The big thing which stands out here is the division. Back in the day we all loved everything.

Now we argue about it.

Prodigy are NOT as good as they used to be with new music.

Liam HAS lost his edge, and the standard of No Tourists is lower than what we used to expect.

That's not subjective, that's me comparing this with the older stuff.

Look how the vibe picked up after WLF - everyone loved it. There was universal agreement on here that it was a storming track.

And it is, but it's the only one. There are some decent tracks but the simple division over the album as a whole is just like what there was after NS1, FFWF and to an extent LUTS.

The harmony after WLF showed we do still know what good is - and when something falls below it from someone or thing we love, some of us find reasons to big it up and pretend we like it more than we do. That's happening here.

This album is listenable. It is ok in places, and really really good in one, maybe two - but this is not a classic Prodigy album on any level.

Anyone who says otherwise and truly believes it has different standards today to what I'm used to.

I've heard through the album 5 times since I woke up this morning, here's my take on the tracks:

Need Some1: 6.5/10: I wasn't overly impressed when I first heard it back when it first dropped, but it actually gets better the more I listen to it. Of course it pales compared to classic album openers like SMBU or Spitfire, but is still decent. Has many cool bits and parts to it, and is quite varied.

LUTS: 8/10: Instantly liked this track, very signature Prodigy sound. The vocals fit very well the vibe of the track, and also this becomes better with every listen. Would love to hear it live.

We Live Forever: 10/10: No one compares to Liam when it comes to blending sped-up hip-hop vocal samples with breakneck beats and sinister synths. Just makes me wish he'd do it more often. Turn the flame higher makes me want to turn the volume higher. Everything on this track comes off just perfectly.

No Tourists 3.5/10: Was very eager to hear the first "new" track of the album. The first two minutes mostly just sound like an intro, and I feel the entire song probably would have worked better if it was the opening track. I just feel the track goes nowhere really, which is rarely the feeling I have with any Prodigy track. Nah.

FFWF: 4.5/10: Comes off as noisy, but not really in the right way. I get the coparisons to Ibiza, but I thought that came across as more tongue in cheek, the lyrics were at least pretty funny. This sounds like trying way too hard to be bad-ass. No awesome hook or synths to save the overall impression either.


Timebomb Zone: 10/10: Just when I start to wonder if the album is going to produce a disappointment hat-trick, Liams inserts this fantastic timecapsule from 1992, almost totally out of nowhere. The vibe with this, as with WLF, is that of a modernized Experience-like track, breaking distinctly with the more industrial-noise beats that spoil the two previous tracks. Everything in perfect harmony here, delicious vocal sample, awesome breaks, synths only Liam bangs out, and boom - the bus is back on the road. Perfect.

Champions of London: 8.5/10 The intro makes it blatantly clear this is not in the same mould as the previous stunner. But that's what I always liked about The Prodigy, they sound equally cool operating in 1992 or 2018. And CoL is actually a banger for me, despite not liking the Keith-lyrics much, the chipmunk vocals that follow, the super-evil synths and bassline, and D&B beat, makes fit perfectly. Almost comes off as a blend of Piranha and RWTW, with new elements thrown in, and better than both of those as well.

Boom Boom Tap: 5/10 What to make of this? It's different from the rest of the album, for better or worse. The 'Fuck You' drop is funny and awesome, but the rest is stomping around, but it comes off as a lot of nice pieces but no whole. The Boom Tap vocal is really cheesy too.

Resonate: 6.5/10 I'd heard some live recordings of this, and it is about expected. Pretty good, but not mindblowing. The synths are nice, and the build-up with the Resonate vocals is the best part, but the main beat and bass sound pretty tedious after a couple of listens. It's ok, but I'm left feeling it could have been an epic with some modifications.

Give Me a Signal: 7/10 I like the 303 and the beat, the vocals are quite good as well. I think this track would work even better live. Quite good, and may need to listen more to it.


Overall: 6.5/10: I like the fact that No Tourists feels more varied than TDIME, like Liam let loose and just did what he wanted to do. Not everything comes off, but the tracks that do couldn't be more true to the Prodigy sound, while sounding fresh and new, even when they contain throwbacks to previous eras. As with any Prodigy album, my expectations are always sky-high, but while it is no classic, I truly treasure those moments that remind me just how good The Prodigy can be, and why I keep returning to them, so many years after first hearing them.

When I listen to No Tourists I think an instrumental of it could be in an updated version of N64 Goldeneye!

I need to change my 1st over-hyped impression for the album.
After hearing the album in the car, I think BBT is not that bad afterall

1. I had an argument with a client in the morning, pissed me the hell off.
2. Listened Timebomb one more time.
3. ??????
4. PROFIT.

Nah man the unified love for the first 3 albums is only what happened long after fotl. after experience people were dissing jilted, after jilted, people were dissing fat.

onwards, people are dissing everything after aono.
After IMD, some people were dissing the day.

No one is dissing no tourist because of the day however...makes you wonder.

champions of london intro synths also remind me of the latest Doom soundtrack

Maybe the Polivoks that NEOREV mentionned is used on both? I'm not an expert in synths, so I don't know.

Exactly, well said mate. It's raw, less convoluted, better produced and varied. Here's to hoping Liam continues in this vain from now on.

no tourists is the track that rules them all man. That vocoder in there and that air horn...woah

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lg6goayNUNc&t=3m58s

no?

YES

This album seriously rocks. What’s the point in giving a track by track review when nothing disappoints me. Liam still has it.

The diversity of opinions is astonishing. I too find myself wondering how anyone could like No Tourists (the track) since I downright hate it. The opposite goes for Fight Fire With Fire.

Anyhow, great to see that there is lots to love and to hate, lots of friction. That album does something to you

Therefore alone I'd deem it a success.

As an album, No Tourists does not feel like an album to me but a collection of stand alone tracks. It is not more than the sum of its parts. I can't really grasp what is missing... probably more time to digest. Maybe, however, it is because every track has immense weight and stands out from the group (for better or worse). That is why I don't really feel that the tracks belong to each other. This album could have used some skits (I love skits) or a breather like Climbatize or Weather Experience.

Also, some tracks are surprisingly short or too long... I think we all agree that Need Some1 could either use some added element or be shorter (a skit maybe?), and I have often read that Timebomb Zone could have been longer (to which I agree too).

In the end, No tourists feels like a loose collection of bangers that are to be added to their live gigs.

how can you hate no tourist.. top 3, contesting with resonate and timebomb

Review from a dude in his 40s who's obsessed over this band since he was in high school:

I'm sure I'll get lots of flack for this but it's all good. I've listened to the album a few times now and all in all, it listens to me like an album that had a broad idea behind it but time led us to the album we got. I truly believe that had Liam not been bound to a new record deal*, this would be a longer record and quite possibly a better one.

This isn't to say that this thing isn't good, it's just not up to my standard. Here's where I'm gonna get smacked around: it reminds me of Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned. At first, I loved that album. Now that I'm over a decade removed from the release, I'm lucky if I keep 2-3 tracks from the thing in my music rotation. Be honest: Phoenix and Medusa's Path are filler. Plus, frankly, the re-boots of Girls, Hotride and The Way It Is are infinitely better than the ones used on the record. Can we say there was needless filler on their first three albums? Hell no.

I also hear this thing and feel like it could easily be a compilation of leftovers from the past three albums. There's nothing here we haven't heard before and on every other prodigy album to date, I've heard something new from the master. (I'll never forget hearing "Thunder" the first time. Holy F*** with that reggae tone right into wall shaking bass!).

With that, I seriously think in the coming months there will be re-takes on these tracks (live and studio versions) that we'll all say "damn, this is better than the one on the album!". It's because of that that I draw such a comparision to AONO.

Others have mentioned the interview where Liam has something coming out soon again. I bet he does! I'm pretty certain he had a lot of tracks and ideas he was playing with for this album but BMG put him on a timeline that limited his ability to work more magic. Frankly, I think it would have been better for him had he gone the Trent Reznor route and released his stuff over three EPs also over a similar 18 month window. We would have gotten more tracks and that's a good thing, right? Hell, from what he's saying, we will anyway.

Basically, to end my rambling here, there are tracks on every album I blast the f*** out of to this day. Recent ones include "Spitfire", "Take Me To The Hospital", "The Day Is My Enemy" and "Get Your Fight On". For now, even though some of these tracks are really good, I just don't feel I need to rush to my Spotify and blast the bleep out of any of these things (although We Live Forever is quite close to that).

Awesome Tracks: Light Up the Sky, We Live Forever, Champions Of London, Timebomb Zone
Wost Track To Ever Make It To A Prodigy Album: Boom Boom Tap---What in the holy hell is this turd?

* * 1/2


*-record deals with bigger labels lead to broader distribution, better paying tours and "ins" with big paying festivals. All great reasons to agree to get an album done far sooner than would be ideal for you