, but the cd still became a real Prodigy album. -10/9/04-