More Music For The Jilted Gen
Xl Recordings
DANCE
Soon after the release of ‘Experience’ the rave scene turned sour. Draconian anti-noise measures were placed on legal raves and government legislations were put in place that would outlaw the free party vibe forever. The government proposed its Criminal Justice Bill that would turn an entire generation of people into criminals overnight. Unwittingly the simple act of dancing in a field to a loud sound system had become a political act. Even more unwittingly The Prodigy would become figureheads for this politicisation when they released their second album ‘Music for the Jilted Generation’ in July 1994.
It was the beginning of 1994, The Prodigy had scored six top twenty hits in the UK, they’d been awarded a gold disc for Experience, they’d toured through much of the world and still their average age was only twenty three. However the next task of taking things forward now fell squarely upon Liam’s shoulders. For the first time since the band started they took a lengthy rest from their constant performing so that Liam could get to work on the next album. He knew he had to move things beyond the limitations of the rave arena, and in the process of taking the Prodigy live experience around the globe he had come into close contact with bands that had excited him in a way that reminded him of the early days of the free parties. Bands like Rage Against the Machine and Jane’s Addiction who had a vibe and an energy that he immediately hooked into.
“When we were doing all of these shows in America I started listening to a lot more guitarbased stuff.” he explains “Up until then I’d always ignored anything that was in any wayrock because it just meant leather jackets and greasy hair to me. Then I heard‘Nevermind’ by Nirvana and it just blew me away.”
Originally penciled in as both ‘Music for the Cool Youth Juvenilia’ and the potentially more controversial ‘Music for Joy Riders’, the album Music for the Jilted Generation was a far more assured, experimental and eclectic journey than that offered on the debut album. The album’s intro employed an appropriation of dialogue from the film The Lawnmower Man, featuring the sound of someone hammering away at a type writer before announcing: “So I’ve decided to take my music back underground, to stop itfalling into the wrong hands”.
It was a statement of intent for Liam. No longer was he a part off any particular scene, The Prodigy had transcended any limitations imposed by particular genres, instead he took what ever he wanted, from which ever genre he wanted, in order to create music that was The Prodigy and not a representation of a particular scene. In a sense therefore the theme of the album was less ‘party’ than ‘personal’ politics.
The subsequent range of styles, tempos and flavours was breath taking. From the darkly brooding delinquency of ‘Break and Enter’ to the hard and fast techno metal of ‘Their Law’ (which featured post-grebo sample hooligans Pop Will Eat Itself), from the uptempo techno soundtrack rush of ‘Speedway’ to the down tempo b-boy grooves of ‘Poison’ the album displayed Liam’s abilities to be far reaching.
One of the most outstanding aspects of “…Jilted…” was Liam’screative freedom thatenabled him to exploreideas unhindered. Nowhereis this clearer than on the conceptsection of the album. Collectively called ‘The Narcotic Suite’, it was made up of threeseparate tracks which moved from the sixties film noire soundtrack of ‘3 Kilos’, throughthe techno hedonism of ‘Skylined’ and then into the deep, suffocating grooves of‘Claustrophobic Sting’. A sequence of tracks that saw Liam moving through styles withan in depth knowledge and understanding of both his sources and his ambitions.Elsewhere ‘Voodoo People’ featured a hard shuffling snare with an insistent flute refrainwhich was overlaid by a guitar sample of Nirvana’s‘Very Ape’.
The album’s release in July ‘94 was met by a hugely positive response from fans and critics alike. For those who had followed the band this album mirrored an almost collective growth. The so-called summers of love had turned out to offer little more than hollow ideals. Furthermore ravers had grown up since the early days and The Prodigy had grown right along side their contemporaries.
Two albums. Two moments in time captured. Both as astonishing today as the day they first hit the streets. It’s time to rediscover The Prodigy.
MARTIN JAMES 2008
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MP3 ALBUM |
#XLCD267 |
$16.99 |
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DOUBLE CD |
XLCD267 |
$24.95 |
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MP3 (320k) Individuals AU$1.69 per track
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