Fat Of The Land – The Prodigy – Released June 30th, 1997, XL Recordings
Fat Of The Land is the third studio album by British electronica superstars, The Prodigy.
Released on XL Recordings in the summer of 1997, this hugely-anticipated album saw the group pivot further away from their rave roots in favour of the more rock and hiphop influenced sounds pioneered on Music For The Jilted Generation.
It’s also notable for the hit singles Firestarter and Breath, which saw former dancer Keith Flint providing vocals, essentially becoming the group’s de-facto “front man”.
Fat Of The Land represented the end of one era and the beginning of another. The baggy, dayglo raver stylings of Experience was gone, replaced by the new “electronic punks” aesthetic of the post-Jilted era, culminating in a whole new sound and accompanying image.
The first taste of this came in 1996, with the release of Firestarter, a bombastic breakbeat conflagration of headbanger bass and distorted wah-guitars famously capped by Keith Flint’s pyromaniacal snarling.
It was followed up a few months later by Breath, another dark and gritty punk-infused track with an accompanying video which, once again, saw Flint take centre stage.
It’s hard to overstate the excitement these two releases caused and the subsequent hype for the album.
Unlike previous albums, however, both Flint and MC Maxim would feature prominently while Leeroy Thornhill found himself side-lined. This, coupled with an increasing dissatisfaction with the direction the group was taking, would eventually see Thornhill exit the group.
The decision ultimately proved to be the right one with Thornhill becoming a successful DJ and producer in his own right, albeit one who still leverages his connection to the Prodigy (and who can blame him.)
And, of course, another key member, arguably the most crucial member of the group, also departed around the same time. I’m talking, of course, about the Roland W30 sequencer/sampler which was the centrepiece of both Liam Howlett’s studio and his live performances. As of Fat Of The Land, Liam began to switch more to computer-based production. Starting off with Cubase before finally adopting Reason as the main production powerhouse for his subsequent album, Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned.
1997’s Fat Of The Land, therefore, represented a whole new incarnation of The Prodigy, with a new sound, a new look and even a new logo, as Howlett moved further and further away from his raver roots.
The official line was that, following tours in the US, Liam had become enamoured with the rock and roll acts he shared stages with and felt the need to compete, thus incorporating live percussion and guitars.
The cynical view, of course, is that UK acts in general, and electronic acts in particular, have always had problems breaking the US market. And that Howlett, having seen the mountains of cash so-called “alternative” bands were making in North America decided he wanted a taste.
One could even go so far as to suggest that the album’s title is, in fact, a cryptic admission of this. A fattened calf offered up on the American altar. An album specifically formulated to appeal to a US audience with accompanying videos designed to maximise MTV airplay while drumming up media publicity both sides of the Atlantic.
And it worked too. No more so than the album’s controversial opener…
Change My Pitch Up
Smack My Bitch Up is the opening track and third single from Fat Of The Land.
It’s an absolute belter, carrying on the tradition of strong opening tracks for Prodigy albums, not to mention another established tradition, the use of samples from Ultramagnetic MCs.
In this case, the controversial vocal hook comes courtesy of the track Give The Drummer Some. The sample itself would prove to be the least controversial thing about this tune, however, with a music video which was purposely made to generate outrage, as well as MTV airplay.
This, of course, was the age of peak MTV, when music videos were still very much a critical factor in driving sales. (Alas it’s too much for those tame tech bros to handle so the full version’s unavailable on YouTube.)
In addition to the iconic sample, there’s also a breakdown section with soaring vocals via guest singer Shahin Badar. Hearing it coming out of a massive sound system never grows old, despite the lingering sense that I’ve outgrown this tune and I’m worrying whether or not that might actually be a sign of maturity.
Breathe is both the second track and the second single from the album. It’s also a song I adored in yoof, having listened to it to death back when it was first released back in 1996.
The music video for Breath also cemented the group’s new punk image with Keith and Maxim to the forefront while poor ole Leeroy is barely visible.
Alongside the grungy guitars, we also get a sample from the intro to Da Mystery of Chessboxing from the Wu Tang Clan album 36 Chambers. You can hear that distinctive swish-swish-ching sword swipe sound throughout the track.
Diesel Power no doubt represents a dream come true for Liam Howlett. From Experience onwards, he sampled Ultramagnetic MCs quite regularly and so no doubt was elated by the opportunity to get Kool Keith in the studio to feature on one of his tracks.
Alas the only thing this smacks of, is filler. This is another track I believe was made specifically for the Yanks and to help the group get more cred in the hiphop world, which I guess makes sense.
They could just have easily gone for some flava of the month rapper but no, Liam choose someone he’s respected (and sampled) for years, so I’ll give him that. It’s a pity though, because though the concept has potential, ultimately this one falls flat. It’s no Poison, and it’s certainly nowhere approaching the calibre of Howlett’s incredible Method Man remix.
Besides, do Americans even know what diesel even is? Especially since all their giant gas-guzzler pickups run on petrol.
Years later I’m also finding myself chuckling at the reference to ADAT, a cutting edge recording format at the time, which essentially used VHS tapes as a cheaper alternative to DAT (digital audio tape) recording.
The format didn’t last much longer than this album though, Pro Tools had already started the hard disc recording revolution and was fast becoming the norm.
Going off topic as I often do, but yeah, huge swing and a miss this, could have been massive.
Funky Shit is based upon a sample from the Beastie Boys track Root Down, from the album Ill Communication.
Despite that, and despite being included on the soundtrack to the now mostly-forgotten movie Event Horizon, this always was a filler track that got pretty stale fairly quickly.
Let’s be brutally honest here, if it wasn’t for the Beasties sample this track would be mostly forgotten too. The arpeggio here is one of the things from this album which has aged the worst. Even at the time it sounded jaded but I’m sure Americans thought it was cutting edge.
More filla with Serial Thrilla – hands down the worst track on the album. It’s also one which showcases the glaring limitations of Keith’s “lyrics”.
I always loved Keith as the wildcard Prodigy dancer. And I was enthused as anyone else at the initial novelty of him on Firestarter and Breath. The snarl certainly is distinctive, and I admit he would go on to do some interesting solo stuff.
However, unlike the media, I’ve never been a fan of the idea of him being the Prodigy front man. I always felt it was a cool way to add some new variety to the group, but that he shouldn’t have become the main focus. Though maybe that’s because I’ve always been Team Leeroy.
In any event, even the use of a sample from Skunk Anansi can’t save this track, I disliked it at the time and continue to think it’s among the worst Prodigy tracks ever recorded. So this, and the preceeding two tracks, I generally used to skip past while listening.
Mindfields, wow. You know I’ve only just noticed the name of this. I’ve been calling it “Minefields” for 27 years now, oh well, learn something new every day.
Anyways, picture the scene, splattered across the couch, bloated, dozy and stuffed to the gills with the sorta stodgy crap you specifically avoid every other day of the year but you got no choice because it’s family and it’s xmas.
The only thing keeping you from drifting off into a deep slumber is the constant burbling of your stomach, clenching and billowing flatulence at acceptable intervals while Roger Moore goes up against the fearsome Scaramanga, aka, The Man With The Golden Gun.
Camera cuts to the exterior of Scaramanga’s mansion and… WOAH!
That’s what happened to me one year. One moment I’m drifting off into a post-Vienetta coma, next thing I’m wide awake and alert as my synapses frantically form new neural pathways connecting the Prodigy with John Barry.
Even in this internet age I still get moments like that, when I hear the original source of a sample or melody, it’s such a joy.
But yes, Mindfields’ melody is, in fact, based around a segment of John Barry’s soundtrack to the 1974 Bond flick The Man With The Golden Gun. It’s also the first proper appearance of Maxim on a Prodigy track. Prior to this he only really made an appearance on the Experience closer Death Of The Prodigy Dancers.
It’s far from the best track on the album, but definitely not the worst. I place this one exactly in the middle, scoring higher, I guess, due to that aforementioned John Barry melody coupled with some hefty bass-laden beats which always sound incredible live.
Kulashaker – remember them? No, just as well. They were annoying and the frontman was a twat. Yet, despite that, Narayan is probably my second favourite track on the album.
At over 9 minutes long it was also a great jukebox song, back in the day when you’d pop in 50p and look for something to guarantee value for money while buying a brief respite from the horrors of other people’s music.
So yeah, I’ve always liked this one but I think, as the singles have lost their lustre over the years, this one’s been bumped higher up the rankings. But it’s not my number one track on the album…
It’s impossible to convey what a huge deal Firestarter was at the time. That snaking guitar riff, that top-heavy, head-banging beat and, for the first time, Keith Flint on vocals.
Flint looked like the unholy lovechild of Frank Miller’s Joker crossed with Vivian from the Young Ones, a deranged clown with equally comical lyrics to match. Ridiculous in theory and utterly devastating in practice.
The music video, filed down an unused Tube tune on a shoestring budget, apparently resulted in complaints to the BBC for apparently causing countless children to have nightmares. It was a dream come true for the record execs, though, as the track went to number one in the UK and elsewhere.
Or maybe it was just the record execs ringing up the BBC in the first place, before later ringing up the press to say the Beeb wanted to ban The Prodigy.
And why not? It’s all rock and roll, right? And it’s exactly the kind of go-big-or-go home approach the group were going to need to attack the US market and compete with the likes of Marylin Manson.
Fair play, it done the job and we certainly thought it was the coolest thing ever in our yoof. Another overplayed tune I think, but a tune none the less.
And now, drum roll please – or bongo roll might be more appropriate – Climbatize is my favourite track off this album and indeed stands proudly up there among my favourite Prodigy tracks of all time.
I love this track and have a number of different fond memories attached to it. But even if I ignore those and look at this impartially it’s still an incredible track.
For me it’s got that signature Howlett sound that I associate with some of my other favourite Prodigy tracks, tracks like Skylined and Weather Experience, except neither of those tunes have a bassline as funky as this.
And we also have to mention those bongos. Bongos which caused a little aggro at the time, as they were lifted wholesale from the Jedi Knights’ (aka Global Communication)
track Air Drums From Outer Bongolia.
Apparently this resulted in a lawsuit but, let’s be honest, those bongos were themselves lifted from Michael Viner’s Incredible Bongo Band to begin with.
Personally I think this track represents the very end of the Prodigy as I know them.
It’s the last great rushing rave track the Prodigy ever released. They coulda/shoulda finished the album right here on a high… but they didn’t.
Fuel My Fire is another filler track that seems to be added as an afterthought. And after the majestic highs of Climbatize you can’t help but wonder, “why bother?”
Well I guess they got the singer from Republica in the studio for a half hour and thought it might be cool to record a track. This flat cover has nowhere near the gravitas as the L7 original unfortunately so instead of ensuring the album goes out with a bang, it just flops about like a dying fish.
Shame really, but for me, as far as The Prodigy’s concerned, it’s all been downhill since Climbatize.
Fuel My Fire – The Prodigy
Land Of The Fat
I have mixed feelings about this album. I loved it at the time and yet, even then, once I’d gotten over the initial excitement of there being a new Prodigy album, I couldn’t get past the fact that a lot of it felt like filler.
And herein lies the problem.
Prodigy singles have always had a short shelf life imo. A new one would come out
and we’d listen to it to death, over and over, Firestarter and Breath being prime examples.
But we’d played both of those to death already by the time the album came out.
And besides those, what else had we?
I’m happy enough never to listen to Breath, Voodoo People or Out of Space again, no seriously. But tunes like Jericho, Skylined, Weather Experience, The Heat The Energy… I could happily listen to those every single day forever.
Fat of the Land doesn’t have many tracks like that, it’s only got one – Climbatise. (And maybe Narayan on a good day.)
And while I still have a special place in my heart for this record, it also marked the beginning of the end for me as far as The Prodigy goes.
But then I wasn’t the target market, it seems, but rather the land of the fattest, who, at the time, were all amped up on “alternative” rock and nu metal.
From then on The Prodigy would move further away from their club and rave roots and become more akin to a big stadium rock group.
Leeroy Thornhill would leave soon after and would struggle initially to find an audience. In more recent times, however, I’ve found his studio output to be far more engaging than anything Liam Howlett’s released in recent years.
Prodigy album number four, Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned, was a massive disappointment. After that came the greatest hits compilation Their Law – always a death sentence for any band.
I do recall enjoying 2009’s Invaders Must Die at the time but as for the last two albums all they got was a customary listen and a resulting shrug. I couldn’t even name a single track off them, other than there being a really irritating one with the Sleaford Knobs.
For me, the only flash of brilliance post-Jilted was the 1999 mix album The Dirtchamber Sessions Volume One, second only to Coldcut’s 70 Minutes Of Madness as the greatest mix album ever made. Alas a quarter century later I’m still waiting on the follow up.
And of course, a part of all of our youth died when Keith Flint passed in 2019. Which would have been as good a time as any to leave The Prodigy behind and move on with something else. I personally don’t want to see a holographic Keith or an AI Keith or anything of the sort, I’d much prefer to remember him fondly from his live performances and all the music videos we used to ape in our youth as we attempted to emulate his dance moves.
More than anything, though, I’d love Liam to step back from The Prodigy, even just for a short while, to try something completely different. Every Prodigy review I say the same thing because I know that ultimately The Prodigy is rooted in a specific time, a time which has long since passed. So I’m happy for there to never be another Prodigy album.
But I still hold out hope for that solo Liam Howlett album where he finally takes the opportunity to explore his other influences, not just the electronic stuff but also the soul, funk, electro and dub that’s every bit as much a part of him as the breakbeats and loud guitars. Or failing that, at least give us a Dirtchamber Sessions Volume 2.