'Charly' had been in Prodigy's live set since the first gig in The Labyrinth, East London. "I wrote 'Charly' after I'd been larging it up at the Barn, Friday night," Liam explained. "Saturday morning was always a real fragile time after the drugs from the night before. ... I was probably still off my head, but I just thought it would be mad to do a track out of that (Charly ad) for people who remembered the advert. I also thought it would mess with people's heads a little bit - you know, this voice from your childhood giving a good advice in the middle of a fucking rave." The vocal sample was taken from 1970s public information film 'Say No To Strangers'. The voice of sample was by British radio DJ Kenny Everett who actually tried to sue the band afterwards for the sampling. The original version was included on the ten track demo tape which Liam had sent to XL-Recordings but it took months for Liam to get song into its final version, the single version. "I wrote that tune and basically played it at Telepathy that night and then went to in and played it to XL. They were like "Yeah, that's the next fucking single." So I went back and did the rest of the EP," remembers Liam in the book "Prodigy" by Martin James.

    The single was a huge chart success for the band, reaching number three position in the single chart and it sold over 200,000 copies in UK alone - the previous single sold healthy 7,000 copies. Even though 'Charly' helped Prodigy's early career a lot, the song itself wasn't the purest Prodigy song. Similar hoover sounds were used by Joey Beltram and it's easy to say that his 'Mentasm', recorded as his Second Phase moniker, had influences on 'Charly'. Also worth mentioning is that the beat on the Alley Cat Mix was similar to Meat Beat Manifesto's 'Radio Babylon'.

    The band got invited to perform at Top Of The Pops but, as well all know, decided to use that kind of marketing methods to promote their single. 'Charly' was actually co-produced by Chas Stevens who also wanted royalties for 'Charly'. The funny thing is that Liam claimed that Stevens ripped them off when they were recording Cut To Kill's album.

    Tracks

    The original mix had been in Prodigy's set from their first gig, The re-mixed version which could be said to be more danceable was titled as Alley Cat Mix. There are three different versions of Alley Cat Mix - 7" Edit which was available on seven-inch single, the extended mix which and a special 7" Mix which lasts 5:05 and is available on 'Hardcore Ecstrasy' compilation.

    The whole EP was very strong, since Liam thought that the A-side would not gain underground plays he wrote two very hard rave tunes for B-sides. 'Pandemonium' was breakbeat based beast which sampled Big Daddy Kane's 'Set It Of'. Liam also used a sampler CD called 'Time & Space - Jungle Warfare Samples #1' on this tune. 'Your Love' became a real rave classic. The song was slower than most Prodigy songs and it was heavily based a round hypnotic piano line. The song samples Circuit's 'Shelter Me'. 'Charly' was remixed by Chicago DJ and producer Joey Beltram for the US release.

    Releases

    The song was released by XL-Recordings as 12" (XLT 21), 7" (XLS 21), cassette (XLC 21) and CD (XLS 21 CD). The 12" commercial single, of which promo copies also were pressed, is relatively valuable single its pressing plates have been lost a long time ago and so it isn't available anymore. In the Netherlands the single was release by Torso Dance as 12" (TORSO 12201) and CD (TORSO CD201). In Germany the single was released by Intercord as 12" promo (INT 192.744) and commercial 12" (INT 110.926), 7" jukebox single with a picture sleeve (INT 110.926) and CD (INT 825.921). There is a mysterious 12-inch single available which is made by GFB / S.I.A.E. (GFB 022) (pictured on right).

    The band signed a record deal with a US label Elektra soon after 'Charly' had been a hit in the UK. The single was released in the States as double A-side single Charly / Everybody In The Place and it was released as 12" (0-66411) and CD (66411-2).
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