Experience (The Prodigy album)

Experience (also known as The Prodigy Experience) is the debut studio album by English electronic music group the Prodigy. It was first released on 28 September 1992 by XL Recordings in the United Kingdom and by Elektra Records in the United States.

Experience
Studio album by the Prodigy
Released	28 September 1992
Recorded	1991-1992
Studio	Earthbound Studios The Strongroom
Genre	Breakbeat hardcore rave^[1]
Length	59:28 56:54 (Expanded) 65:25 (Expanded UK bonus tracks)
Label	XL Elektra
Producer	Liam Howlett
The Prodigy chronology
What Evil Lurks (1991) Experience (1992) Music for the Jilted Generation (1994)
Singles from Experience
"Charly" Released: 12 August 1991 "Everybody in the Place" Released: 23 December 1991 "Fire/Jericho" Released: 14 September 1992 "Out of Space" Released: 9 November 1992 "Wind It Up (Rewound)" Released: 5 April 1993

Album information

Liam Howlett was the sole composer; of the additional three members at that time, only Maxim Reality actually contributed to the album, performing the vocals on the last track. A wide variety of artists in the breakbeat hardcore scene in the early 1990s are given respect and namechecked in the sleeve notes of the album, including SL2, Carl Cox, Moby, Tim Westwood, Orbital and Aphex Twin.^[2] Experience peaked at No. 12 in the UK Albums Chart and went on to achieve platinum status in that country. It also went gold in Poland.

Reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	^[1]
Christgau's Consumer Guide	^[3]
Entertainment Weekly	B^[4]
Mojo	^[5]
Philadelphia Inquirer	^[6]
Q	^[7]
Record Collector	^[8]
Select	5/5^[9]
Spin	9/10^[10]

From contemporary reviews, Kris Needs of NME declared that "the time-pod to enable future generations to get a handle on what happened in 1992, The Prodigy's debut album will be a much safer bet to illustrate the Rave Phenomenon than any half-assed "40 Bowel-Erupting Rave Greats" compilation. If only to show what killed it, some would say."^[11]

Experience received very positive reviews upon its release. AllMusic gave the album 5 out of 5 stars, saying that it "shows the Prodigy near the peak of their game from the get go" and stating that "almost every song sounds like a potential chart topper".^[1] Tom Ewing of Freaky Trigger commended the album as "four-minute-warnings, [...] hyperactive ravey blasts which boasted genuine irreverence rather than learned attitude."^[12]

Moby credited Experience with changing his perception about dance albums; previously he felt that "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," and noted that Experience "impressed me because they'd managed to create a full listening experience which encompassed various styles. This was the kind of vision I had for my debut album."^[13]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Liam Howlett

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Jericho"	3:42
2.	"Music Reach (1/2/3/4)"	4:12
3.	"Wind It Up"	4:33
4.	"Your Love" (Remix)	5:30
5.	"Hyperspeed (G-Force Part 2)"	5:16
6.	"Charly" (Trip into Drum and Bass Version)	5:12
7.	"Out of Space"	4:57
8.	"Everybody in the Place (155 and Rising)"	4:10
9.	"Weather Experience"	8:06
10.	"Fire" (Sunrise Version)	4:57
11.	"Ruff in the Jungle Bizness"	5:10
12.	"Death of the Prodigy Dancers" (Live)	3:43
Total length:		59:28

Experience Expanded disc 2

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Your Love" (from "Charly" single)	6:02
2.	"Ruff in the Jungle Bizness" (Uplifting Vibes Remix; from "Out of Space" single)	4:16
3.	"Charly" (Alley Cat Remix; from "Charly" single)	5:21
4.	"Fire" (Edit; from "Fire/Jericho" single)	3:24
5.	"We Are the Ruffest" (from "Wind It Up" single)	5:18
6.	"Weather Experience" (Top Buzz Remix; from "Wind It Up" single)	6:53
7.	"Wind It Up (Rewound)" (from "Wind It Up" single)	6:21
8.	"G-Force, Pt. 1 (Energy Flow)" (from "Everybody in the Place" single)	5:23
9.	"Crazy Man" (from "Everybody in the Place" single)	4:05
10.	"Out of Space" (Techno Underworld Remix; from "Out of Space" single)	4:44
11.	"Everybody in the Place" (Fairground Remix; from "Everybody in the Place" single)	5:07
Total length:		56:54

Experience Expanded disc 2 UK bonus tracks

No.	Title	Length
12.	"Android" (from What Evil Lurks EP)	5:04
13.	"Out of Space" (Live from Pukkelpop 2005; previously unreleased)	3:27
Total length:		65:25

Personnel

• Liam Howlett – production, keyboards, synthesizers, sampling, programming, engineering
• Maxim Reality – vocals on "Death of the Prodigy Dancers (Live)"
• Simone – vocals on "Music Reach (1/2/3/4)", "Ruff in the Jungle Bizness" and "Rip Up the Sound System" (non-album song)
• Alex Garland – artwork
• Mike Champion – management

Charts

Weekly charts

Chart (1992–93)	Peak position
Australia (ARIA)^[14]	163
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)^[15]	20
Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)^[16]	39
French Albums (SNEP)^[17]	59
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)^[18]	75
UK Albums (OCC)^[19]	12
UK Dance Albums (OCC)^[20]	5

Certifications

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
Poland (ZPAV)^[21]	Gold	50,000^*
United Kingdom (BPI)^[22]	Platinum	300,000^^
^* Sales figures based on certification alone. ^^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References

1. Bush, John. "Experience – The Prodigy". AllMusic. Retrieved 22 January 2012.
2. "Prodigy, The – Experience". Discogs. Retrieved 22 January 2012.
3. Christgau, Robert (2000). "The Prodigy: Experience". Christgau's Consumer Guide: Albums of the '90s. Macmillan Publishers. ISBN 0-312-24560-2. Retrieved 22 January 2012.
4. "The Prodigy: Experience". Entertainment Weekly. 1 August 1993. p. 54.
5. Harrison, Ian (1 June 2015). "Mojo - June 2015". Mojo. Retrieved 19 November 2023.
6. Romero, Dennis (26 January 1993). "From Prodigy, a Computer Symphony at Warp Speed". Philadelphia Inquirer.
7. "The Prodigy: Experience". Q (266): 117. September 2008.
8. "The Prodigy: Experience". Record Collector: 83. [L]ike a runaway E-train peppered with proto-jungle breakbeats, euphoric piano, fairground keyboards and manic vocal samples, all forged by studio mastermind Liam Howlett.
9. Howe, Rupert (November 1992). "The Prodigy: Experience". Select (29): 84.
10. Reynolds, Simon (September 2001). "The Prodigy: Experience: Expanded: Remixes & B-Sides". Spin. 17 (9): 166. Retrieved 22 July 2017.
11. Needs 1992.
12. Ewing, Tom (10 November 1999). "31. THE PRODIGY – "Out of Space"". FreakyTrigger. Retrieved 7 January 2017.
13. Moby < Replay - The Life and Times by Martin James (Pg. 70)
14. "Response from ARIA re: chart inquiry, received 13 September 2016". Imgur.com. Retrieved 18 September 2016.
15. "Dutchcharts.nl – The Prodigy – Experience" (in Dutch). Hung Medien.
16. Pennanen, Timo (2021). "The Prodigy". Sisältää hitin - 2. laitos Levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla 1.1.1960–30.6.2021 (PDF) (in Finnish). Helsinki: Kustannusosakeyhtiö Otava. p. 205.
17. "Lescharts.com – The Prodigy – Experience". Hung Medien.
18. "Longplay-Chartverfolgung at Musicline" (in German). Musicline.de. Phononet GmbH.
19. "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 4 October 1992.
20. "Official Dance Albums Chart Top 40". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 8 March 2019.
21. "Wyróżnienia – Złote płyty CD - Archiwum - Przyznane w 1997 roku" (in Polish). Polish Society of the Phonographic Industry.
22. "British album certifications – The Prodigy – Experience". British Phonographic Industry.

Sources

• Needs, Kris (26 September 1992). "The Prodigy: Experience (XL)". Retrieved 4 November 2021. {{cite magazine}}: Cite magazine requires |magazine= (help)

External links

• Experience at Discogs (list of releases)