The Prodigy – More Music For The Jilted Generation

Also interesting is that the digital version misses the Radio 1 Maida Vale Session tracks.
So if you want to here those tracks, don't buy the digital version without thinking.

i suggest buy the singles instead? some b sides missing here... i have nearly all singles of prodigy.. except `what evil lurks` `spitfire` and a couple off invaders must die.. which came out when the cd single was pretty much deceased.

The original 1994 version is one of the best-sounding and incredibly-mastered electronic albums of the 90s, sounding great on big stereo systems as well as on headphones. It never clips and has great "auditory spaciousness, which it doesn't lose when you turn it up loud. So why would anyone want to touch this and remaster the crap out of it and thus taking those qualities away from it?

Break & Enter 2005 is amazing, but... where the hell is Rhythm Of Life, the absolute piece of electronic heaven???

It was only a matter of time until the meeting of rock and techno. DJs realized that hardcore or breakbeat didn’t have the monopoly on rebellion and underground. Even with loops and samplers, such a ground had was largely cleared by punk in the 70s and 80s.
Liam Howlett was one of the first to make this observation and, above all, to put it into practice.
The rock fan was able to enjoy himself, finding in electronics the salutary electro-shock to this sacrosanct guitar-bass-drum formula. As for the techno fan, he delights in the demonic beats devoured by these sonic alchemists.

Then, why was The Prodigy one of the first to play sorcerer’s apprentice crossing genres, coming from the world of rave parties, playing fast-paced breakbeat on epileptic tempos ?
Following the popularity of the free parties and their clandestine and noisy demonstrations, the British government introduced severe restrictions called the “Criminal Justice Bill” which imposed a drastic reduction in the sound volume during technoid rallies.
As a result, the movement is becoming compromised, the restricted volume is so low that the music becomes secondary, unable to cover the sound of the voices.
For Liam, this bill marks the outright killing of the kind. It’s impossible to redo the same music under such conditions, so you have to look for another source of inspiration. He will find it during the world tour started with his band two years ago. They witnessed the rise of the grunge mania and realized that the electric guitar is an amazing tool for expressing anger and frustration.

Therefore, it’s when inspired by a host of artists and crossovers of all kinds that Prodigy’s brain gets to work. Exit naive melodies pianoed on Bontempi, formless tracksuits and youth's indolence. Salutations to hate.
Hatred against the government that massacred the music he loves.
So let’s move on to more threatening riffs: the dry notes of Nirvana’s “Very Ape” that will be sampled in “Voodoo People”, a key choon with an alienating rhythm that has become an inescapable electronic music anthem.
Then comes hip-hop protest phrases: Pop Will Eat Itself come to talk with a raging and martial guitar about the cult “Their Law”.

This melting pot of riffs, rhymes and rhythms lasts for almost 80 minutes, and "Music For The Jilted Generation" was the first Prodigy's big beat LP, before "The Fat of the Land" democratized it.

However, this second recording of The Prodigy is not just a political album. It is mostly Liam’s technical masterpiece, the one that brings the most influences, the one that offers the most variety in atmospheres.
From the sticky and vicious scans of “Poison” to the unbridled pace of “One Love”, from the underground vibes of “No Good” to the tripping jungle of “Full Throttle”, from the torpor of “3 Kilos” to the urgency of “The Heat”, this record testifies the band's maturity and emancipation.
Daring to break free from the shackles of electronic music, the combo dares to take a frontal approach live very rock, as evidenced by the clip of “Poison” where we see Liam squatting the drums and Maxim” rocking the microphone while a psychotic Keith Flint rolls in the mud.

An astonishing record that is even better with a second service thanks to this "More Music for the Jilted Generation" version.
If the first live tracks are good, the real interest goes from tunes n°5 to 9. There's notably two "Poison" B-sides : "Rat Poison", which really previews the sound of "TFOFL" for me and the industrial techno madness of "Scienide". Of course, there's also the Chemical "Dust" Brothers remix of "Voodoo People", which Howlett would remix as well and name it "Voodoo Beats".
I just wish they added a few more tunes as it lasts only 50 minutes. A few rare tracks such as "Rhythm of Life", the Haiti Island remix of "Voodoo People" and/or Environmental Science's "Dub mix" of "Poison" might have been welcomed there.