Author: Prodigy

Brand: XL Recordings

Features:

• Smack My Bitch Up
• Breathe
• Diesel Power
• Funky Shit
• Serial Thriller

Release Date: 29-01-1999

Details: Product Description Few albums were as eagerly anticipated as The Fat of the Land, the Prodigy's long-awaited follow-up to Music for the Jilted Generation. By the time of its release, the group had two number one British singles with "Firestarter" and "Breathe" and had begun to make inroads in America. The Fat of the Land was touted as the album that would bring electronica/techno to a worldwide audience (Of course, in Britain, the group already had a staggeringly large following that was breathlessly awaiting the album.) of masterpiece status, but that isn't because it doesn't deliver. Instead, it delivers exactly what anyone would expect: intense hip-hop-derived rhythms, imaginatively reconstructed samples, and meaningless shouted lyrics from Keith Flint and Maxim. Half of the album does sound quite similar to "Firestarter," especially when Flint is singing. Granted, Liam Howlett is an inventive producer, and he can make empty songs like "Smack My Bitch Up" and "Serial Thrilla" kick with a visceral power, but he is at his best on the funky hip-hop of "Diesel Power" (which is driven by an excellent Kool Keith rap) and "Funky Shit," as well as the mind-bending neo-psychedelia of "Narayan" (featuring guest vocals by Crispian Mills of Kula Shaker) and the blood-curdling cover of L7's" Fuel My Fire," which features vocals by Republica's Saffron. All those guest vocalists mean something -- Howlett is at his best when he's writing for himself or others, not his group's own vocalists. "Firestarter" and all of its rewrites capture the fire of the Prodigy at their peak, and the remaining songs have imagination that give the album weight. The Fat of the Land doesn't have quite enough depth or variety to qualify as a flat-out masterpiece, but what it does have to offer is damn good. - Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Tracklist: Smack My Bitch Up

Breathe

Diesel Power

Funky Shit

Serial Thrilla

Mindfields

Narayan

Firestarter

Climbatize

Fuel My Fire

Amazon.ca Music For The Jilted Generation, despite commercial success, was a harsh underground rave statement proving that Essex rave author Liam Howlett could transcend the novelty acid house of many of his peers. Fat Of The Land, however, showed a very different side to The Prodigy; the exaggerated punk pastiche of "Firestarter" and "Breathe", with vocals provided by the band's cartoon Johnny Rotten, Keith Flint, proved that The Prodigy were, at heart, showmen. Fat was as influenced by American punk as it was by any form of dance music--demonstrated with a furious cover of L7's "Fuel My Fire"--and such a destructive, passionate fusion saw The Prodigy topping festival bills all over the world. Elsewhere, "Mindfields" and the irrepressibly controversial "Smack My Bitch Up" were brutal techno assaults, but driven by a defiantly heavy metal sensibility. Fat may have alienated the raving "old-skool", but it deservedly elevated The Prodigy to national public enemies. --Louis Pattison

UPC: 634904012120

EAN: 0634904012120

Languages: English

Binding: Audio CD

Item Condition: UsedVeryGood