Believe or not, before Ibiza Anthems and Garage Nation, dance music was fresh, new and vibrant. The beginnings of rave employed the same rebellious nature that punk had done 15 years before. To rebel against your parents, the system, the mundanity of everday life, was to go to a rave and dance . By 1994 however dance music was becoming more and more mainstream, and the authorities, feeling threatened by this mass explosion of youthful expression were clamping down. The 1994 Criminal Justice Act stopped illegal raves and wharehouse parties with its infamous clause saying that any large gatherings of people listening to music that contained "repetitive beats" was outlawed. At a stroke the long summer of love that started in 88 was over. And against this background of domestic upheaval, the first sons of rave, the Prodigy, recorded perhaps dance music's finest hour, Music for the Jilted Generation.
The Prodigy's first album, "the Prodigy Experience", can be said to very much a product of its time i.e. the first outpourings of rave. Messy, slightly cheesy, but full of vibrance and energy. Jilted Generation however contained all the energy, without the happy smiley face. Right from the very start a aura of menace pervades the atmosphere. "Break and Enter" is superb, a sledgehammer of a song that captures you and never lets you go. The theme of smashing the system carries on throughout the album, most obviously in the collaboration with Pop Will Eat Itself, "Their Law", and its battlecry of "F*ck em, and Their Law". "No good" must be considered one of the best dance songs ever written, and certainly the most danceable.
Its not all big beats and basslines though. "Heat (The Energy)" starts off all ambient and enigmatic, guitar gently floating off in the background, before launching into another explosion of dance energy. The last three songs are entitled the "narcotic suite" and start of with "3 kilos", a chillout anthem before they were even invented. Its not all anti-establishment rants neither. "One love" is a clear harkening back to the rave days of old, and "Voodoo People" is a rave version of every blaxploitation film soundtrack you've ever heard.
But a sense of rage is the albums recurrent theme, and the album ends with "Claustrophobic Sting", a dark anthem full of anger, fear, impotence and energy. The system is shit and there is nothing you can do about it. In "Full Throttle" there is the sound of someone laughing maniacally at one point in the song, which sums it up nicely.
To highlight the strengths of this truly great album is easy. To hoghlight the weaknesses is harder. Its possibly too dark for those expecting more rave anthems after listening to "the Experience". But with the government clampdown and the first ecstacy related deaths, it was never going to be all glow sticksd and smiley faces anyway. "Jilted Generation" is possibly the finest dance album ever produced and certainly the best album the Prodigy ever released. "The Experience" has dated badly and the follow up to "Jilted", "the Fat of the Land", was over-ambitious and overblown.
"Jilted" remains as fresh and vital today as it did when it was first released in 1994. You should own it, if only to remind yourself of a time when dance music meant more than just cheesy clubs and endless compilations. Buy it now.
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Welcome to Ciao. You clearly know how to write an excellent review. Cheers, J.
Rowan 11.10.2001 01:16
You really know your stuff, don't you. Does your tutor know you can write like this! Don't forget to fill in your member profile and tell everyone about yourself. I really am impressed. See you soon, Rowan.
GeoffreyHawkins 10.10.2001 19:51
What an op!! A classic album that really makes the music released today seem pretty lame in comparison. Well written, and detailed, Geoff:)
Crawling out of the end of the rave scene, the Prodigy's second album went straight in at ... more
number one in the charts. All the tracks have the unique stamp of Liam Howlett and the boys, from the hypnotic atmosphere of aggression and attitude on "Poison" a...
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Crawling out of the end of the rave scene, the Prodigy's second album went straight in at ... more
number one in the charts. All the tracks have the unique stamp of Liam Howlett and the boys, from the hypnotic atmosphere of aggression and attitude on "Poison" a...
Postage & Packaging: Free! Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours...
Advantages: A mindblowing album for its time and still sounds very fresh today. Disadvantages: Playing this album at load volumes may blow your speakers!!!
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