After chatting with a friend at work who is also a fan of PUP, I had sent them my recent post about the "Who Will Look After The Dogs?" record. They'd mentioned it was a good little read, and to let them know if I post any more reviews. My response?
"Sure, but I don't know how many there will be. Most of what I pick up is old stuff... no one wants to read a review of something that came out decades ago."
But the idea kind of stuck in my head. Does anyone care? Probably not, but it could be fun! So here we are... me cracking into a "Record Drop" post to review an album that came out in 1997. 28 years late, but better late than never!
- Artist: The Prodigy
- Album: The Fat of The Land
- Release Date: June 30, 1997
- Spotify Link: https://open.spotify.com/album/4fdgcEVMdJe0KVgupMNJAP?si=rFdCFxBRS7SrgbfRcCsT2g
Track Listing:
- Smack My B**ch Up
- Breathe
- Diesel Power
- Funky S**t
- Serial Thrilla
- Mindfields
- Narayan
- Firedrill
- Firestarter
- Climbatize
- Fuel My Fire
Review/Comments:
8.75/10
I know this wasn't my first introduction to electronic music, that was likely something along the lines of "Around The World" by Daft Punk... but it was one of my early memories that electronic music could be so unique and have a bit of a darker feel to it. The first song I heard from The Prodigy was "Breathe" and it really set the tone. I, personally, hadn't heard anything like it before. It was a time when music videos were everything, and an 8-9 year old me was starting to find darker/villainous characters to be cool & intriguing. My older sisters had Much Music on the TV. During one of the programs where they'd run through various videos, that's when the video for "Breathe" came on. I was hooked immediately.
Eventually it was made known to me that they had a song before this called "Firestarter". Once I heard that, it absolutely passed the vibe checks that were in place for younger me. Things got a bit difficult when I wanted the tape (yep, dating myself here - cassettes were our primary media form... cassettes are back in and cool, right?)... I needed my parents (literally) to buy in. Once they took a glance at the track list, and it kicked off with "Smack My B**ch Up", I had no chance. Not at under 10 years old. I never did get that cassette.
Fast-forward a few years when I started to figure out computers, Napster/LimeWire (am I dating myself again?)... I was opened up to a whole new world of unexplored music. I finally had it. It was a burnt CD, but I could listen to The Fat of The Land wherever I wanted, and listen to it all.
The wait didn't disappoint. It had the 2 songs I had previously heard, "Smack My B**ch Up" was a great song (even with my resentment that the title delayed my enjoyment of the album) and all the "non-singles" were quality too.
"Breathe" will always be my favourite, that's probably due to the nostalgia and it being my "Prodigy starting point". "Smack My B**ch Up" and "Diesel Power" closely follow that to round out the top 3. With the last two being in my top 3, it may come as no surprise that I'm a big fan of Kool Keith. Though "Smack My B**ch Up" was a sample from an Ultramagnetic MC's song, the legitimate collaboration on Diesel Power was fantastic. Two styles coming together, and it worked really well.
In closing, this album served as a gateway into different forms/styles of electronic music, and I'm forever grateful for that. It's why I rate it as high as I do. I love electronic dance music, but early on I had a mindset of 'electronic music is something you dance to'. I had no clue it could convey any other emotion, but "The Fat of The Land" made it blatantly obvious that electronic music could be so much more.
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