After the huge commercial success of one of the worst Prodigy albums in my opinion, Fat of the Land, Howlett returns, with one dancer (Leeroy) gone, and neither Keith nor Maxim on vocals, this was the second album after The Dirtchamber Sessions where Howlett would go it alone.
It’s fair to say, that The Prodigy (as they were once called) only needs Howlett. From their humble beginnings as a group that brought rave to the masses in a commercial capacity with Experience (my second favourite, sometimes my first), making the then small label of XL Recordings into a rich little commercial outfit. They followed this up with a mature and more politically fuelled and angst drenched album in the form Music for the Jilted Generation (my favourite, sometimes my second favourite).
Following this we had Fat of the Land, where The Prodigy dropped the, “The” in their name, glossed up their appearance with style and darkness, and made what is essentially a commercial, throwaway album, at least for myself. It was high on polish, low on substance, and seemed to have lost it’s roots in the process.
Howlett became slightly disillusioned and created The Dirt Chamber Sessions, regarded by some as genius by others monotony and cliche en masse. For me it was a halfway house, at times good, but most of the time disappointing. It never felt like Howlett’s soul was in it, and he sounded lost, rather than interested.
So finally, after many years, their (or should that be his?) new album is out in the form of Always Outnumbered Never Outgunned. The album is fun, it’s not to be taken seriously, or at least that’s what I gathered from listening to it a few times. If it is meant to be enjoyed as a “this album is so bad it’s good” release, then it’s succeeded. If it’s meant to be a case of Howlett rediscovering his roots, and to give fans and himself some credibility that he hasn’t lost it, then it’s a massive failure.
Fat of the Land felt like internal suicide, and this, the fourth album, and Howlett’s fifth, ranks below even Fat of the Land
Spitfire comes across as a hybrid of the old and new. It’s fairly repetitive and annoying. It’s good for a while but at five minutes, little changes and it begins to grate. It’s enjoyable, but to be honest, there’s little substance and shows a lack of originality on Howlett’s part. A poor man’s Orbital track, but heavier.
Girls is better but still heavily repetitive, but enjoyable. It’s taken influences from late 70s disco and electronic music of the early to mid 80s and melded into a hot pot cauldron and come out of the otherside sound like a Kruder & Dorfmeister track. Another sign of unoriginal endeavours and music that’s been done before, and much better by other groups.
Things haven’t picked up with the third track on the album, Memphis Bells, sounding barely indistinguishable from the previous track. It’s ok, with nothing about it really seperating apart from the dozen or so other tracks released by lesser known artists. There’s nothing startling, again, original or any fusion or freshness with the music.
Get Up Get Off picks things up, with a rap overlaying the heavy industrial sounds, reminiscent No Good (Start The Dance), but without the dance anthem, replaced with dirty, raw and heavy beats. It’s the best track so far, but that isn’t saying a lot. Again an overly simplified and long winded track, it soon tires quickly.
By the next track, Hotride, I’m already pretty bored of the album, and wonder if I should stop and stick on something better. The vocals are the track are sultry and equally aggressive with Juliette Lewis doing her thing. It’s a a hard, fast and heavy track and picks up the pace better than the previous track. It’s fusion of punk rock with dance is invigorating and the most alive track so far.
If it’s meant to be a case of Howlett rediscovering his roots, and to give fans and himself some credibility that he hasn’t lost it, then it’s a massive failure
Wake Up Call goes back to the cliched and dull, what is up Howlett up to I don’t know. It’s as if he’s lost the will to live, or perhaps, feels that this is some sort of antidote to the the commercial nonsense that was Fat of the Land. It’s a pretty dry track, with nothing redeeming about it. It lacks fire, it lacks any passion, and is ultimately dull.
The trend continues with initially starts as trash in the form of Action Radar with screeching nonsensical drivel being, not so much blasted, as squeezed through the speakers. Having said that, this is my favourite track on the album, as repetitive as it is, it feels and moves like a dance track. It has elements of old school dance, mixed with modern day technology-urban-industrialism, whatever the hell that means. Even the screaming starts to grow on you, and it’s actually a solid enough track.
Medusa’s Path sounds like an experiment, and it comes across as such. It’s a very mixed track having a few good moments but mostly bad ones. It’s not inspiring, and immediately forgettable.
Phoenix is perhaps the most familiar track to me, mainly because it’s a remix of a Nirvana track called Love Buzz, with Howlett’s own spin on it. Female vocals recite a couple of chorus lines, Howlett takes the melody and the opening riff from Love Buzz and turns it into something which is repetitive but easy on the ears. The vocals are perhaps what saves this track from making you pound your head with a power drill. It’s good, but not great, but does show that Howlett is capable of doing something good.
For the majority You Will Be Under My Wheels is the most familiar track, as it’s been used in countless ads trying to come across as trendy. It’s without doubt the most original track on the album, annoying at times, but very much a decent track, injected with a brilliant beat, and moves away from the fuzzed, heavy industrial sounds that the album has churned out so far. It’s unfortunate the rest of the album thus far has not taken the same path, but it provides a glint of hope that Howlett may still have something to give his fans.
The penultimate track, The Way It Is, seems to sample the opening from Thriller, though I could be mistaken as it sounds incredibly familiar. Again, another one of the few decent tracks on the album, it is perhaps overly long and doesn’t seem to have many layers to it, but it’s funky, it’s alive and that can’t be said about many of the tracks.
It’s fair to say, that The Prodigy (as they were once called) only needs Howlett
Shoot Down is the final track (there is a track 13 in the form of More Girls, but I feel it’s so insignificant I don’t particularly want to review it using one single line), with vocals coming from Howlett’s brother-in-law Liam Gallagher. It doesn’t sound as bad as it could have been, and is a fair reflection of the album as a whole. The track is mostly bad, but it’s not awful. You could perhaps listen to it a few times before you pray for a quick and merciful death. Great use of guitars and drums, shame about the track though.
The album, overall, is a huge disappointment. Experience provided The Prodigy with a platform to let themselves be known, Jilted Generation allowed them to vent their frustration at the system trying to stop their music from growing and was an incredible, brutal and fulfilling experience. Fat of the Land felt like internal suicide, and this, the fourth album, and Howlett’s fifth, ranks below even Fat of the Land, or even The Dirt Chamber Sessions.
With only a few stand out tracks, 3 of the four original members missing (ok dancers aren’t that inspiring, but still), and guest vocals from Twista, Kool Keith and Juliette Lewis essentially wasted, it’s a sorrowful story for Prodigy (as they’re now called), but more so for Howlett, who seems to be on a downward spiral and hasn’t quite got out of that abyss where inspiration, originality and passion do not reside.
Verdict: The worst album from Prodigy to date, far inferior to the original two