Masters of reinvention, rave stalwarts The Prodigy have undergone another remarkable facelift for their fourth album, Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned. For band leader Liam Howlett, this mutation was less about ambitious experimentation and more the result of crucial damage control: the band's disastrous 2002 comeback campaign, spearheaded by "Baby's Got a Temper" found the band stagnant and on the verge of self-parody.
Howlett's response was to scrap the sessions, hunker down with a laptop and hammer out an album that held spontaneity as a virtue. And while the old touchstones--the propulsive break-beats of old-school hip-hop, the brooding menace of punk-rock and acid-house--are all here sporting a fresh chrome gleam, here they're joined by new influences: everything from crunk hip-hop to Aphex Twin's "Windowlicker" bubbles beneath the surface of "Girls".
Maxim and Keith Flint are absent, replaced by a bizarre roll call of stars--Liam Gallagher, Juliette Lewis, Twista--and obscurities… anyone remember the Ping Pong Bitches? Not that it matters: this is Howlett's album, and whether he's rewiring Shocking Blue's "Love Buzz" as Middle Eastern-tinged acid techno on "Phoenix" or clashing with Kool Keith on "Wake Up Call, he sounds like he’s back!! |
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Following the international success of 1997’s The Fat of the Land , The Prodigy took a generous five years to re-emerge with new material, starting with the 2002 single “Baby’s Got a Temper” and, now, another two years later, their fourth full-length Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned .
Initially, the return was not so triumphant; “Baby’s Got a Temper” was dismissed by fans, critics, and the rest of the free world as a tuneless, overly macho ode to date rape, and thus did poorly on the charts. Perhaps as a result of this failed single, Prodigy’s front man Liam Howlett reconsidered his long awaited comeback, and decided that his next album, Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned , would be more of a return to form.
And return to form it is - even without vocalist Keith Flint on board, the sounds of Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned are desperately similar to The Fat of the Land , right down to the guests spots (Kool Keith, again). In an unexceptionally calculated fashion, The Prodigy attempt to regain the vicious production of their past releases, only to loose all spontaneity with aggressive precision. Lead single “Girls” is most likely to succeed, having just enough old-school dance floor grooves to shed the plodding beats of the remainder of the album.
Though where “Girls” is retro done right, the other 11 tracks are examples of the opposite. The dated production and rudimentary samples are simply overwhelming, making the 58-minute playtime sound more like 58 hours (i.e. Michael Jackson’s “Thriller,” used in the most uninteresting way imaginable).
Actress Juliet Lewis, rapper Twista, tabloid hunk Liam Gallagher (now Liam Howlett’s brother-in-law), Princess Superstar and others are brought in to add spice to bland sample-laden electronics - and all sound very 1997 (especially Gallagher, who does his best to sound like Keith Flint on the tired closer “Shoot Down”).
Whatever edge The Prodigy had in 1997, it has all but eroded now. Compared to when a scary-looking Keith Flint jumped around a sewer tunnel, rapping about how he was a ‘twisted fire starter,’ The Prodigy’s Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned could have used another 7 years of work.
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