Thursday, September 23, 2004
Always Outnumbered,Never Outgunned

Seven years is a long time in a career to come up with a product.But this is exactly how long Liam Howlett has taken to write a follow-up to Prodigy's monster seller "The Fat Of The Land" and in the long absence of the band,its comtemporaries have either disintegrated,disappeared or have lost their lustre.The band of 90s dance groups have mostly gone the way of the dinosaur.Underworld has gone now.They will be remembered for "Born Slippy",the piece of Karl Hyde mumblespeak which gained prominence because of the cultural phenomenon "Trainspotting".Orbital too has disappeared although I have not heard of them disbanding as yet.And the Chemical Brothers have also gone quiet since their last LP "Come With Us".It's the usual practice for bands to come up with an album every two years.It has been three since the Chemicals last released one.

"Always Outnumbered..."was always considered a child in labour if one took note of the difficulties that came in the birth of this noisy beast.And in that time,Liam Howlett has shed the other three original members of the group:Keith Flint,Leeroy Thornhill and Maxim.Of the three,I am still rather surprised at the exit of Flint,the green goblin behind the visuals of Firestarter and Breathe.He was,after all,the public face of the group.The most prominent figure that fans recognise them by,as opposed to the rather plain geek-like figure of Howlett.But then again,Howlett has always maintained full control of a band that has,very much,remained his showpiece and his vision.Flint and Maxim were no more than dancers in the band who provided the visuals while although Leeroy could play a bit,he was often relegated to the role of band sideshow as well.

I'm have to make a qualification her that writing about a dance album is about one of the hardest things to do.There are no lyrics to read and obvious leads to follow.Everything has to be based on texture and beats which can be extremely difficult to comment on.I wonder how professional critics write about dance albums and sound like they really know what they are talking about.

This latest LP is an extremely noisy affair.Not unlike previous Prodigy offerings then.But one that seem to spread it tentacles in all directions.Which was unlike "The Fat" which held up better as a whole.Even as I'm listening to it the very moment as I'm typing this,I'm still trying to get a sense of the album's tone and mood."Spitfire" marks the beginning of the LP,which I felt had old Prodigy marked all over it.Furious beats and a vocal performance by Juliette Lewis that reminded me more of Keith Flint than anything else.This wouldn't sound out of place in the 1997 album.The problem is:This is 2004.And Prodigy has not progressed in all that time."Get Up Get Off"essentially follows the tried-and-tested Prodigy formula as well.Funny that it faetures another vocal performance by J.Lewis again.

Elsewhere,there are discernible signs that the group is trying to diversify its influences(it's a strange word to use diversify on influences but I can't think of a better word)."Girls" employs an old school hip-hop beat to its advantage,not unlike something the Beastie Boys would do.It is a good choice as a single,although I was much more impressed by "Medusa's Path"."Medusa's" is a middle-eastern influenced sounding dance tune that is head and shoulders above the other routine dance tracks that Howlett has constructed this time around.It's lukcy that he did not get carried away like the Chemicals did in their last LP's dalliance with world music.Richly textured with controlled beats,I wish Howlett has taken a more refined approached with most of the other tracks as well,rather than pound listeners senseless.But of course this has always been the Prodigy approach...we can't expect them to morph into Orbital overnight.

Other tracks that listeners might want to keep track of are the single "You'll Be Under My Wheels","Memphis Bells" and "Shoot Down" for the involvement of Oasis' Liam Gallagher.The last track is not much different from Gallagher's other collaborations with the Chemicals but it is a big name effort even though it's nothing special."Phoenix" is an interesting single although how much it differs from Shocking Blue's "Love Buzz",which the song samples heavily from,is very debatable.Personally,I liked "Memphis Bells" because it was slightly different from most of the other tracks on offer."You'll Be..."is a very standard issue single that I'd expect more from the likes of Prodigy.

I'd end this review with a repetition of the opening line in this blog.Seven years is a long time in a career to come up with a product.The Prodigy has seemingly stood still through all this time.Taking in mind how much the outside world has changed since 1997,it is amazing that dance music,according Liam Howlett,has stood still."Always Outnumbered..."is not a bad album,but for somethign that took seven years to make.It should have been better.Now we await the eleven year old Guns & Roses LP "Chinese Democracy"...

6 1/2 /10