THE PRODIGY ALWAYS OUTNUMBERED, NEVER OUTGUNNED ALBUM XL RELEASE: AUGUST 23, 2004 REVIEW: AUGUST 17, 2004

To say that The Prodigy have a lot of expectations heaped upon them is an understatement. This album has taken forever to make, and Liam Howlett – who is actually the only musician in The Prodigy these days – even scratched it completely at one time, only to start over again. Liam felt he was stuck in his studio until he found the music software Reason, and discovered he could make music on his laptop wherever he was. According to an interview, this totally reinvigorated him and allowed him to finish the album. Good for Liam, but I’m not fully happy with the results.
The Prodigy’s albums have always been filled with so-so tracks amongst the better ones, and that’s very much the case here.
The songs here are a mix of electronica, punk and hip-hop, which could be an interesting combination. It starts off in style with “Spitfire”, a pretty recognizable Prodigy tune featuring big beats and memorable shouting. The following track “Girls” is an eighties-sounding electroclashy number that’s actually pretty catchy. From here, things become a bit shaky, and inviting such has-beens as actress Juliette Lewis and the rocking Gallagher brothers doesn’t do much to entice me either.
However, props to Liam for not just repeating the old Prodigy sound. It's not crap, but I can’t find any real gems here, and many of the tracks consist only of fixed grooves and rarely break out into songs.
“Medusas Path” however, is an interesting instrumental, marred only by the whining Aphex “Ventolin”-styled synth lead prevalent throughout it. ”The Way It Is” borrows heavily from ”Thriller” by Michael Jackson, and the funk comes almost entirely from one sample, while the rest is rather bland.
This is not the old Prodigy, but most probably this is what’s needed for them to move on. It's really a shame that "Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned" took so long to complete. If it had come out four years ago, it might have been received differently.

JOHAN CARLSSON