Prodigy Experience CD

This version of the Prodigy album EXPERIENCE includes a bonus disc of remixes and B-sides.

This vinly reissue of The Prodigy's first LP transports you back to a time in the early '90s when it seemed as if rave and electronic dance music might obliterate guitar-based rock from the charts for good. That swaggering, aggressive confidence still permeates EXPERIENCE's 12 tracks. FAT OF THE LAND, which unfurled hits like "Firestarter" and "Breathe" on a ready public, made Liam Howlett's project a household name, but it was 1992's EXPERIENCE that laid the groundwork for The Prodigy's scabrous mixture of hardcore beats and punk melody. Opener "Jericho"'s sampled cry to "keep on dancin'" sets a tone that persists throughout the album. While that and tracks like "Wind it Up" are fairly straightforward hardcore rave invectives, sneakier songs like "Out of Space" (with its Max Romeo samples and "Guns of Brixton"-like boing-boing sounds), and "Weather Experience," prove more expansive. It's easy to hear why EXPERIENCE remains one of the primary documents of a time, place, and sound.

This two-disc expanded reissue of The Prodigy's first LP transports you back to a time in the early '90s when it seemed as if rave and electronic dance music might obliterate guitar-based rock from the charts for good. That swaggering, aggressive confidence still permeates EXPERIENCE's 12 tracks, as well as the 11 tracks of remixes and rarities that make up the second disc. FAT OF THE LAND, which unfurled hits like "Firestarter" and "Breathe" on a more-than-ready consumer public, made Liam Howlett's project a household name, but it was 1992's EXPERIENCE that first laid the groundwork for The Prodigy's scabrous mixture of hardcore beats and punk melody. Opener "Jericho"'s sampled cry to "keep on dancin'" sets a tone that persists throughout the album. While that and tracks like "Wind it Up" are fairly straightforward hardcore rave invectives, sneakier songs like "Out of Space" (with its Max Romeo samples and "Guns of Brixton"-like boing-boing sounds), and the Top Buzz remix of "Weather Experience," prove more expansive. It's easy to hear why EXPERIENCE remains one of the primary documents of a time, place, and sound.

One of the few noncompilation rave albums of any worth, Experience balances a supply of top-this siren whistles and chipmunk divas with Liam Howlett's surprising flair for constructing track after track of intense breakbeat techno. Almost every song sounds like a potential chart-topper (circa 1992, of course) while the true singles "Your Love," "Charly," "Music Reach," and "Out of Space" add that extra bit of energy to the fray. More than just a relic of the rave experience, Experience shows the Prodigy near the peak of their game from the get-go. [An expanded edition doubled the runtime of the original, offering copious remixes only included previously on CD-5 or 12".] ~ John Bush

Prodigy's debut album, Experience, is now reissued in a special 2 CD edition. Disc 1 is the Experience album digitally remastered; disc 2 is the expanded bonus album compiled of remixes and single b-sides, including the rave classic Charly Alley Cat remix. This 2 CD set, in a double slimline jewelbox, now includes all the original mixes of the band's first five U.K. top 10 hits. 2001 XL release.

Additional personnel includes: Simone (vocals).

All tracks have been digitally remastered.

The Prodigy: Liam Howlett, MC Maxim, Keith Flint, Leeroy Thornhill.

Personnel: Simone (vocals); Liam Howlett (keyboards).

Audio Remasterer: Mike Marsh.Spin (9/01, p.166) - 9 out of 10 - "...A radical enhancement of a bona fide classic....a blast."
Entertainment Weekly (1/8/93, p.54) - "...frenetic, hypercreative electro-jams..." - Rating: B
Q (12/92, p.133) - 3 Stars - Good - "..a debut album full of experimentation...demonstrates Prodigy's ability to write simple hooks and play them at mental velocity.."
Q (Magazine) (p.117) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "[I]t echoes the ecstatic aggro of punk and garage rock: good time music with a manic, riotous edge."
Record Collector (magazine) (p.83) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "[L]ike a runaway E-train peppered with proto-jungle breakbeats, euphoric piano, fairground keyboards and manic vocal samples, all forged by studio mastermind Liam Howlett."