Three 65, Day 7
Prodigy, The Fat Of The Land

...And we come up on a week's worth of albums with Prodigy (or The Prodigy, or whatever). Highly touted as the album that would break electronica through to the masses, something which thankfully never happened, The Fat Of The Land was one of the most highly awaited releases of 1997, and stood proudly alongside a number of other distinguished records released during that summer (Radiohead, Ween, Faith No More... what can I say, it was quite a fucking year).

Preceded by the singles "Firestarter" and "Breathe," the latter having dropped to MTV almost a year before the album, The Fat Of The Land was a change in tone for Prodigy. Their previous albums had been almost straight-up rave techno, with little to no guitar or live drumming to distinguish them from the other electronica albums dribbling out of the UK at the time. This new album, however, changed all that.

Things kick off with the controversial "Smack My Bitch Up," which features a sample of the Ultramagnetic MC's "Give The Drummer Some." A lot of people bitched (pun most definitely intended) about the content of this song, including the Beastie Boys - who proved themselves to be the worst kind of hypocrites - which is funny, because the song has no content. It's just a techno instrumental with a couple of hip-hop samples thrown in for good measure. Please, people, don't get your panties in a bunch.

The next track is "Breathe," one of the few tracks featuring vocalist Keith Flint. A furious stomp of Wu-Tang Clan samples, kung-fu noises, and whirlwind guitar, "Breathe" is probably the band's best moment. Elsewhere, "Diesel Power" features rapper Kool Keith, who, thanks to the popularity of the recently released Dr. Octagon album, was the go-to guy for hip-hop guest appearances.

The album does get bogged down toward the middle; I can't lie about that. "Serial Thrilla," "Mindfields," and "Narayan" are just boring tracks, no two ways about it. But things pick up again with the aforementioned "Firestarter," which was considered controversial at the time of its release due to its supposed glorification of pyromania and "threatening" video. Again: don't get your knickers in a twist, people. It's just a techno track.

The Fat Of The Land closes with a cover of L7's "Fuel My Fire," an apt selection and another blend of guitar and beats that works well. After the album's release, this sound was mostly abandoned by the band, and their follow-ups have been pale imitations of this record. Which is sad, because The Fat Of The Land proved that electronica, when done with the right bit of flavor, could be a viable genre in the US.