The Prodigy announce ‘Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned’ 20th anniversary reissue

17 July, 2024

The Prodigy posed at the 1996 MTV Europe Music Awards

The Prodigy have announced details of a reissue of ‘Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned’ to mark its 20th anniversary.

The album is the fourth LP to be shared by the English electronic group, and arrived in the UK on August 23, 2004 via XL and Maverick Records. It was made without contributions from Keith Flint and Maxim Reality, meaning that it was Liam Howlett who was the sole member who worked on the project.

Now, to mark the 20th anniversary of the release, the band have confirmed that they will be sharing a new reissue to celebrate the milestone.

“‘Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned’ is re-issued for the 20th anniversary on double vinyl August 23rd, pre-order now from the official store, XL and more,” the members wrote on X (formerly Twitter), sharing a brief clip of the artwork.

Upon its release two decades ago, the LP received large commercial success – debuting at the top spot on the UK Albums Chart in its first week – however, was given a largely mixed response from critics.

This was largely due to the sharp contrast in the band’s sound, particularly compared to earlier releases like 1997’s ‘The Fat of the Land’. Unlike their earlier discography, the album was recorded using Propellerhead Reason and was much more vocal-dominated than their past material.

At the time, NME highlighted this shift in sound, and described it as seeing “Howlett kick up just enough of a storm to cover up the lack of any really new ideas”.

“Howlett had nowhere particular to go, and so much of this album sees him squatting on the floors of other acts,” it read. “Howlett’s desperation to claim some new territory for the band to call their own is obvious, and even the tracks that don’t amount to much in terms of musical depth are approached at nothing less than full pelt.”

Despite the mixed responses from critics, the album did go down relatively well with fans, and back in February 2012 the electronic duo Justice added it to NME’s list of ‘100 Great Albums You’ve Never Heard’.

In other Prodigy news, earlier his year Leeroy Thornhill announced details of a new memoir that will follow his time as part of the line-up.

Keith Flint of The Prodigy performs in 2004
Keith Flint of The Prodigy performs in 2004 (Photo by Nigel Crane/Redferns)

Set for release in September via White Rabbit, Wildfire: My Ten Years Getting High in the Prodigy will come fully illustrated with previously unseen photography – starting from their earliest raves, and creating a visual journey up until their shows in the late ‘90s.

Back in 2022 The Prodigy played their first live shows since Flint’s passing, where they paid tribute to the late vocalist. “He’s still-fucking-with us right now,” Maxim told the crowd towards the end of ‘Firestarter’ as they headlined London’s Brixton Academy. “He’s still here! Mr Flint fucking lives on in here!”

The band later opened up to NME about life on the road with The Prodigy after the frontman’s death. “We wanted to honour our brother Keef but do it in the right way. The whole tour was epic for us. It was so emotionally charged, uplifting, sonically violent… Everything we love,” Howlett said.

As for the future, he promised that The Prodigy “is bigger than just the band: it stands for something, the people know this, we know this …. even more after playing live again. I’m energised by that and we are back in the studio writing new tunes. The prodigy will continue to ignite, uplift and destroy just as we always did.”

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