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 released on 28 September 1992 by XL Recordings in the United Kingdom and by Elektra Records in the United States.

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. 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
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."

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". Tom Ewing of Freaky Trigger commended the album as "four-minute-warnings, [...] hyperactive ravey blasts which boasted genuine irreverence rather than learned attitude."

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."

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