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Rating: For some time I had been scouring the Internet for information to find out when the release date of The Prodigy's greatest hits would be. In my heart, I didn't exactly know why I was so interested, having already the entire discography of the Essex band at home and then some... I just thought: "I have to have it, I have to have the deluxe version!" I had a feeling this was the right time, that this time I wouldn't regret buying another record, despite the disappointments many artists have given me over the past few years.
On October 17, I went to Fnac in Verona in the afternoon. I knew the tracklist. I knew the price. I knew the non-limited edition. I saw the copies of the double pack. Taken.
The cover is dark, glossy, made of cardboard, and inside there's the plastic sleeve of a CD and... a little booklet? I open it and gaze at the stunning photos of Howlett & co.'s career, the biography described by a critic with different quotes from interviews with Liam himself. Good, very good.
I wanted the acid test: I take out CD 2 from the package and press play: "Razor", one of the new tracks, begins. Violent, with a slightly retro feel, with Keith Flint screeching wildly over the line of guitars and synths and I realize I have something in my hands that truly satisfies me. The next song is "Back 2 Skool", which I liked so much at the Flippaut in Bologna this summer, and it's new, very heavy, energetic, varied. The remix of "Voodoo People" by Pendulum is drum & bass oriented, very appealing. Then there are "Vooodoo Beats", a sort of "remix of a remix of one's own track" (Voodoo People remixed by the Chemical Brothers re-edited by The Prodigy), "No Man Army", performed with Tom Morello of Rage Against The Machine for the soundtrack of the movie Spawn (this version is without vocal lines, though: the original version is "One Man Army") and the live versions of "Their Law", immense, and "Serial Thrilla"... The other rarities were tracks I was more or less familiar with, of excellent craftsmanship, from "Molotov Bitch", the b-side of the Firestarter single, to "Your Love". The only track that didn't quite convince me is the Audiobullys remix of "Out Of Space", a song that was fine as it was, in my opinion. The length of CD 2 is absolutely substantial and satisfying. Now it's up to CD 1.
The masterpieces of a band that surprised, sparked, and pissed off a lot of people.
From "Firestarter", a real turning point in the career of the English trio, to "Their Law", which, even though never released as a single, remains one of the fans' favorite songs, especially when played live. We find the old hits of the early nineties like "Jericho" and "Out Of Space", the irreverent "Charly", the raw sound attacks of "Poison" and "No Good", up to the classics "Breathe" and "Smack My Bitch Up" and the singles from the latest album "Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned" including "Girls" and "Spitfire".
A true encyclopedia of the years marked by raves, techno, acid-house, old-school hip-hop, punk, and rock & roll and a lot of innovative aggressiveness.
A complete work that reminded me of a time when making a record meant putting your soul and your own courage into it. If only there were still artists who, like Howlett, cleverly gamble their reputation by shocking the world but getting loved in return!
So please, let's go back, let's go back to the '90s...
YOU CAN STILL RISK BUYING A CD
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