Although I respect him for taking another route to his career and making music the way he wants and not how people would expect him to or based on commercial intents, I feel that it's such a shame that Robert Miles didn't prolongate his 1996 sucess for a little more time.

 

But I do like the 23 AM album and I totally love "Freedom" which is just as wonderful as Children, Fable and One&One.

 

Was there anything else as good as Freedom on 23AM?

Was there anything else as good as Freedom on 23AM?

 

 

there were actually 3 singles from 23AM, best one (and probably best on album for me) is Everyday Life... for some time, I would call it best Miles' work

 

 

I still hope Dreamland will be re-release this year, it is its 20th birthday. Time flies....

Edited February 17, 20169 yr by jszmiles

Although I respect him for taking another route to his career and making music the way he wants and not how people would expect him to or based on commercial intents, I feel that it's such a shame that Robert Miles didn't prolongate his 1996 sucess for a little more time.

 

But I do like the 23 AM album and I totally love "Freedom" which is just as wonderful as Children, Fable and One&One.

 

Actually me too. As I really like all of his albums after 23AM (Organik, Organik Remixes, miles_gurtu and Thirteen), I would die for another Dreamland :wub:

 

really crazy to think it's 20 years since Children, Insomnia, Missing, Firestarter, Breathe, Born Slippy,... time really flies :D

really crazy to think it's 20 years since Children, Insomnia, Missing, Firestarter, Breathe, Born Slippy,... time really flies :D

 

1996 was an excellent year overall. :D

One and One remains amazing after nearly 20 years.

1996 was an excellent year overall. :D

 

My favourite year of the 90's with so many different genres excelling in the charts from dance to brit-pop, from bubblegum pop to r&b/hip-hop.

1996 is the most successful year in my all-time Top 50

 

The following songs appear

 

Top 10

Manic Street Preachers - A Design for Life

Radiohead - Street Spirit

Orbital - The Box

 

Top 30

DJ Shadow - Stem

The Prodigy - Firestarter

Bjork - Hyperballad

 

Top 50

Tori Amos - Hey Jupiter (Dakota Mix)

 

 

1996 is the most successful year in my all-time Top 50

 

The following songs appear

 

Top 10

 

Orbital - The Box

 

Top 30

DJ Shadow - Stem

 

I never knew Stem is THAT old. I olny discovered it 2 years ago :unsure:

 

I found The Box video the creepiest of alltime, I love it nevertheless.

 

I never knew Stem is THAT old. I olny discovered it 2 years ago :unsure:

 

I found The Box video the creepiest of alltime, I love it nevertheless.

 

 

Stem charted on 09/11/1996

Glad to know that Stem is becoming known nearly 2 decades after it was released and failed to chart higher than 74

 

#iconicflop

Insomnia and One & One... two great tracks! When I first heard Insomnia it was a creepy for me, but I got used to it and fell in love with it (although it's not my fave track from Faithless :D)

 

One & One... the best for me from Robert Miles :wub: :wub: :wub:

Prodigy* - Breathe

 

http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/mm82/TheMagicPosition86/Breathe_zpsmuool65f.png

 

Date 17th November 1996

4 Weeks

Official Chart Run 1-1-2-2-7-7-6-7-19-20-25-32-43-50-58-59-68-XX-XX-71 (18 weeks)

*Positions in red are the weeks when the track would be number 1 if just dance music was chart eligible.

 

This is the fifth appearance for The Prodigy and it won’t be the last! “Breathe” serves as the commercial peak for the group, selling just under 200,000 copies in its opening week at retail, though this was mainly due to the huge hype garnered by their previous #1 hit “Firestarter” and the fact that the album it is taken from - The Fat of the Land - was not released until the following summer. It became their biggest selling and most popular single, and chalked up their 11th consecutive Top 15 hit on the UK singles chart in 5 years.

 

The tense, snarling and gritty opening riff on “Breathe” perfectly sets the scene for the raucous and somewhat paranoid themes of the track to follow, which once more feature Liam’s incredible talent for crafting a diverse mix of exciting sounds and samples into a killer dance track. Within seconds the drums kick in (taken from Thin Lizzy’s 1971 track “Johnny The Fox Meets Jimmy The Weed” which was sampled frequently in the hip-hop scene) and the distortion is pumped to the max on the guitar work and frantic breakbeats, with de-facto frontman Keith Flint joined by MC Maxim Reality to jointly provide the menacing vocal assault that reinforces the dark and tense tone of the record.

 

The confrontational vocal verbal tennis played out by Flint and Maxim works really well, with the wonderful consonant jam of ‘Psycho-somatic addict insane’ and Keith’s possessed scream inviting the listener to ‘Come play my gaaaaaaame’ weaving effortlessly around the towering bassline. As mentioned earlier there are a number of excellent samples that enhance the dark tone of the track, such as the Samurai sword swipes that are taken from hip-hop legends The Wu-Tang Clan’s “Da Mystery of Chessboxin'”, and the dramatic riff taken from The Spencer Davis Group’s 1967 Top 10 hit “I’m A Man” which accompanies Keith Flint’s fired-up vocal in the chorus.

 

“Breathe” serves as both a punk influenced dance track which is themed around coping with internal conflict, but can also be interpreted as a thrilling paean to the gripping and chaotic paranoia of drug psychosis. It was to be the groups final #1, and this rounds out 1996!

 

 

*Band named shortened to 'Prodigy' for the singles in this era.

I never really got Breathe. I'm not saying it's bad, I'm saying it doesn't click with me. I think it's that I don't like the riff. And the "Come Play My Game" always reminded me of Anarchy in the UK.

I actually prefer “Breathe” to “Firestarter” but both are brilliant IMO. I do see what you mean about the Sex Pistols similarity.

I loved Breathe when it came out but it has not aged as well as Firestarter. The lyrics are also awful - they're from the same nonsensical trough as those on Firestarter but seem to be trying to say something which just doesn't get across. Firestarter's lyrics are all peculiar, shambolic boasts - what is Breathe actually trying to say? Musically, it doesn't have half the punk edge of Firestarter, the main riff is a little cheesy and the chorus is like a cartoon bogeyman trying his best Johnny Rotten impression.

 

Which means Firestarter was really a bit of a fluke - as we found with the rest of Fat of the Land which, Kool Keith's 'Diesel Power' aside, was just full of cartoon vocal performances.

I loved Breathe when it came out but it has not aged as well as Firestarter. The lyrics are also awful - they're from the same nonsensical trough as those on Firestarter but seem to be trying to say something which just doesn't get across. Firestarter's lyrics are all peculiar, shambolic boasts - what is Breathe actually trying to say? Musically, it doesn't have half the punk edge of Firestarter, the main riff is a little cheesy and the chorus is like a cartoon bogeyman trying his best Johnny Rotten impression.

 

Which means Firestarter was really a bit of a fluke - as we found with the rest of Fat of the Land which, Kool Keith's 'Diesel Power' aside, was just full of cartoon vocal performances.

I don't ever feel like I'm going to the Prodigy for vocal performances or lyrics and even then I dont think they messed up until Always Outnumbered. Smack My Bitch Up, musically speaking, is still top-notch.

 

I could never hear the riff of Breathe and think that it's a little cheesy. It's hardly the Vengaboys or Fats and Small, now is it? Breath is a 6/10 for me and for a magnificent singles band like them where most of their stuff is at least 8/10 that's a disappointment.

Edited February 20, 20169 yr by Colm

for me Breathe is a 10/10, perfect mix of dance, rock, punk, everything on it... and Fat of the Land was amazing, especially liked Narayan with Skin from Skunk Anansie on vocals

I can definitely understand why people love Breathe - it just doesn't click in my head.

Edited February 20, 20169 yr by Colm