Their Law (The Singles 1990-2005/Limited Edition) - Prodigy (The)

Prodigy- Their Law: The singles is basically a greatest hits package of all The Prodigy's best known songs that have been released over the last few years. As an occasional fan of the band, I had never bought one of their albums before and decided this was as good a time as any as I recognised the majority of the songs. I went the whole hog and bought the special edition which includes a bonus C.D of remixed tracks and live material also but, to ...
...begins with perhaps one of their most controversial singles that they have become best known for; Firestarter. As soon as those heavy beats begin pumping, most people will instantly recognise what is coming and with Keith's brash and violent vocals, the track is a true Prodigy classic!! It's not overly complicated, it is exactly what it says it is and this is one of the finest examples you can get of what The Prodigy are truly about. Subversion, ... more

Prodigy- Their Law: The singles is basically a greatest hits package of all The Prodigy's best known songs that have been released over the last few years. As an occasional fan of the band, I had never bought one of their albums before and decided this was as good a time as any as I recognised the majority of the songs. I went the whole hog and bought the special edition which includes a bonus C.D of remixed tracks and live material also but, to be honest, I didn't think the second C.D was up to much as can sometimes be the case.

The album begins with perhaps one of their most controversial singles that they have become best known for; Firestarter. As soon as those heavy beats begin pumping, most people will instantly recognise what is coming and with Keith's brash and violent vocals, the track is a true Prodigy classic!! It's not overly complicated, it is exactly what it says it is and this is one of the finest examples you can get of what The Prodigy are truly about. Subversion, anarchy and proper violent block-rocking beats...this is followed by the title track of the album, Their Law, which is just as definitive but more techno/dance inspired coming as it does from a much different era of the band's success.

Track 3 is Breathe; another song featuring the scary vocals of lead singer, Keith. Once again, this is a Prodigy track everyone knows and loves and something you can really mosh too- though I don't recommend you do this whilst listening to the album in the car as you can get funny looks at traffic lights. This, for me, along with the equally awesome Smack My Bitch Up, which is track 5 on the album, sums up everything that is good about The Prodigy. They like to throw their music right in your face, right out there, and, if you don't like what they are saying, you get the impression that they really couldn't give a frack what you think. Maybe it's all an act but every time any of their critics begins to think they can fit The Prodigy into one particular pigeon-hole genre, they seem to come out with something completely different and even more subversive and tracks 1,3 and 5 are about as punk as you can get without actually being punk. This is the most aggressive dance music you are probably ever going to hear...

Track 4 is the freaky number, Out Of Space- another song everyone has heard of and another firm favourite of mine. Taking an obscure sample and totally remixing it for another generation, The Prodigy have come up with something stirring whilst at the same time unique. Though in style nothing like anything that featured on the later Fat Of The Land album, this again is a good indication of everything that the band is about, and ultimately you get the real sense that, at their heart, The Prodigy really just like having fun and messing with your brain!

After the highly controversial Smack My Bitch Up, which I have already mentioned and which is perhaps one of their most notorious tracks along with Firestarter, the album becomes much more dance/trance orientated. Some of it to be fair is not to my taste but stand-out tracks from here on out include for me Charley, taking a sample from that old public safety commercial that only adults of a certain age will be able to remember (ahem...*cough*); No Good (Start The Dance) and Everybody In The Place. All as aggressive as they are pumping and guaranteed to get hard-core ravers jumping to their feet and bouncing around each and every time!!!

For me, the tracks that I have mentioned are the highlights, everything else on the album is just....okay. The Prodigy are one of those bands who, like I have mentioned, like to mix styles and keep their biggest critics on their toes. This, in my opinion, doesn't always work and though there will no doubt be some, if not many, who think this whole album is ace- for myself, it often just feels a bit like a car crash. Truly exhilarating and a real buzz for a while before ending in a mess of torn and broken limbs and all just going a bit Pete Tong. I almost wish I hadn't gone out and bought the album and, instead, just downloaded the tracks I wanted off Itunes. But for some reason, my anticipation of this album was greater than the actual results and once I'd heard the familiar tracks I clubbed to in my heady, happy hardcore youth, what was left really didn't inspire me at all. For an album that starts off so well. For me it just kind of disintegrates towards the climax just when it should be reaching its peak.

The album is available fairly cheap on Ebay or Amazon and is about a year or so old now. Normally I would recommend buying a greatest hits package if you had not bought any albums by a band you liked before, but this is just as equally bad in parts as it is awe-inspiring in others. My advice- do what I didn't do and just find the album online and download the tracks you like the best rather than the whole thing. Because frankly this is just a bit too much for me like a mixed bag of sweets with only a few of your favourites left in there for you......four stars and only because I soooo love tracks like Breathe and No Good!!!

Summary: Download the tracks you like best rather than buying the whole album- you might find this better!
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