After the magnificence of 'Music for the Jilted generation', The Prodigy reached a crossroads. Liam Howlett had created two genre-defining and timeless albums, packed with ingenuity and phat beats, but what next?
Howlett decided to experiment with turning up the aggression, and taking the ... Read review
An album even the technophobic couldn't ignore,The Fat of the Landmade Prodigy one of the ... more
first U.K. rave acts to infiltrate pop culture. Hard-core hip-hop-derived breakbeats, layers of unabashed (but creative) sampling, and meaningless shouted lyrics struck a chord beyond the electronic-music community. The inclusion of "Firestarter" and "Breathe" (both previously released hit singles) certainly aided the disc's widespread success, but it was the ferocity (and controversy) of "Smack My Bitch Up" that caught the world's attention. Guest Shahin Bada's Indian vocalizations convey the sense that dance music has come a long way from "Pump Up the Volume"! "Diesel Power," featuring Kool Keith, and "Funky Shit" set a wicked groove; the cover of L7's "Fuel My Fire" recalls the energy of the Sex Pistols. In fact, the dark aggression ofThe Fat of the Landbears closer resemblance to both rap and punk than the hedonism of techno. Leader Liam Howett simply gives up 10 solid songs with bombastic production values, transforming dance music into the art of noise.--Lisa Ladouceur
Postage & Packaging:£1.21 Availability:Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Advantages: Aggression-fuelled dance/rock hybrid brilliance Disadvantages: 'Serial Thrilla' and 'Fuel my fire'
After the magnificence of 'Music for the Jilted generation', The Prodigy reached a crossroads. Liam Howlett had created two genre-defining and timeless albums, packed with ingenuity and phat beats, but what next?
Howlett decided to experiment with turning up the aggression, and taking the guitar addition a step further, incorporating Keith Flint's sneering Johnny Rotten-style vocals to the beats, fusing hard dance and rock together for an ... ...the peak of British musical acts and popular culture.
The three singles lit up the British charts, with 'Firestarter' and 'Breathe' especially redefining what dance could sound like, and enticing rebellious kids in their droves.
The group themselves had redefined their image, with Flint obviously shaving and colouring his bizarre hair as well as having antisocial facial piercings to create a rather intimidating vocal ... more
After the magnificence of 'Music for the Jilted generation', The Prodigy reached a crossroads. Liam Howlett had created two genre-defining and timeless albums, packed with ingenuity and phat beats, but what next? Howlett decided to experiment with turning up the aggression, and taking the guitar addition a step further, incorporating Keith Flint's sneering Johnny Rotten-style vocals to the beats, fusing hard dance and rock together for an album that was to push The Prodigy right up to the peak of British musical acts and popular culture.
The three singles lit up the British charts, with 'Firestarter' and 'Breathe' especially redefining what dance could sound like, and enticing rebellious kids in their droves.
The group themselves had redefined their image, with Flint obviously shaving and colouring his bizarre hair as well as having antisocial facial piercings to create a rather intimidating vocal and visual presence. Liam Howlett seemed to grow in stature, but remained a mute, rather languid, imposing background figure, with short-cropped, bleached hair, and a nose ring. Maxim just took his previous image a stage further. His 'cat's eye' contact lenses were supplemented with aggressive face paint, tattoos, and, strangely enough, a cane for the 'Breathe' video, giving him the appearance of a demented circus freak! Leeroy just kept his gangly, ice-cool posture, with a goatee and chin stud, as well as the omni-present shades.
Although taking their sound a step further, this does not match the marvel of 'Music for the jilted generation'. The genre-crossing is not quite as seismic, but very aggressive and effective.
1) 'Smack my bitch up' This opener is pure class, stretching the envelope most definitely. Half aggressive beats, half spoofish guitar and synth samples, we open with a twanging guitar loop, and then cut to very low-frequency drum beats, before the trademark bassy synth cuts in. More tremendous high-pitched 'alarm' synths follow. The classic vocal sample is lifted from 'Give the drummer some' by the Ultramagnetic MC's, with one of Liam Howlett's fave hip-hop MC's Kool Keith providing the vocals. After a couple of 'choruses', we cut to a swirling 'psychadelic' soundscape, all paranoid chiming and female wails, before another blast of; "Change my picture, smack my bitch up" The strange frequencies on the bass will definitely test your speakers' equalisers!
2) 'Breathe' One of the immortal singles from the band, this was a lot better than 'Firestarter', and more anthemic. It's also the only Prodigy track to involve both Keith and Maxim on vocals. With a sinister string sample guiding, and edgy drums, this track is exciting stuff. Keith and Maxim spit vocals out in a lyrical sparring session. Classic Flint line of; "Cuuuuuummm play moi gaaaaaaame!" makes this an invincible slice of hard-dance fused with rock.
3) 'Diesel Power' This appeared on some kind of soundtrack. It is another collaboration with Kool Keith, and is basically a slow-tempo grinder of a track, with very heavy bass, and a very slow, industrial beat. Kool Keith raps over the whole track, and lets us know that 'Diesel Power'; "......blows your mind drastically fantastically!" An excellent track to follow the mighty 'Breathe'.
4) 'Funky Shit' Continuing the superb run of tracks is this little gem. Sampling a supreme Beastie Boys line: "Oh my God, that's the funky shit!", and throwing in another couple of sound effects and/or excerpts, this is a brilliantly relentless bit of hard dance that at times makes you laugh. It's 'boogie-disco' beat, and the "Hey!" vocal effects are hilarious at times, but it just adds to the brilliance of this stonking tune. After four-and-a-bit minutes of madness, we break to a swirling, pulsating mess of noise, and then a continuous one-note synth bleep, that melts into our next track.
5) 'Serial Thrilla' This samples the Skunk Anansie track 'Selling Jesus', and the music is hypnotic and well-structured. Unfortunately, the vocals, and particularly lyrics, are not up to scratch, from Mr Flint. His delivery is fairly suitable, but the lyrics are meaningless, especially with the chorus, which probably sounded great when Keith wrote it, but sounds worse the more you listen to it; "Serial Thrilla, serious killer!" Not a memorable moment, it ends on the same synth bleep from whence it came.
6) 'Mindfields' I believe this appeared on the soundtrack to one of 'The Matrix' films. It's a slow-burning but hypnotic beat-filled dream of a track. Paranoia and unease course through it's veins, but it is a seriously good edgy dance track.
7) 'Narayan' Dreamy keyboard/synthesiser opening is accompanied by a tight drum pattern, before Crispian Mills cuts in with some hazy vocals for this trancey effort. After about four-and-a-half minutes of constant vocals and beats, the drums slow right down, and Mills cuts into what sounds like an aboriginal chant interpretation of the name of the song. More tranceness ensues, then we break down to a dominant drum pattern to end the track, clocking in at over nine minutes!
8) 'Firestarter' What do i need to say? Everyone's heard this surely. A great combination of schizo loops and paranoid drums, allied to Keith Flint's sneering vocals about being a public menace, and you get a reinvention of titanic proportions. Oh, and a bit of a hit. One of those tracks that transcends the charts into public culture.
9) 'Climbatize' When you hear this tracks opening, you immediately think of the intro. to 'Out of Space', but it is slightly different, and lasts for about a minute, with a bit of 'scratch-warping' going on. The chilled-out opening is complemented after about a minute-and-a-half by some funky dark basslines. More layers of sound reveal themselves as the track progresses, and again there is an 'uneasy' vibe about this whole track, with some strange horns and ethnic instruments abound. Listen out for some fantastic 'rolling' percussion.
10) 'Fuel my fire' A cover here, or rather a remix. Howlett's drums and keyboards are peerless, but Flint's silly vocals and the choice of song in general could be a lot better. This unfortunately set the standard for the next single, the terrible 'Baby's got a temper'. Interesting points though; Saffron from Republica provides background vocals, and Mark from Soundgarden assists with drums on the whole album, so three big bands are represented. Strangely, Flint's OTT vocals are very low in volume, so they are swamped by the music, but this is probably a good thing. A loud but not very proud ending to a generally excellent album.
The inlet sleeve has a lot of cool artwork, and poses the question: 'Would you rather have butter or guns?' Answer: 'Preparedness makes us powerful, butter merely makes us fat'.
So there you have it. Progressive but not perfect, this was the last anyone would hear of the mighty Prodigy (as far as original material) for five long years. And little did we know we would have to wait an astonishing SEVEN years for another album. See my review of 'Always outnumbered, never outgunned' for more details.
Advantages: Fat with hard-hitting tracks Disadvantages: Fuel My Fire
...“Breathe” with its hard-hitting beats, fat bass and aggressive vocals that I remembered that electronica had anything worth offering; “Breathe the pressure/ Come play my game – I’ll test ya”. Here was a mix of musical protein and carbohydrate, and I gorged myself silly on it.
“The Fat of the Land” is nine tracks of sheer hard electronic bliss. Unfortunately, a tenth track, of such poor quality it is ... ...Reeow? Radical for its time - at least in the mainstream, “The Fat of the Land” is still worthy of attention today.
Track Listing: Smack My Bitch Up, Breathe, Diesel Power, Funky Shit, Serial Thrilla, Mindfields, Narayan, Firestarter, Climbatize, Fuel My Fire
More info: http://www.theprodigy.org ...
TallTone 28.11.2001
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Fat Of The Land, The - Prodigy (The)
Advantages: New, exciting, rash, uplifting Disadvantages: A few weak tracks towards the end of the album
...bar, where a cheerful looking fat man hammered out the 2 chord versions of wartime classics such as Leaning On A Lamp-post on a piano that has seen better days …
Now this may come as a surprise to many, but I'm afraid I'm far to young to be remembering all this caboodle, hell, I can't even claim that The Graduate was a soft porn classic when I was a lad, because quite frankly, when I was a lad, transformers and Sam Fox's breasts were everything ... ...something totally different. Then came Fat of The Land. At this time, the big beat/break beat movement was beginning to gather pace, with relatively newest acts such as The Chemical Brothers and Fatboy Slim trying to grab the limelight; but none were as successful as this 3rd studio release. With Fire Starter, the first thumping single from the album topping charts world wide, the boys were bound to be on to a winner.
Right from the first 30 seconds ...
craiggy_boy 30.01.2002
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Fat Of The Land, The - Prodigy (The)
Advantages: Its typical prodigy Disadvantages: A bit too rocky in some places
...hip-hop influenced than its predecessors, Fat of the Land sets the pulse racing, fusing big beats with a raving loony attitude. A punk metal song, Fuel my Fire, is very good alongside almost straightforward hip-hop of Diesel Power, while Funky S**t is the nearest in spirit to Music For The Jilted Generation. This is an essential album for people curious about dance music in the late Nineties. This really is a superb album, and every track is good ... ...a bit loud in some places. Smack my Bitch Up – A very controversial track because of the video which contained scenes of intercourse, vomiting and drug taking. This track is a good opener and set the tone for the rest of the album. It starts of fairly slow and soft and then the bass suddenly kicks in, magnificent. Breathe – This song went to Number One, and I can see why. The introduction is menacing and awesome, then suddenly the bass ...
RussSenior 13.08.2001
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Fat Of The Land, The - Prodigy (The)
Advantages: Nice variation in it all Disadvantages: ... well, can be highly prices nowadays...
I do not know whether you have written an opinion on a dance CD before, but it is hard to describe all the songs separately because of the fact that it is all electronic sounds!
Anyway, this is The Prodigy’s second to latest offering, released in 1997 with ‘Music for the Voodoo People’ released in 1998 according to Audiostreet. I do not know of any other releases since, but I will say they have released other albums before these ... ...may not know it, Prodigy’s music is used in quite a commercialised way. ‘Smack My Bitch Up’ has been heard over football action (minus the words for obvious reasons!) because of its fast tempo in most of the song, which is played over fast moving action such as goals being scored etc. ‘Breathe’ and ‘Firestarter’ have also been used in adverts, again, usually without the words. ‘Mindfields’ is ...
danradders 23.05.2001
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Fat Of The Land, The - Prodigy (The)
Advantages: Good hard hitting music Disadvantages: None
...have ever like is the fat of the land. The first time when I heard the song Firestarter must have thought this group must be crazy and nerdy kind. I was not surprised when I saw the video. Though, there are some of the good dance numbers but you can hardly dance because as soon as the song starts your head starts rolling and you are in a different galaxy. The enjoyment, which you get when you had a nice 4 pegs of strong vodka or whisky. The music ... ...in some frightening otherworld. People who like hard-hitting, crashing, banging techno-electric rock may find this album and excellent bet. They are in similar lines with Chemical Brothers, this is one my all time favourite album. GO ahead and enjoy this FAT of Hard Hitting Song!!! ...
asyis 20.04.2001
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Fat Of The Land, The - Prodigy (The)
Originality
Lyrics
Quality and consistency...
How does it rate alongs...
Value for Money
Similar reviews »
Reviews which might be of interest for "Fat Of The Land, The - Prodigy (The)"
Advantages: great music Disadvantages: a couple of weak tracks
What no one has reviewed Fat of the land by Prodigy yet!!l I am about to rectify that.
Prodigy Started playing in the early 1990’s and produced “Thefat of the land” in 1997.T
he style of Fat of the land is quite varied, a bit techno a bit dance a bit rock.
There are 10 tracks on this Album.
The first Track is smack my bitch up. A good steady techno beat ,lots of rhythm little tune.
The words Smack my bitch up are repeated at intervals through the Album there are some wailing vocals.
This track certainly gets the adrenalin flowing the beat coursing throughout the listener’s body.
Breathe is the next track starting with some guitar,
“Breathe with me exhale exhale” says the vocals this is not an uplifting tune. It has a continuous thumping beat, Yes I am gently nodding my head in ...
Advantages: another classic from the prodigy Disadvantages: none
this is there third album and liam howlett is still keeping his work as original as it gets every album has a different style but he still manages to let you know that this is the prodigy
dont get me wrong this is not there best album but i would still recomend buying it to anyone , this is a must have for any cd collection, there are a couple of tunes im not to keen on but on the whole this is still an awesome album with songs like
smack my bitch up and funky s**t accompanied by firestarter and breathe "sounding good" buy this cd if you dont already own it you will play it over and over for many years to come ...
The Prodigy (Liam Howlett, Keith Flint, Leeroy and Maxim) have had a huge amount of controversy surrounding their music. Whatever your feelings about the band there’s no denying their success. Their album ‘TheFat Of The Land’ has reached number one in 23 different countries, making them even more successful than Oasis.
‘Charly’ was The Prodigy’s second single and has been heralded as the track that put Rave music into the mainstream. ‘Charly’ has a sample from the 70s and has ‘Charly says never go out without telling your mummy first’ repeated throughout it. This catchy track hit the charts at number three, and inevitable imitators appeared (Roobarb and Custard and Sesame’s Treet and others). Many of the underground hardcore dance fans accused The Prodigy as ‘ ...
Product Information for "Fat Of The Land, The - Prodigy (The)" »
Product details
Title
Fat Of The Land, The
Performer
Prodigy (The)
Genre
Electronic
Sub Genre
UK Techno
Release Date
05/01/2004
Original Release Year
1997
Label / Distributor
XL / PIAS UK/Sony DADC
Producer
Liam Howlett
Pieces in Set
1
Studio / Live
Studio
Format
Performer
EAN
634904012120
Additional notes
Album Notes
The Prodigy: Keith Flint, Maxim Reality (vocals); Liam Howlett (various instruments); Leeroy Thornhill. Additional personnel: Shahin Bada, Kool Keith, Crispin Mills (vocals); Jim Davies (guitar); Saffron (background vocals). FAT OF THE LAND was nominated for a 1998 Grammy for Best Rock Album. Among the most anticipated releases of 1997, The Prodigy's third full-length album is a bulldozing rock-techno hybrid. But while the guitar/samples/hyper-beats mosaic that made "Firestarter" an MTV breakout are found in every nook and cranny of this album, the overall building blocks are far more diverse, making it a tangible melting pot of pre-millennium pop styles. There's a definite hip-hop element here. "Diesel Power," which features quality mic control by Kool Keith (of Ultramagnetic MCs and Dr. Octagon fame), is new-style hip-hop sculpture, applying techno and acid-house textures to apocalyptic ends. Both "Funky Shit" and "Smack My Bitch Up" are throbbing dance-floor ejaculations wrapped around, respectively, Beastie Boys and De La Soul refrains. Kula Shaker's Crispin Mills adds vocals to an Eastern-influenced trance workout called "Narayan." All this adds up to proof positive that THE FAT OF THE LAND is just the tip of the iceberg.
Album Reviews
Rolling Stone (5/13/99, p.82) - Included in Rolling Stone's "Essential Recordings of the 90's." Spin (1/98, p.87) - Ranked #20 on Spin's list of the "Top 20 Albums Of The Year." Q (10/01, p.46) - Ranked #43 in Q's "Best 50 Albums of Q's Lifetime" Q (12/99, p.92) - Included in Q Magazine's "90 Best Albums Of The 1990s." Village Voice (2/24/98) - Ranked #29 in the Village Voice's 1997 Pazz & Jop Critics' Poll. Q (1/98, p.114) - Included in Q Magazine's "50 Best Albums of 1997." Melody Maker (12/20-27/97, pp.66-67) - Ranked #13 on Melody Maker's list of 1997's "Albums Of The Year." NME (12/20-27/97, pp.78-79) - Ranked #17 in NME's 1997 Critics' Poll. Q (6/00, p.70) - Ranked #47 in Q's "100 Greatest British Albums" - "...This was Keeping It Real, Essex-style, a uniquely British spin on contemporary US influences, rooted in the dance revolution....somewhere for rock and rave to meet in pursuit of instant thrills..." Rolling Stone (8/7/97, pp.59-60) - 3.5 Stars (out of 5) - "...packs all the visceral punch of rock at its incendiary best....populist electro punk that serves as a perfect Brit counterpart to the industrial noir of Trent Reznor or the jittery soundscapes of Wu-Tang Clan's RZA..." Spin (9/97, p.155) - 7 (out of 10) - "...maybe the best fusion of pseudo-rap and pseudo-punk since Rage Against The Machine..." NME (6/28/97, p.54) - "...the first block rockin' post-Oasis amyl-techno-punk album....as well as reaffirming their position as head-warping slam-kings of the pop underground, [FAT OF THE LAND] seems set to be the ultimate party soundtrack both sides of the ocean..." Entertainment Weekly (7/11/97, pp.65-66) - "...Prodigy leader and beat master Liam Howlett has made THE FAT OF THE LAND harder, more subterranean, more diverse, and more vocal-oriented than previous Prodigy records....This is dance music not about release but aggression, making it ideal party music for the end of the century..." - Rating: B
Titles on disc 1
1.
Smack My Bitch Up
2.
Breathe
3.
Diesel Power
4.
Funky Shit
5.
Serial Thriller
6.
Mindfields
7.
Naraya
8.
Firestarter
9.
Climbatize
10.
Fuel My Fire
Ciao
Listed on Ciao since
14/06/2000
Compare Fat Of The Land, The - Prodigy (The) to other similar Electronic »
Similar products and search queries by other users »
Fat Prodigy, Fat Of Prodigy, Fat The Prodigy, Fat Land Prodigy, Fat Of The Prodigy, Fat Of Land Prodigy, Fat The Land Prodigy, Fat The The Prodigy, Fat Land The Prodigy, Fat Of The Land Prodigy, Fat Of The The Prodigy, Fat Of Land The Prodigy, Fat The Land The Prodigy
Are you the manufacturer / provider of Fat Of The Land, The - Prodigy (The)? Click here
![Gatecrasher's Club Anthems 1993-2009 [Digipak] - Various Artists](http://imagesb.ciao.com/iuk/images/products/small/861/prod_small-7337861.jpg)
![Ministry Of Sound Anthems (1991-2008) [Digipak] - Various Artists](http://imagesa.ciao.com/iuk/images/products/small/406/prod_small-6791406.jpg)
![Experience Expanded [Remastered] - Prodigy (The)](http://imagesb.ciao.com/iuk/images/products/small/991/Experience_Expanded_Prodigy_The__6910991.jpg)
