The Prodigy – What Evil Lurks

I have two copies of this 12” record.

XLT 17 (1991) Original copy has a barcode on the record also has XL recordings address telephone number and fax number

XLXV 1501 ( 2000’s) repress has no barcode on the vinyl. No address or telephone number or fax number.

Think this is the copy I have, bought from Hard To Find Records and the audio quality leaves much to be desired

Listen to the bassline of What Evil Lurks and then carefully listen to the acidic bassline of Rubbernotes (Stretch Mix) on Kenny Larkin - We Shall Overcome. If anyone thinks those notes aren't extremely similar, then I give up.

I remember when a group of my mates and cousins used to think that the ''Breakdance'' vocoder chant said ''Space Man''. It was nearly impossible trying to convince a bunch of obstinate unappreciative non fans of all things 1980s electro, recent rave newbie know-it-alls that it was originally taken from West Street Mob's Break Dancin' Electric Boogie classic electro hip hop tune. ''Space Man'' suited their utopian, child-like fantasies I suppose.

We Gonna Rock. The spongey synth bassline was subsequently sampled by several other artists. Not keen on the chipmunked Run DMC samples I'm afraid. The same synths were used better on other artists' tunes, in my opinion, namely: Nebula II, DJ Phantasy or X-Static (the Production House one) amongst others.

My favourite tunes on this Prodigy debut are Android and Everybody In The Place. The breakdown on Android at two thirds in always sounded extra special blasted out of a 15-30k sound system. If I recall correctly, I wasn't that impressed when I first heard this on record or tape until I heard it at a warehouse party, then I understood.

But the original Everybody In The Place here is my favourite version. Played a fair bit on its initial release but hardly played later. When people mention this title, it is this version I always think of, not all the other remixes which either charted (Fairground Mix) or featured on albums (155 And Rising). To many it's way too simplistic but for me it's perfectly raw and to the bare essentials. Serious, heads down, illegal warehouse party breakbeat techno style and captures 1991 to the bone.

From the notes:

"…print on the centre label is slightly to the right when compared to the official version.
Another indicator that this is a bootleg is that on the centre label of A side the black rectangle box of the XL Recordings logo is touching the "RECORDINGS" text underneath whereas on the B side there is about half millimetre gap between the box and the text."

Not saying that this isn't a bootleg, but many (alleged) official XL releases do have different positioning of the label graphics, esp. the black rectangle vs. the "RECORDINGS" text.

A few random examples:
https://www.discogs.com/release/108675-2-In-Rhythm-We-Want-Funk-Remix
https://www.discogs.com/release/250569-Twilight-Too-Jam-Music-Makes-You-Wanna
https://www.discogs.com/release/63536-Cubic-22-Night-In-Motion

How much would this have gone for in the mid to late 90s then ?

What a great EP. All bangers, ahead of its time for sure. Simpler in many ways to what the Prodigy would come out with later but I love it for that reason, and this first version of Everybody in the Place is tastefully understated compared to the later ones, so has a special place in my heart and record box. Worth every penny, and even the reissue sounds great.

The ORIGINAL prodigy debut. Not an album, but rather an EP. This specific copy (always in a generic black sleeve) is most likely a bootleg or secondary pressing, simply because the quality is really dodgy, and the classic XL outer sleeve is not included. My copy has one side cut off center, with a poorer quality label than XL usually did.

"Android" is a classic track, much more techno than the rest (which is of course great). At the time, it really felt like a track opening new territory.

isn't this one a bootleg? I thought the original copies had "The Exchange" on it, not "damont"...maybe a second run?

Even at the back end of 1991 DJs where searching high and low for this one, changing hands in the clubs for £40-£50
I was lucky enough to have 2 copies at the time and swapped one for 6 other records !