Although admiration's always comes easier than love for this writer where THE PRODIGY are concerned, it's difficult to dispute that they cast an especially large shadow over the 1990s and played a hefty part in bringing rave culture stamping and spitting into the mainstream. Besides, any band who can get a record fronted by a green-haired lunatic with numerous body piercings to No.1 in 27 countries and make millions of parents cack their breeches in the process are definitely doing something right.
Such were the scenes when The Prodigy's mighty "Firestarter" sent shockwaves around the world almost a decade back and distraught parents across continents saw Keith Flint's demonic mug staring back at them from what they must temporarily have assumed was the gates of hell. Somehow I doubt a similar reaction has since been garnered by Fran Healy, Chris Martin or even that nice young Peter Doherty.
Of course, you could also argue that in spending a stupidly over-indulgent seven years in following up their awesome "Fat Of The Land" album, and then finally re-emerging with the disappointing old-skool mish-mash of "Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned" that Prodge mastermind Liam Howlett also blew it big time when he could have had the world at his feet. But such are the benefits of ugly old hindsight, and with Howlett, Flint and co apparently beavering away at an, ahem, 'quicker' follow-up, we really don't have any solid answers to these theories as yet
All of which means that, happily, "Their Law: The Singles 1990 - 2005" is still a work-in-progress rather than a definitive closing of The Prodigy's bible-black oeuvre. What it does do, though, is draw a line under an erratic, but often magnificent fifteen years containing a string of some of the most controversy-courting singles this side of the Sex Pistols. You could argue it's not absolutely complete (there's no "Baby's Got Temper" 'cos Liam reckons it's "crap" and the 3D/ Howlett collaboration "Titan" got omitted 'cos Liam "forgot"), but certainly all the really crucial stuff's here, and as Prodigy albums go, even this notorious borderline unbeliever must admit it's the one you need.
Clearly, it's obvious Liam Howlett knew his onions pretty much from the word go. Early Prodge anthems such as the evergreen "Charly" may have been based on beats, samples and a smattering of Detroit club-style thinking, but even then they sounded brain-flayingly loud and uncompromising. Move forward a bit and with "No Good (Start The Dance)" they were flirting with classic, house-y keyboard motifs and enormous grooves and touching on Stooges-style sampled riffs and the heaviest of headfuck techno on "Voodoo People."
|
Howlett's skill with sound-collaging was becoming second to none by this stage and with the gradual emergence of the newly-satanic Keith Flint, plus colourful henchmen Maxim and Leeroy Thornhill, The Prodigy were ready to give Britpop the fright of its' life with the definitive "Firestarter." Sequenced to lead off "Their Law..." it still crackles with the fatalistic intensity of a Californian forest fire, invents twisted techno-punk in one fell swoop AND samples both The Breeders and the Art Of Noise. An impressive five minutes of anyone's life, basically.
The sleek, mischievous electro-funk of follow-up "Breathe" demonstrated that The Prodigy were indeed walking with brilliantly malicious intent in their poisoned hearts and - even though it was something of a one-trick pony musically - the controversial "Smack My Bitch Up" ensured they would remain in the eye of the critical hurricane for some time to come.
All of which, when added up, would mean that - had they come to an abrupt end as the old Millennium fizzled out - The Prodigy would probably have gone out in the blaze of havoc-fuelled glory they'd have loved. Instead, though, Howlett soldiered on, finally unleashing the flawed "Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned" on an indifferent world during 2004. The singles from this album still sound like a mixed blessing. "Girls" plugs into the early electro of Grandmaster Flash, The Sugarhill Gang et al and actually pulls it off pretty well and the under-rated "Hotride" finds guest vocalist Juliette Lewis sounding considerably more convincing than she does fronting her lunkhead Licks. Shame she blots her copybook with the dismal "Spitfire", mind, which is very much the epitome of much ado about nothing.
Yet even these relative failures can't blunt the overall effect of "Their Law": a killer collection of arson-addled chaos, deafening insurrection and bangin' choons if ever there was from a band whose influence in bringing electro-pop culture into the long-term mainstream can probaby only be eclipsed by Kraftwerk and Depeche Mode. Respect is surely due.
|
