I like to listen to music, heck i used to DJ and produce it as well. The stuff i listen to gets rated using the iTunes stars-rating-system in my car and in the train while i listen to my iPod. This is the first review I'm doing based on the star-ratings i give in iTunes, you can use it to perhaps buy an entire album or just buy individual tracks.
Last week i bought the new Prodigy album from the iTunes store, "Invaders must die", after a girlfriend recommended it to me. She told me to check it out because i really like the old skool Prodigy sound (Charly, Out of Space, etc.). I even produced some mashups as Soundbites. You might say I'm a bit of a fan from the early days.
Sitting in front of my laptop i listened to the too-short 30 second previews from the iTunes store, the first couple of tracks sounded like the "Voodoo People" remix from Pendulum. It sounded ok, then i heard some old skool beats with some old skool sounds and a massive bassline! It was decided, i immediately bought the whole album. A couple of days later i put the album onto my iPod and started listening and rating the individual tracks.
Track rating of "Invaders must die"
The first two titles are massive sounding clean produced tracks which have a Pendulum versus Prodigy sound to them. There are a couple of other tracks which also sound that way and it is not quite what i like and thus have received a lower rating (2-stars). If you like Pendulum and the Prodigy, this is the album for you. Massive beats, with the ever so recognizable snare drum and well produced.
Then there are what i think are the old skool tracks and of-course are my favorites, less well produced and with beats from the 90's. "Take me to the hospital" has it all, rave, bassline, a beat that sounds like it came from the "Fat of the land"-album, vocals, reggae and a police siren which has been skewed and is dangerous to listen in a car because you think the police is chasing you. Then there is "Warrior's Dance" (4-star) which is simply amazing, when i first listened to it it gave me goosebumps, twice! Old skool beat from waaaay in the beginning of the nineties, screaming "drum and bass" bassline, a catchy female vocal but best of all at the very end there is an air horn! You cannot rave without an airhorn! The other three tracks that have gotten a 3-star rating are; "Omen-reprise", It gets 3-stars because I'm a big sucker for Vangelis, it's like track 2 but without the beats and a lot more synth, building up to a climax. "World's on fire" is so so in the beginning but then a very recognizable rave sample is used and i get goosebumps all over again! btw the rave sample has been taken from Vamp from Outlander. Finally, "Stand up" is just nicely experimental (3-star again).
Although i don't think every track is as good, i have found a couple which have become favorites. To me the Prodigy have proven that they are still the kings of rave.