Ah so true, so true on all points.

I caught them live right around Experience ... and it truly was. One of the most memorable nights of my teenage life. And 'Jilted' the album was their mindblowing pinnacle.

Now? They just need to go away already.

The worst review of this record i have ever seen. The boys are still firing up the crowds everywhere- and have got better. The reviewer clearly has a distaste for the band for the get go. 'Invaders Must Die' brings out everything that is great about the band.

The worst review of this record i have ever seen. The boys are still firing up the crowds everywhere- and have got better. The reviewer clearly has a distaste for the band for the get go. 'Invaders Must Die' brings out everything that is great about the band.

so you want cheese filled rave? go build a fucking time machine then.

Whoa, hateration from the anonymous peanut gallery.

I always thought Prodigy's main appeal was aimed at the lowest common denominator audience, but what sets them apart from their peers in the various eras of their history is that they've done it really well. That being said, I've always thought they were a few years ahead of the curve of giving teens and frat dudes music to get pumped up to. Songs like 'Their Law' clearly predated the rap rock mookery of Woodstock 98 while 'Spitfire' and 'Girls' predated the overdriven Ed Banger synthesizer sound that would take over electronic music for 9 months. I imagine music from 'Invader Must Die' will point the way to a new form of "dumb" music: 'Warrior's Dance' sounds like a futuristic workout song to me.

I don't think the Prodigy's output has been very good in the last decade, or arguably ever, but they are very good at amping up their audience and being the harbinger for new sounds. There are a LOT of missteps in their last two albums and the filler definitely detracts from some surprisingly thrilling singles.

...Prodigy live is crap though. Have you seen the DVD of their live show? It's a fucking joke.

Yup, lame review. More interestingly though-does anyone know WHEN prodigy will be showing up at Wamu tomorrow night? I am ashamed to say that I can't dance from 8-4am anymore so am trying to find the most strategic time to go. 12-4? 10-2? Any thoughts?

@6: You make some good points, but you miss a biggie. Prodigy, pre-"Firestarter", was the finest example of the music of urban britain in the early 90s. It seemed awesome at the time, but like all these things hasn't exactly stood the test of time. If you weren't in on the fun at the time, you're probably not gonna get it now.

Being reinvented as "punk" so records could be sold to drunk frat boys types across the world... sigh. And the worst part is their live output was once the best new thing. Now they're just this lame rock caricature ...

@8:
Good point, I can never fully see the British context for the people who lived it in real time. Even as a highly impressionable youth before 'Firestarter' as an American seeing the Prodigy slither around in the video for 'Poison', I always lumped them in with the tons of musicians testing the goth waters for slightly more record sales (*cough* David Bowie *cough*). They were honestly pretty goofy to me and they never seemed urban in the way early jungle or 90s rap records were to me.

And to their credit, I don't think the Prodigy really could have anticipated how people would react to 'Firestarter' - in retrospect it's very much a clumsy reinvention of punk, but at the time it didn't seem too out of place. I don't think anyone could have known that having a punk-ish hip-hop aping electronic group of one person, some bad singers, and a full-time dancer could ever be a Top of the Pops act.

Great review, Segals. I miss that vitriol. And I loved commenter 10's postscript. Haha.

Haterade - Is it in you?

I suppose this hits the crux of a problem reviewing music. As the music changes, it'll grab new fans who don't care how they sounded 10 years ago. When they lose that 'groundbreaking' edge, it's easy to say that they've gotten worse, but you're gonna get slammed by those young 'uns who are into them NOW.

I mean, kudos to them for going out and doing what they do, but my first experience with 'em was Music for The Jilted Generation (then going back to Experience), and after that, Fat of the Land (and all following) was a letdown. Just let me put "Their Law" on repeat, and I'll happily ignore everything since.