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Rating: Year of Our Lord 1997: two little siblings receive a strange object as a Christmas gift. Made of plastic, gray, compact, rectangular with a sort of circle on top.
Attached via a wire is an extension of similar material and color with a futuristic shape and full of buttons. It was talked about everywhere, and some said it "would revolutionize the world of video games." As an essential accessory, the package also contained two discs, to start getting familiar with this new gaming reality.
Enthusiastic, the younger sibling immediately connects the new gift to a small TV and inserts one of the two discs at random. Immediately, music booms so loudly that, in the next room, the older sister begins to go wild and thinks "Damn, what an invention".
The invention was the Playstation, the game Wipeout, and the song "Firestarter" by the Prodigy. The cassette (ORIGINAL!!!) took a firm place in the stereo and didn’t leave for quite some time, later coming out battered in tape and especially in the case, strained from numerous loans and duplications (but I still have it!). "Smack my bitch up" overwhelms you, the hoarse screams of the great master of ceremonies Keith Flint break in to violently disturb your tranquility and leave you no escape for the entire duration of the record.
The video, it was said, was censored and MTV only broadcasted it at night (which is why I never saw it), was the hooker from the title involved? The tracks follow one another, relentless and without a moment to breathe, "Breathe" is a punch in the stomach, and here, for the first time, I see their faces. I see a maniac with wild eyes, face pierced by absurd (for the time) piercings and two tufts of hair spiked and colored like the craziest of Pennywise, and a bulky man of color dressed in black with white pupils, both rolling around in filthy rooms full of cockroaches. The girl raised on bread and Take That is immediately won over... and the cassette keeps playing. "Serial Thrilla" and "Mindfields" lead straight to the masterpiece, "Narayan". Everything blends in this track: techno, hardcore, jungle, rock and even a touch of indie in the obsessive chant that keeps repeating the title for all of nine minutes.
Then, in a deadly one-two, "Firestarter", the first love never forgotten, with its threat "I’ll test ya psycho-somatic, atic-insane, come play the game, inhale, you’re the victim" unfolded over a beat punctuated by sounds like hammers striking. The booklet is up to par, inside a comic version of Keith, Maxim, and company (proto-Gorillaz?) truly strong. When asked about the genre... I shrug, I can’t answer now just as I never knew how to answer in the past.
The fat one of the region is... a banging album by the Prodigy, released at the right time, post-produced sublimely and undoubtedly a masterpiece in its own way. Definitely a reference and influence for all the DJs and producers to come, with Chemical Bros and Norman Cook (Fatboy Slim) leading, whether they like it or not. "Oh my God, that’s a funky shit!"
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Smack My Bitch Up (05:42)
Change my pitch up.
Smack my bitch up.
Change my pitch up.
Smack my bitch up.
Change my pitch up.
Smack my bitch up.
Change my pitch up.
Smack my bitch up.
Smack my bitch up.
(Aaaaaa... Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.... aaaa aaaaaa .......
aaaa aaaaa ..... aaa aaaaa
Aaaaaa... aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa aaaa aaaa..
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaa)
Smack my bitch up.
Change my pitch up.
Smack my bitch up.
Change my pitch up.
Smack my bitch up.
02 Breathe (05:34)
Breathe with me.
Breathe the pressure,
Come play my game I'll test ya.
Psychosomatic addict, insane.
Breathe the pressure,
Come play my game I'll test ya.
Psycho,-somatic addict, insane.
Come play my game.
Inhale, inhale, you're the victim.
Come play my game.
Exhale, exhale, exhale.
Breathe the pressure,
Come play my game I'll test ya.
Psychosomatic addict, insane.
Breathe the pressure,
Come play my game I'll test ya.
Psycho,-somatic addict, insane.
Come play my game.
Inhale, inhale, you're the victim.
Come play my game.
Exhale, exhale, exhale.
Breathe with me.
Breathe with me.
Breathe the pressure,
Come play my game I'll test ya.
Psychosomatic addict, insane.
Breathe the pressure,
Come play my game I'll test ya.
Psycho,-somatic addict, insane.
Come play my game.
Inhale, inhale, you're the victim.
Come play my game.
Exhale, exhale, exhale
Breathe with me.
Breathe the pressure,
Come play my game I'll test ya.
Psychosomatic addict, insane.
Breathe the pressure,
Come play my game I'll test ya.
Psycho,-somatic addict, insane.
Come play my game.
Inhale, inhale, you're the victim.
Come play my game.
Exhale, exhale, exhale
03 Diesel Power (04:17)
Yo, I used to check out lyrics upon the format
Build with skill with technique. Computer A-DAT
My lyrical form is clouds on your brainstorm
I get hyped think thought flow. Acrobat, sink the track, pump the track
Dance missions,clubs like spores react by. Strong visions
And hurrying more. Reflects on the dancefloor
Flow it up and having now people showing up
Packing crowds jam packed venues
Needles collapse, while atmosphere continues
Sprinkle that,
Winnin' like that, movin'like that, hittin' like that
The melody is phat
Yeah, I'm on the energy source
The cosmic force
With Prodigy
Kicking astrology
My intellect's the power
With Diesel Power
Blows your mind drastically, fantastically
Blows your mind drastically, fantastically
Blows your mind drastically, fantastically
Blows your mind drastically, fanta..
We spin back rewind. Diesel Power
Blows your mind drastically, fantasically
It has to be, automatically
Check it out. You better work it out
Change to another route
My techniques, strategies, abilities.
I leave cords of mikes hanging like spring leaves
You would try so fast. Beyond the human eye
Lyrical tactics, vocal gymnastics
E's and pepped up
You get swept up
Smacked up, backed up, your crew's all cracked up
Checking flow
Quick choose quick
You can't stick
My medical brain's a stranger's angles
You get tangled. Twisting side effects us
Channels repeat, complete. Can't compete
Check that our texture
Mind adventure
Exploit the point
It attracts to devour
My intellectual seed
With diesel power
Blows your mind drastically, fantastically
Blows your mind drastically, fantastically
Blows your mind drastically, fantastically
Blows your mind drastically, fanta...
Back attack
And wack patch you're faxing me
You don't want none
High quality acts should be still standing
Damaging your other manic
Quick reverse
Potent as the first verse
My amplifier blows on your world's higher
World's sire
Cuts like a barbed wire
Record player
I pull up on you every day
Fast forward
I move And I swings forward
Exit load
Put your brain in right mode
Selected mix
The man with perfected fix has lightly bite me
Copy zimmer. Cops' handblocks
You can't knocks some out there
I've been lifting, shifting, persisting
Intelligent kingpin
Keep the strategy
As I roll with Prodigy
With Diesel Power
Blows your mind drastically, fantastically
Blows your mind drastically, fantastically
Blows your mind drastically, fantastically
Blows your mind drastically, fanta...
Mono 706
8073421
Robot sonic
Blows your mind drastically, fantastically
Blows your mind drastically, fantastically
Blows your mind drastically, fantastically
Blows your mind drastically, fantastically
04 Funky Shit (05:16)
Oh my god that's the:
Funky shit!
Oh my god that's the:
Funky shit!
Oh my god that's the:
Funky shit!
Oh my god that's the:
Funky shit!
05 Serial Thrilla (05:11)
Damage destructor
Crowd disrupter
Youth corrupter
Every timer
Damage destructor
Crowd disrupter
Mind liner
Every timer
Taste me, Taste me
Succumb to me, succumb to me
Taste me, Taste me
Succumb to me, succumb to the
Serial thrilla, serious killa...
06 Mindfields (05:39)
This is dangerous..
Open up your head feel the shell-shock.
This is dangerous,
I walk though mindfields, I watch your head rot.
This is dangerous,
Open up your head feel the shell-shock.
This is dangerous..
Open up your head feel the shell-shock.
This is dangerous,
I walk though mindfields, I watch your head rot.
This is dangerous,
Open up your head feel the shell-shock.
This is dangerous,
I walk though mindfields, I watch your head rot.
I watch your head rot.
[Pretty much carries on like this all the way thru..]
07 Narayan (09:05)
If you believe the western sun is falling down on everyone
If you break it free and the morning's come
If you would now your time has come
If you believe the western sun is falling down on everyone
And you feel it burn, don't try to run
And you feel it burn, your time has come
And I feel it
You feel another energy and I feel a power growing
You feel another energy and I feel a power grow
You feel another energy and I feel a power grow
If you believe the western sun is falling down on everyone
If you break it free and the morning's come
If you would now your time has come
If you believe the western sun is falling down on everyone
And you feel it burn, don't try to run
And you feel it burn, your time has come
I feel it!
You feel another energy and I feel a power growing
You feel another energy and I feel a power grow
You feel another energy and I feel a power grow
Om Namah Narayana
Om Namah Narayana
Om Namah Narayana
Om Namah Narayana
Om Namah Narayana
I feel it
I feel it
You feel another energy...
08 Firestarter (04:41)
I'm the trouble starter, punkin' instigator.
I'm the fear addicted and danger illustrated.
I'm a firestarter, twisted firestarter,
You're the firestarter, twisted firestarter.
I'm a firestarter, twisted firestarter,
I'm the bitch you hated, filth infatuated-yeah.
I'm the pain you tasted, well intoxicated.
I'm a firestarter, twisted firestarter,
You're the firestarter, twisted firestarter.
I'm the self inflicted, mine detonator-yeah
I'm the one infected, twisted animator.
I'm a firestarter, twisted firestarter,
You're the firestarter, twisted firestarter.
I'm a firestarter, twisted firestarter,
Starter... starter... starter...
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Other reviews
By Jurassic tunity
For those 55 minutes I felt DIVINE.
10 songs, 10 milestones, 10 seals.
By DeAnonymous
Every time I put this record in the stereo, I feel like dancing like crazy.
If you haven’t heard it yet, listen to it because it will make you jump not just 2 but 500 times around the house and also outside.
By Jack_85
A CD that hardens your nerves and makes the veins in your neck swell, providing little oxygen to your cerebellum.
'Breathe'. More than a breath. This is a great spit in the face.
By GATTINATOR
The quintessential fusion of dance and rock, or rather technorock!
After almost 10 years, this record is still going strong and there’s still someone singing them!
By kaisar
"Smack My Bitch Up is, in my opinion, one of this group’s most successful tracks."
"It’s a good album nonetheless, but in my opinion not up to the previous ones."
