Amiga.org
Coffee House => Coffee House Boards => CH / Entertainment => Topic started by: motorollin on June 13, 2006, 07:34:44 PM
-
I have never listened to The Prody before, as I was a bit young when most of their stuff was released. I bought Fat Of The Land recently, and I can't stop listening to it. Alright it's repetitive and totally obnoxious, and as a musician everything I know about music tells me I should hate it, but I just love it for a reason I can't explain. Any other fans here?
--
moto
-
I prefer some of their earlier tech/rave stuff, even some that's a little house like. Not a huge fan, but they did push the envelope somewhat in the early years, and made some classic rave tunes.
That album got played way too much for my liking. Bugged me to hear it. Some strong tracks in it. Often went down well at a party (not a rave, just a party). I think Liam knows how to get what he wants out of a track.
P.S. What is it you know about music that tells you you should hate it?
-
motorollin wrote:
I have never listened to The Prody before, as I was a bit young when most of their stuff was released. I bought Fat Of The Land recently, and I can't stop listening to it. Alright it's repetitive and totally obnoxious, and as a musician everything I know about music tells me I should hate it, but I just love it for a reason I can't explain. Any other fans here?
--
moto
Get hold of the "Experience" album. Much better.
-
I liked the Prodigy very much, but that's a long time ago.
-
Speelgoedmannetje wrote:
I liked the Prodigy very much, but that's a long time ago.
Old fart! :lol:
-
Oliver wrote:
I prefer some of their earlier tech/rave stuff, even some that's a little house like. Not a huge fan, but they did push the envelope somewhat in the early years, and made some classic rave tunes.
Not really a big rave fan. I prefer electronica: Chemical Brothers, Oskar, even late Radiohead, which I consider to fall more in to the electronic category than Indie.
Oliver wrote:
P.S. What is it you know about music that tells you you should hate it?
Well, I am classically trained, so I instinctively seek patterns of melody and development in music. While you could argue that electronic music contains pattern elements, they are generally looped over and over again, which leaves little room for development.
I can forgive this, however, when sounds and rhythms are used intelligently, which provides enough interest for me to listen to the music despite it not having a great deal of development, or even melody.
My favourite track by far on this album is Climbatize. It is very close to the kind of music I [attempt to] compose, and sends shivers down my spine :-)
--
moto
-
nicholas wrote:
Speelgoedmannetje wrote:
I liked the Prodigy very much, but that's a long time ago.
Old fart! :lol:
:lol:
Hey I was young! 12 or something!
-
Now I like (house/lounge/triphop wise)
DJ Krush
Baby Mammoth
Bonobo
Lemongrass
RJD2
Soehngenetic
William Orbit
Thievery Corporation
Purple Penguin
DJ Dolores
And of course Rodney Hunter (being utterly wrong but in somehow a cool way 8-) )
-
Well, I am classically trained, so I instinctively seek patterns of melody and development in music. While you could argue that electronic music contains pattern elements, they are generally looped over and over again, which leaves little room for development.
I can forgive this, however, when sounds and rhythms are used intelligently, which provides enough interest for me to listen to the music despite it not having a great deal of development, or even melody.
You should check out some drum and bass stuff.
Adam F - Colours (relased 1996) would be a good place to start.
-
Speelgoedmannetje wrote:
nicholas wrote:
Speelgoedmannetje wrote:
I liked the Prodigy very much, but that's a long time ago.
Old fart! :lol:
:lol:
Hey I was young! 12 or something!
How young are you?
-
nicholas wrote:
How young are you?
25
-
@Speelgoedmannetje
I don't know who any of those people are :-P
--
moto
-
motorollin wrote:
@Speelgoedmannetje
I don't know who any of those people are :-P
--
moto
Trying won't hurt :-)
-edit- Hm, I wonder why I do not have anything of Amon Tobin :-?
-
I saw the Prodigy live at the IoW festival last weekend, they were really good. Fat of the Land is a great album, notice however, that Firestarter sits very uncomfortably with the other tracks it was clearly written for another project.
-
bloodline wrote:
I saw the Prodigy live at the IoW festival last weekend, they were really good.
My boss was there and said they were amazing. He was fked the whole weekend :lol:
bloodline wrote:
Fat of the Land is a great album, notice however, that Firestarter sits very uncomfortably with the other tracks it was clearly written for another project.
Y'know, that didn't really occur to me. But then, there's an element of discomfort around the whole album IMO. Not that that's a bad thing; music is supposed to evoke emotion, whether comfortable or uncomfortable.
--
moto
-
Saw Prodigy at Glasonbury 1997, and they were absolutely amazing.
I think I probably prefer their first album tho'
P.S. There are quite a few classically trained pianists producing electronic music motorollin - Trent Reznor of NIN is one, I think Aphex Twin is another
-
motorollin wrote:
bloodline wrote:
I saw the Prodigy live at the IoW festival last weekend, they were really good.
My boss was there and said they were amazing. He was fked the whole weekend :lol:
I spent the three days sat in the main field eating nothing but hog roast and drinking (free) cider... And getting sun burnt... brilliant!! :-D
bloodline wrote:
Fat of the Land is a great album, notice however, that Firestarter sits very uncomfortably with the other tracks it was clearly written for another project.
Y'know, that didn't really occur to me. But then, there's an element of discomfort around the whole album IMO. Not that that's a bad thing; music is supposed to evoke emotion, whether comfortable or uncomfortable.
Ahhh, yes, I didn't mean it as a negative thing... I just find stuff like that VERY interesting... it suggests there might be some unreleased material that is closer in style to Firestarter, just sitting on tapes... waiting for a release ;-)
-
motorollin wrote:
I bought Fat Of The Land recently, and I can't stop listening to it. Alright it's repetitive and totally obnoxious, and as a musician everything I know about music tells me I should hate it, but I just love it for a reason I can't explain. Any other fans here?
Yep, despite all of the above I love the Prodigy too!
I was roped into a 3.5 mile competitive run with work last week and brought my MP3 player for inspiration. Just as I was running out of energy, Braintree's finest kicked in with "Smack My {bleep} Up", followed by "Spitfire".
It was sufficient to power me to 229th out of 1664 runners with a time of 25min 40sec.
Get in!
-
"...Braintree's finest kicked in with "Smack My {bleep} Up", ..."
And that has always been one of my favourite music videos of all time. In fact it is a great song all round.
-
Yeah,
My mate's missus went loopy when I suggested that they play that track as she's walking down the aisle.
She was still none too impressed when I came up with the Imperial March from Empire Strikes Back and the Chilli Pepper's Give it Away Now.
-
You could have told your mate that according to the music video, that song would not be appropriate anyway, unless of course your 'mate' is also female ;)
Now at a lesbian wedding, that would be a hell of a song to play...
-
I have just downloaded and watched the Smack My {bleep} Up video, and I have to admit I was a little shocked by it. I was also unsure what the point was. Was this supposed to be a reflection of the way people behave? Or was it glorifying this behaviour? Or maybe it was meant to show that women are just as bad as men when it comes to drinking, taking drugs, and behaving violently.
Even so, I can't see why anyone would try to ban this video. I have seen a lot worse on national television and in films. Why is it that when a music video contains something distasteful people try to ban it, as if music videos aren't allowed to show the darker side of life? If you don't like it, nobody is forcing you to watch it...
--
moto
-
motorollin wrote:
I have just downloaded and watched the Smack My {bleep} Up video, and I have to admit I was a little shocked by it. I was also unsure what the point was. Was this supposed to be a reflection of the way people behave? Or was it glorifying this behaviour? Or maybe it was meant to show that women are just as bad as men when it comes to drinking, taking drugs, and behaving violently.
Even so, I can't see why anyone would try to ban this video. I have seen a lot worse on national television and in films. Why is it that when a music video contains something distasteful people try to ban it, as if music videos aren't allowed to show the darker side of life? If you don't like it, nobody is forcing you to watch it...
--
moto
There are people in society that like to control what others can and cannot do. It makes them feel powerful.
In my experience they are either short/fat/ugly/sex-deprived/weak or lonely, or a combination of several/all of these traits.
-
I think those people should be banned! :lol:
--
moto
-
@ moto
"...Or maybe it was meant to show that women are just as bad as men when it comes to drinking, taking drugs, and behaving violently..."
Ja, that is partly the way I see it.
-
Nah... The SMBU video is jsut someone out on the razz for a night... with the amusing Hichcockian twist at the end. Makes a good story, nothing more :-)
-
I used to listen to the Prodigy a lot. I still do, but I think that their latest stuff is not as exciting as the classics.
Saw them live twice, in Belgrade/Serbia in 1995 and then once again in 1998 I believe, in Toronto/Canada.
I was hooked for the first two albums. Experience and Jilted were simply magical...works of art.
Fat of the Land and AONO...OK I guess, but nothing really groundbreaking as the first two were.
-
x56h34 wrote:
I used to listen to the Prodigy a lot. I still do, but I think that their latest stuff is not as exciting as the classics.
Saw them live twice, in Belgrade/Serbia in 1995 and then once again in 1998 I believe, in Toronto/Canada.
I was hooked for the first two albums. Experience and Jilted were simply magical...works of art.
Fat of the Land and AONO...OK I guess, but nothing really groundbreaking as the first two were.
Funny... I think FOTL has some of The Prodigy's most groundbreaking tracks... :-? :-D
-
bloodline wrote:
Funny... I think FOTL has some of The Prodigy's most groundbreaking tracks... :-? :-D
A friend says the same thing as you do. :-)
Perhaps the Prodigy changed their style/direction towards different tastes with FOTL, and such a move didn't really do it for me.
I liked their move towards a slightly different style from Experience to Jilted. That was brilliant, IMHO.
Anyways, it could be a classic case of difference in tastes that's a problem here, which is hard to argue/debate. :-)
-
I can not hold back from posting in this thread any longer!!!
Liam himself said that FoTL was just a continuation of Jilted and not really anything new.
FoTL is essentially the Firestarter album which is probably (despite a number of good songs - SMBU, Funky S***) my least favourite Prodigy album. There's too many vocals on here where they're not necessary. Prime example being Mindfields, which should have been a great instumental/sample driven track but is screwed up with Maxim's vocals.
Serial Thrilla (or Cereal Thrilla as CDDB called it in iTunes) and Fuel My Fire are two of the worst Prodigy Tracks ever released. (BGAT is of course the worst)
-
Ah yes, Prodigy. Great music to dance to in a dingy, industrial themed night club. Although many may disagree with me, Fat Of The Land was one of their better albums. It was more commercial, and songs like Smack My B!tch Up obviously fed off the controversy, but it was still all great fun. Great for a party or drag racing down the strip. In fact, I hear SMBU makes people drive far more aggressively then most music - which is probably why it's the first song in my own mix CD for the car.
But overall, Prodigy was more show then substance. They certainly weren't the best musically; Crystal Method has more energy, Underworld has more depth, Massive Attack is much darker and Juno Reactor is just, well, all of the above. But Prodigy had that great image that none of the others really ever had. The video for SMBU was in the late 90's what Duran Duran's video for Hungry Like The Wolf was in the early 80's - edgy yet meaningless. It got people to watch but aside from the eye candy, there really wasn't much else there. Great fun for a while, but it can only entertain for so long before you want something more. Unfortunately, Prodigy dropped the ball after FOTL and hasn't really done anything interesting since. I hope they make a comeback one day because we need more from that genre.
Breath with me!
-
Always Outnumbered - Never Outgunned: the track called 'Girls' when you first hear it makes you think "What the hell?"... the cheesy 80's hip-hop then gets some meaty bass and the vocals keep repeating. This is old skool Prodigy genius in my opinion.
Still, my favourite album is The Prodigy Experience. The videos were classic, especially Out of Space with the ostriches and fly-by of Saturn.
Liam Paris Howlett is classically trained, this is why I think Prodigy music is smarter. The rythms and melodies have intelligient patterns and humour. The samples have mischief and soul and the obligatory instrumental tracks such as Climbatize and Weather Experience are beautiful symphonies of the 20th century.
There was probably too many collaborations on Always Outnumbered and I think the choice of artists was ropey. I was slightly dissapointed that it was generally a very aggresive and angry sound, unlike 'Experience.
I prefer the Chemical Brothers album 'Come With Us' if just for the Richard Ashcroft song 'The Test' (with a nice video too). It proves you can be soulful and calm and still have a sense of rythm and cool.
Remember '97 when they put Firestarter into WipEout 2097? Possibly the defining moment for the console's image.
As for Smack My {bleep} Up, I think there is a limit to what I'd like young children exposed to at an early age. It was never intended to be broadcast on Childrens BBC. Scenes of drinking and vommitting perfectly reflect the sad nature of British weekend life however.
The later single 'Baby's Got A Temper' with the lyrics "We take rohypnol!" (the date rape drug) was blatantly disgusting and hypocritical considering Howlett scorned The Shamen's Ebeneezer Good (for the "Es are good!" lyric).
To sum up - the earlier stuff is more tuneful, the later stuff aggresive. Oh, and I don't think Firestarter sounded out of place alongside the other No.1 single 'Breathe' - not to mention 'Fuel My Fire'.
EDIT: Talking of censorship notice the {bleep}... ?
:laughing: