The Prodigy - The Fat of the Land (Album Review)
Vložit
- čas přidán 20. 05. 2024
- It's the band's classic fire-starting commercial breakthrough, you already know it. Let's look back at how well it holds up 25+ years later.
Support me on Patreon: / thewonkyangle
More The Prodigy reviews: • The Prodigy (Discograp...
Listen: open.spotify.com/album/2qivRO...
Favorite Tracks: Smack My Bitch Up, Breathe, Diesel Power, Serial Thrilla, Mindfields, Narayan, Climbatize, Fuel My Fire
Least Favorite Track: N/A
Overall Rating: 8.0/10
All ratings based purely off of personal enjoyment at the time of this video's upload and either end in .0, .3, .5, or .7. Take nothing I say too seriously. - Hudba
Ah, the original crab rave! :3
the better one at that
Came here for the album review, stayed for the AFX shirt
I remember my parents telling me it was "change my pitch up, snap my picture!" good vibes 🙂👍👍👍👫👫👫👫
Seeing you reviewing my 2nd favorite album of all time in my sub box is a pleasant surprise!
not that much of a surprise imo, he was doing a discography review and this was the next album in their discography
i remember asking you to review this way back when your channel first started, good to see you're still kickin'. this album was one of my favourites when i was younger and is part of what got me into electronic/dance music. great video!
Re: "Smack My Bitch Up", I feel a little like that track wouldn't be controversial in quite the same way had they not released "Baby's Got A Temper" a few years later. Whereas "Smack" had the defense of it being a sample and open to interpretation, "Temper" outright had Keith Flint singing "we love rohypnol" and "you'll never tame her", and I wouldn't blame people if they felt "Smack" hit a little differently after that. I know both Howlett and Flint publicly disowned the single due to it feeling like a FOTL redux, but it wouldn't surprise me if they also felt the edginess had got too transparent at that point.
Disagree. The music video for "Smack My Bitch Up" got them banned from MTV before "Baby's Got a Temper" even came out
@@a_silly_birb To be clear, I didn't say it wasn't controversial at the time, I said that if it weren't for "Temper" the song wouldn't be controversial "in quite the same way". By which I mean it might not have generated the sort of long retrospective thinkpieces that Pitchfork ended up doing decades after the fact.
My first album I bought with my own pocket money!
Two fun facts about Mindfields:
1. The simitars you hear aren't actually MIDI, according to WhoSampled, they're actually taken from the soundtrack of the James Bond movie "The Man with the Golden Gun".
2. The song can be heard playing at the beginning of The Matrix when Neo meets Trinity. So both The Prodigy *and* The Propellerheads had a hand in shaping that film!
As I said before, I love this record. Yeah, it isn't special from a cultural standpoint like you said, but all the melodies and beats are absolutely the bomb. Narayan also helped me get into Kula Shaker, and I love Crispian Mills' chanting in that track.
Otherwise, I basically agree with everything you said here. Great review Tommy!
OM Namah Narayana, OM Namah Narayana
OM Namah Narayana, OM Namah Narayana
OM Namah Narayana, OM Namah Narayana
OM Namah Narayana, OM Namah Narayana
OM Namah Narayana, OM Namah Narayana
OM Namah Narayana, OM Namah Narayana
OM Namah Narayana, OM Namah Narayana
+ It was planned as the 2nd single from the album under the title of "Minefields", but got scrapped - there were even a few promo tapes with longer and shorter edits of the song + Monkey Mafia and Headrock Dub mixes which were later released on one XL compilation and SMBU single ;)
@@YershJRSZ Imo the Monkey Mafia remix is better than the original song.
There songs being a top 40 hits back in the '90s wasn't rare one thing i miss about the '90s was no matter how weird or left Field the music was anything could become a hit it's not like now where originality is completely cut off
Climbatize is such a outstanding track
It is, but it's still my least favourite track on the album.
loved this review :D i had the opportunity to sing breathe in a karaoke bar multiple times lol. super excited for invaders must die since its my personal favorite along with experience and the one i have most nostalgia for!
Awesome shirt, man! Aphex the goat! Maaannngg, Fat Of The Land totally shook up the electronic scene. Would like to argue that is the most iconic big beat album ever made but you got Chem Bros, Fatboy Slim, The Wiseguys, Boom Boom Satellites n Mint Royale is in competition haha. Fat Of The Land feels like a spewing, sporadic volcano the heart of a calming retreat; so many Iconic clashes of unbridled, cumbersome energy and humid yet very pretty refrains. They peaked with making interesting progressions on this one, don’t feel like one song overdue its stay !
End of the day, dunno what’s more iconic: their scrapped kebab album cover or the crabs hahah
The message in the CD booklet of the album is actually a quote by Hermann Göring, who was a politician in nazi germany. The Prodigy likely put it into the liner notes just to fuel more controversy.
I remember at the time wondering why this got zero attention whereas the Beastie Boys were whining about Smack My Bitch Up at Glastonbury.
the "fat" is also probably referring to the title of the album
If you‘re interested in music production, I highly recommend Jim Pavloff‘s great video „Making of Smack My Bitch Up“. He recreates the song step by step with all the original samples and really comes close to the original. Some of the most creative use of samples ever, in my opinion.
Even though I love Keith‘s and Maxim‘s presence on the album, I really think the overly edgy lyrics and vocal samples makes the album seem stupider than it actually is. The production is very clever and detailed and the album deserves to be viewed as one of the greats of the electronic music world
Great review as always btw!
One interesting fact about FOTL was that it was supposed to be released around late 96 - early 97 but the album was delayed mainly because all of the band members were playing Tomb Raider. The album cover was about to be a slab of kebab meat with “The Fat of The Land” engraved on the meat.
Regarding the quote in the booklet: it's from Herman Goering, though I remember an interview at the time where Liam said he used it cos it sounded like "the first B-Boy quote". It kind of makes more sense seen in that context: being ready for action.
Not my favorite Prodigy album, but it's still great. This album had a HUGE impact on me. A lot of electronic music gems came out around 97-98. And great review Wonky
Recomend some buns please!
The idea of people accusing a music group where two of its members are black of being white supremacists is also pretty funny
eh to give that pitchfork review a lick of credit, the author of that review wasn't accusing the band themselves of intentionally spreading white supremacist ideas so much as saying the level of success they saw came from the band indirectly benefitting from patriarchy being the social norm. still felt like an uncharitable stretch at best to be singling out this band in particular for something like that but that take wasn't exactly coming completely out of leftfield either, it made enough sense for someone to feel that way for me to feel like I should address it in this video
Absolutely love this album. RIP Keith Flint, Breathe is probably my favorite on the album, however SMBU is probably the rival. Diesel Power goes really crazy in my car too🔥🔥🔥
Ive been waiting for this one
14:35 the funny thing is that the track was supposed to be called "Western Sun", but was retitled to Narayan because of the Chems' Setting Sun single :D
This is the first electronic music album I ever heard!
Fun fact about SMBU: It got censored on the recent gigs spawning the two variants:
First one: Switch Up, Change My Pitch Up
Second one: Change My Pitch Up, Smack My Smack-Smack-Up! with the final drop sample being replaced by someone screaming "mf"
Also, Smack is a common slang name for the H3r01n3 which makes even more sense with video.
Finally we get to the best Prodigy album (tied with Invaders Must Die) that cuts out most of the silliness and improves the production and experimentation.
You will agree. :)
Invaders Must Die is ridiculously underrated. when i hear people talk about The Prodigy, i rarely ever hear them mention IMD. for me it's top 4
@@Stefan_Gerards It's shit. The Prodigy obviously trying to cater to a new, young and hip crowd, copying the Pendulum sound and desperately trying to stay relevant between al the new and upcoming electronic artists. The first vocal on the album literally is the introduction 'We are the Prodigy!'. 'Jeez Louise, really???"
Still the hardest album cover in this genre period
Yes, I know this is their most acclaimed album on RYM. I'm not sure if this is their best work, but it certainly has great quality and nostalgia.
I remember down loading Firestarter.
I remember Gene Simmons covering this song with an awful music video.
I gotta ask you: Do you think the chorus from Breathe sounds eerily similar to the chorus from Come to Daddy? Or it might be just me.
Edit: After going back and listening to the original 3 albums again...I forgot just how much I love Experience, it is the best album by far (in my opinion).
I had different periods when I liked different The Prodigy albums best......now, The Fat Of The Land has to be my favorite because I love almost all tracks. With the first two albums, I only love around half the songs....but my fave 3 The Prodigy songs of all time are not on this album. Music Reach 1, 2, 3, 4, Break & Enter, Their Law....are my top 3 (not in any order). The first 2 because those tracks just make me feel so good inside.....the third because I resonate with the message.
wonky slush
Are you going to review Solar Fields - Reflective Frequencies (Remastered)? There are some new tracks added, as well as extended versions of original ones.
I personally don't like the new mastering, but new tracks are cool.
I need to hear more like this... Recomend some álbums alike please!
There has to be more outhere, something that put so much detail into sound and make something originally dancing!
I have one...
Basement jaxx's rooty
The crystal method's tweekend, and legion of boom
The overall trend in the 90s was the commercialisation of electronic dance music. Eurodance really exploded around 1993 in Europe. The rave scene became more underground and The Prodigy was too big to be a jungle act among others. I believe this is reflected in how the sound of The Prodigy evolved leading to the massive success of their third album. The Fat of the Land is not my favourite The Prodigy album (MFTJG is), but it really put The Prodigy on the music map for the public, especially in the US. My favourite track on this album is the Smack My Bitch Up (I wish Sheila Chandra had agreed to be on it like Liam Howlett wanted) while Fuel My Fire might be my least favourite of all The Prodigy songs...
i actually prefer Experience and Music for the Jilted Generation compared to most, but dear lord does this album SLAP. The Prodigy really went and dropped three absolutely goated big beat/rave albums in a row 👏
Wasnt expecting the butthole surfers to be namedropped in this video!
I think Liam distilled all of the unique bits of them into more straight forward songs, makes for a very to the point record.
Jamie?
@@TheWonkyAngle Liam! 😅
How could a band that was so heavily tied to rave culture be accused of patriarchal tendencies ? Doesn't make any sense 😂
🦀
Here before brendawg comments wonky slush
wonky slush
The Wonk of the Angle
Also I KNOW you ain't talkin' shit about the Butthole Surfers. Who have one album that I enjoy (Independent Worm Saloon) and the rest of the discography I probably agree with you with but aside from that one album I KNOW you ain't talkin' shit about the Surfers!
I am in fact not talkin' shit about the Surfers, just implying they are a weird band that couldn't have gotten any kind of chart success at any other time in history besides the mid-late 90s, lol (I've only actively heard a couple of songs of theirs such as Pepper and Sweat Loaf which are cool but other than that I haven't heard enough of their stuff to actually form an opinion)
@@TheWonkyAngle Sorry dude, I was celebrating that night and not thinking clearly. :)
1st
I call this album The Overrated Prodigy Album. I'm glad to hear you immediately dismiss it compared to the first two.
Some good songwriting, but holy SHIT the production is badddddd. It's so hard to believe that one person went from producing Music For The Jilted Generation to this.
The one exception is Narayan, which is so good it's astonishing. Totally stands apart from the rest of the tracks to the point where I wonder if it was actually made during a completely different session. The production is much nicer, that drumbeat is incredible, the vocals are catchy and suit the vibe perfectly imo, and then there is the simply sublime breakdown at the end which elevates it from the best song on the album to one of the best songs in The Prodigy's discography.
interesting, the production never bothered me on this one. mastering-wise I think it sounds about equally as good as the first two, just applied to a style that's a lot more blunt & blown out by design. it's not exemplary or anything but this band's production has never been subtle to begin with imo
granted I could also just be keeping in mind how astronomically worse the production got on the band's most recent output, No Tourists makes an album like this almost look like Steely Dan by comparison
Yeah, it definitely got worse later on, but to me everything (except Narayan) sounds pretty limp and lacking in dynamics, which wasn't the case on Music For The Jilted Generation.
I couldn‘t disagree more, I think the production is absolutely brilliant. still slaps after all these years and has much more weight in the sound if you compare it to the previous albums. I also think that this album has some of the cleverest sampling ever. Just because the music is very „in-your-face“, edgy and easy to access, it doesn‘t mean it‘s bad. It‘s actually an incredibly detailed and fine-tuned production if you ask me.
Strongly disagree with you on that - As much as I love two first albums (Jilted is my fav album of all time, ex equo with Chems' Dig Your Own Hole) I have to say that their mastering is bit flat and cold in sound meanwhile TFOTL is way more warm and (hehe) fat.
Album that really needs a re-master is the next one on the list: Always Outnumbered Never Outgunned - a prime example of loudness war.
IMD and TDIME also have a really nice mastering, especialy IMD, but I agree that No Tourists could only gain from better mastering + As much as I love the track Resonate feels a bit unfinished to me :/
They were just riding the big beat hype that was huge back then, thanks to The Chemical Brothers and Fatboy Slim.