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THE FAT OF THE LAND Firestarter The first Prodigy track that included Keith in vocals. The song was inspired by Foo Fighters' song 'Beenie Weenie'. 'Firestarter' uses a guitar sample from 'SOS' by Breeders. "Hey-hey-hey" sample is taken from 'Close To The Edit' performed by The Art Of Noise and the beat is sampled from 'Time & Space - Jungle Warfare Samples #1' sample CD. 'Firestarter' was Prodigy's first UK number one single. Keith: "When I first did Firestarter, I felt: 'Fucking'hell, Liam has made me like myself for the first time.'" A remix by Empirion. Molotov Bitch The original title of this song might have been 'Come Correct'. Mindfields 'Mindfields' main riff is taken from James Bond movie 'The Man With The Golden Gun'. Originally 'Mindfields' was titled 'Minefields'. It was going to be the follow-up single after 'Firestarter' and in June 1996 ten 12" white labels and 150-200 advance cassettes were made but it was never released as a commercial single. Later Liam felt that 'Mindfields' was an album track and didn't want to release it as a single. The white labels aren't available but one copy was given to Jon Carter who remixed 'Minefields'. Liam explained the withdawn of the single by saying: "The only reason I kept the single back was because I decided that the follow-on from 'Firestarter' had to be stronger. I known 'Minefields' is a good track, but it's slow-building track that isn't direct. I decided that I wanted the next single to have a kick like 'Firestarter' without being 'Firestarter Part 2'." A remix by Monkey Mafia (aka Jon Carter). This version of 'Minefields' is more easy to find than other mixes which were on the original promos. It's available on XL Recordings' promotional sampler 'Fresh Packed Cuts' and 12-inch white label. It's unknown what is the difference (if any) between the Headrock Dub and Headrock Beats versions. This version appeared on Maverick CD-R promo but I don't believe that it's done by Liam. This version appeared on Maverick CD-R promo but I don't believe that it's done by Liam. This version appeared on Maverick CD-R promo but I don't believe that it's done by Liam. This version appeared on Maverick CD-R promo but I don't believe that it's done by Liam. Breathe Liam actually wrote 'Breathe' before 'Firestarter' the band performed 'Breathe' live as a instrumental song for months but later Keith and Maxim wrote lyrics for the song. Originally 'Breathe's title was 'Psychosomatic'. The sword sample is taken from Wu-Tang Clan's 'Da Mystery Of Chessboxin'. According to the book 'Music For The Voodoo People' Prodigy sampled 'Ghost Town' by The Specials in 'Breathe' but this information has not been confirmed. Liam: "I wanted to create beats using the punching sounds from kung fu films, but I tried it and it didn't really work, so then I sampled the swords and made the rhythm up from that." Maxim: "When we play 'Breathe' in the set it just sparks something off. It's a combination of the audience, the sound, the track, it's incredible." The Trick Contains a sample from the Flash Gordon soundtrack. One Man Army (featuring Tom Morello) Tom Morello used to be the guitarist of Rage Against The Machine, current a member of Audio Slave. Tom and Liam never actually met during the song writing process. Liam: "It's a very simple track. It's just like Tom and me grooving on this track. He's very experimental. He's got some scratchy stuff he does with a guitar and it's quite a slow groove. It was written for the film. It's nothing too complicated. I literally had about four days so it was kind of rushed. I was happy with the results but I wish I had another week on it to really sculpture it." Tom Morello: "It was difficult to get our schedules to mix, so I called up Liam and I said 'Why don't you just send me a track, and I'll put some guitar on it.' He suggested that I should just send him a DAT of some fucked up guitar and I said, 'Well, that's easy. That's my specialty.'" Smack My Bitch Up Contains a sample from 'Give The Drummer Some' by Ultramagnetic MC's. Female vocals by Shahin Bada. 'Smack My Bitch Up' contains same samples that Liam used in 'Crazy Man' in 1991. Liam: "It's basically the most pointless song I've ever written in my life, but it's probably one of the most exiciting." Liam: "For us, it's just about doing what we want, doing it our way, having fun. That's our way of just having fun. But it's serious in other ways. It's not a joke. This song isn't meant to be taken like a joke. It's a hard song. The sample just works. There's not really one explanation why I put it in there." This is edit was done by Maverick for US radio stations. This remix was originally released on Muzik magazine's give-away CD in December 1997 but it later appeared on 12-inch white label called 'London Underground #1'. The first acetate while labels were made in 1998. Only five copies were made and they were given to Paul Oakenfold, Sasha, Nick Warren, Liam Howlett and Slacker. Since Liam didn't like the remix it was never commercially released. Later this remix has appeared on bootleg 12-inches. Diesel Power Vocals by Kool Keith. He got 40 grand for doing the vocals. Liam: "It's a good hard tune." Quarashi are an Icelandic rock-rap group. Band's producer and drummer Sölvi Blondal remixed Prodigy's 'Diesel Power' in 1999. The remix hasn't been released. Funky Shit Uses a sample from 'Root Down' by The Beastie Boys. Also contains a sample from 'Theme From S.W.A.T.' performed by Rhythm Heritage. There was a rumour that it cost £6,000 to use the Beastie Boys sample. Liam: "Something I do when I'm writing music is to picture Maxim or Keith performing to it, and with this track I pistured Leeroy doing his breakdancing-type stuff." The French promo CD by Delabel record label is the only record which is known to include the edit of 'Funky Shit'. It's unknown wether the edit is done by Liam or not. A remix by Mickey Finn. This remix is available only on 'Mixmag Presents The Takeover Bid' compilation and the LP version contains an un-mixed version. Serial Thrilla The guitar riff is taken from 'Selling Jesus' by Skunk Anansie. Some guitar riffs were written by Tom Morello, the guitarist of Rage Against The Machine. 'Serial Thrilla' was the last track written for 'The Fat Of The Land'. Narayan Vocals by Crispian Mills of Kula Shaker. Originally 'Narayan' was meant to be titled 'Western Sun' but after the Chemical Brothers did 'Setting Sun' Liam decided to change the song title. Liam originally wanted to work with Perry Farrell from Porno For Pyros but that collaboration did not work out. In late 1997 Liam said in an interview that his friends had said to him that he should release 'Narayan' as a single. Apparently the song was never released as a single but the edit of the song exists. Climbatize 'Climbatize' was originally written for the Perry Farrell collaboration. Farrell wanted the Prodigy to take part on his Lollapalooza tour and then Liam wanted Farrell to be a guest vocalist on Prodigy album. At first Farrell was very interested in working with Liam but when Liam noticed that they couldn't do the tour Farrell didn't want to take part in Liam's work. Liam wanted to get rid off the song but eventually it ended up on the album as instrumental version. A dance act called Jedi Knights claimed that Liam had lifted a loop from their song 'Drums From Outer Bongolia'. Liam soon noticed that Jedi Knights had not written the loop themselves - instead they had sampled the beat from The Incredible Bongo Band's 'Bongolia Beat' even though Jedi Knights claimed that they had written it. Liam offered to do a Prodigy remix to them but they declined. Soon Jedi Knights were sued by Goerge Lucas (the creator of "Star Wars") because "Jedi" was one of his trade marks. The song contains a sample from 'The Horn Track' performed by Egyptian Empire. Liam sampled 'The Horn Track' already in 1992 on his remix of The Time Frequency's 'Retribution 93'. Liam: "The only totally instrumental track on the album. I think that it's important, it gives you some breathing space. It's not a single, it's not meant to be filler, it's an atmospheric vibe, another angle." Years later Liam admited: "I just overworked it, man. Originally it was this building track, no verse or chorus or that, but I made it too straight, really. I wish I'd kept the original version." Fuel My Fire A cover track of L7's song. Background vocals by Saffron from Republica. Liam: "Keith came round to my house one day with this L7 tune and he reckoned it would work. We recorded it, and I thought, no, it's not gonna go on the album. But later I thought, yeah. It's definitelly gonna be a track people won't like, but I like it." Ghost Town 'Ghost Town' is a cover song, originally performed by The Specials who were Liam's and Maxim's heroes years before the Prodigy. The song was originally meant to be released on 'The Fat Of The Land' but because Liam was unhappy with his recording and because Tricky had also just did a cover version of the song and Liam felt that it would be too fresh in people's minds. Prodigy performed the song live a few times in 1998 and 1999. The song was finally released in 2002 on a charity album called '1 Love'. Take Me On 'Take Me On' was a collaboration with Skin from Skun Anansie. Prodigy originally wanted to work with Skin when 'Music For The Jilteds Generation' was released but the collaboration took place a few years later. The title of the track was unknown for years and Prodigy have never performed it live and it hasn't been released on any record. The song was dropped from the album because is sounded too poppy. Skin, however, worked with Maxim on his solo project when she did vocals for 'Carmen Queasy'. Liam: "I really like her voice but what she did on my track just didn't work well wénough to be released. It was just too commercial, kind of sell-out song. Actually I never even said it was going to be on the album, but she told everyone. So I didn't exactly drop it; I didn't know what the final track listing was goign to be until it was finished, so that Skin track was never a definite." |