Experience was the debut album by The Prodigy, released on 28 September 1992. Until then, the band was only one of many on the blossoming British rave scene. However, this very first LP became their breakthrough and immediately distinguished them from their peers due to the whole set of memorable tracks and the general creativity of their approach to sampling.
Fittingly for the first release, Experience was playful hardcore breakbeat with samples galore. As a result, this album was somewhat of a Trope Maker for the dance music album, because previously electronic/rave bands never managed to release an album full of worthwhile material.
6 songs off this album were released as singles (including a double A-side single, "Fire"/"Jericho"). The first, pre-album, single, "Charly", appearing in August 1991, reached the 3rd place in the British hit-parade and caused controversy with some critics slamming it. However, the following single, "Everybody in the Place" (released in the very end of 1991), reached the 2nd position in the same chart, making it clear clear that The Prodigy were not a one-hit wonder. Later, "Out of Space" became a very successful song complete with a popular video.
Tracklist
- Jericho (3:42)
- Music Reach (1/2/3/4) (4:12)
- Wind It Up (4:33)
- Your Love (Remix) (5:30)
- Hyperspeed (G-Force Part 2) (5:16)
- Charly (Trip into Drum and Bass Version) (5:12)
- Out of Space (4:57)
- Everybody in the Place (155 and Rising) (4:10)
- Weather Experience (8:06)
- .Fire (Sunrise Version) (4:57)
- Ruff in the Jungle Bizness (5:10)
- Death of the Prodigy Dancers (Live) (3:43)
"I'll take your tropes to another dimension":
- Biblical Motifs: "Jericho" with the words "the horns of Jericho".
- Broken Record:
- "Keep on dancing" on "Jericho".
- The phrase "Ruff in a jungle" is repeated many times on the penultimate track as a near-Title Drop.
- Downer Ending: Played with. At least the last track bears the name "Death of the Prodigy Dancers", Although it is still live. However the final seconds imply that something unpleasant might have happened.
- Epic Rocking: "Weather Experience" is over 8 minutes long.
- Fading into the Next Song: "Jericho" → "Music Reach" → "Wind It Up".
- Meaningful Name: For Liam Howlett, it was a new experience to make a whole album of music. Same for the rave scene, which mostly reached out to its audience through compilations.
- Minimalistic Cover Art: Indeed. The sleeve is completely white with only three words: The, Experience, Prodigy .
- Last Note Nightmare: "Death of the Prodigy Dancers" ends with the sudden "Oh, no" by an MC, random whistles from the audience and fading heartbeat.
- Lighter and Softer: In comparison to everything they would release later.
- No Ending: The album's last track, "Death of the Prodigy Dancers (Live)", ends too abruptly.
- One-Word Title:
- Experience proper.
- Definitely "Jericho"
- Also, "Charly" and "Fire" play with this trope. Official track names contain indications of the versions present on the album, but the songs themselves are named by one word.
- Sampling:
- On "Fire" Liam Howlett samples by the song of the same name by Arthur Brown."I am the god of hellfire and I bring you FIRE!"
- On "Fire" Liam Howlett samples by the song of the same name by Arthur Brown.
- Soprano and Gravel: "Ruff in the Jungle Bizness", where the girl sings while the guy repeats the title in a coarse voice.
- Trope Maker: As an album by a rave band which sounded like an actual full-fledged LP.Moby: "Dance albums had always failed [...] because they didn't work over the full length of the record. Mostly they were singles collections which was exactly what I didn't want to do[...]Experience impressed me because they'd managed to create a full listening experience which encompassed various styles."
- Xtreme Kool Letterz: "Ruff in the Jungle Bizness".
