'Minefields' was meant to be the follow-up single after 'Firestarter'. The first test pressings were made in June 1996 by XL Recordings. 'Minefields' was big beat-ish track which came into Prodigy's live set in 1996. It was kind of similar to 'Poison' with Maxim's simple but effective vocals on it. Around the time of its release there were different kinds of rumors about the single - the single would be limited edition release, that the track would have been recorded in Jilted era and that Liam would take his music back to the underground.

    No matter what was the truth, only a strictly limited number of promos were pressed and given away to journalist and radio stations. And then suddenly, the single release was cancelled. Many thought that Liam was under heavy pressure for recording the album and because of their record company. The truth was that Liam thought that 'Minefields' was an album track - not a good single release. For some (unknown) reason the title of the song was later changed into 'Mindfields'.

    Liam explained the withdrawn in the book "Prodigy" (by Martin James) by saying: "I known there was a lot of shit said about it. It was all crap, to be honest. The only reason I kept the single back was because I decided that follow-on from 'Firestarter' had to be stronger. I know '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'." Then a few months later Prodigy topped the charts with 'Breathe'.

    Tracks

    The advance cassettes and white labels which were pressed contained four mixes. Radio edit, full length version, head rock beats and Monkey Mafia remix. The radio edit version isn't available on any commercial release, the full length version made its way to the album, 'The Fat Of The Land'. Headrock dub of 'Mindfields' was released on 'Smack My Bitch Up' single but it's unknown is headrock dub the same as headrock beats which was available on test pressings. Monkey Mafia remix was done by DJ Jon Carter.

    Releases

    In June 1996 XL Recordings pressed promo advance cassettes (XL 76) and 12" white labels (XLT 76). The promos were very limited and there are somewhere from 100 to 300 copies of advance cassettes (the number of copies varies depending on the source) and only five whites around! Both promos contained the same tracks but the advance cassette had a photocopied cover and inlay (as pictured on right). Four of the five 12" whites are in XL's vaults but one copy was given away to Jon Carter who remixed the track - so he owns the most valuable Prodigy record in the world (Record Collector magazine said that the record is worth £200+ but be prepared to pay a lot more - if you find a copy). Monkey Mafia remix was released on 'Fresh Packed Cuts' promo sampler in October 1996 (2,000 copies made).

    There is also a French Delabel promo CD (DE 4061) which contains the album version of the song. Monkey Mafia remix was released on 12" white label - which isn't official release, but this white label release is easy to find. Prodigy's US label Maverick released a CD-R promo in 1999 which contained four different mixes: Mindfields (Edit) (03:07), Mindfields (Edit w/ Long Bridge) (03:15), Mindfields (Edit w/ Long Intro) (03:19) and Mindfields (Edit w/ Long Intro & Long Bridge) (03:27). It is unknown if Liam has done these mixes which basically are only slightly different and only variations of the album version, but I would assume that Liam hasn't done these mixes.
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