The Best Cover Ever Made.
Period.

Wow. When I first heard Rage was going to do one of those all cover song albums, I was skeptical. Rarely do albums of this sort seem more than a gimic and artistic shortcut. Especially after hearing lead singer Zach de LaRocha had left the band just before this release. But damn if this isn't the best collection of covers any band has ever made. I am not shitting you.

And not only is it the best covers album... I found Renegades to be the most immediately accessible of Rage's four albums. I love all their records but I had to let some of their first disc and Battle of L.A. and most of Evil Empire grow on me for a time before putting my CD player on repeat when spinning Rage. Booty shaking is instantaneous here. Renegades is a much looser release than we are used to hearing from these guys, they've let their hair down so-to-speak. Yet it is still very heavy and full of crunching grooves.

The songs Rage selected for this their final album are fairly evenly drawn from the hip hop, rock and punk playgrounds with nods toward folk and new wave. Generationally speaking, the songs on Renegades are drawn mostly from the '80s with three tracks from the '60s, one from the '70s and two from the '90s.

Rage is an unapologetically political rock band and, as such, I was hoping they would give props to two of the greatest innovators/definers of the political music genre: The Clash and Dead Kennedys. Just listen to Renegades and try to tell me Rage covers of The Clash's "Know Your Rights" or "Guns of Brixton" or a cover of DK's "Riot" wouldn't completely blow your mind. Still, I am very happy with the 12 tracks Rage selected.

Representing old and new hip hop are versions of "Microphone Fiend" (originally by Eric B & Rakim); "Pistol Grip Pump" (by Volume 10); "I'm Housin'" (by EPMD); and Cypress Hill's "How I Could Just Kill a Man". Afrika Bambaataa's "Renegades of Funk," a hip hop/breakdancing anthem is also given the Rage treatment here and is one of the album's standout tracks.

From the world of rock n' roll/punk rock (or mixtures of both), there is an excellent remake of "Kick out the Jams" by The MC5; Burly covers of "Down on the Street" by The Stooges and The Rolling Stones' "Street Fighting Man". Zach and Co.pay homage to early '80s D.C. punk teenagers Minor Threat with a heavy yet faithful rendition of "In My Eyes".

Rage remixes their version of "The Ghost of Tom Joad," a mid-'90s Springsteen song updating a 1940s Woodie Guthrie tune. A very cool cover of Bob Dylan's "Maggie's Farm" is here. And, lastly, Rage turns in a very haunting version of Devo's "Beautiful World".

There are also two bonus tracks: live versions of "Kick Out the Jams" and "How I Could Just Kill a Man" recorded at the 2000 Democratic National Convention protests in L.A. (the latter performed with members of Cypress Hill).

My first complaint: someone must've been rushed to get this disc on store shelves by X-mas 2000, for there are NO liner notes in the package to inform listeners where these songs come from. There is only a P.O. box address and a note to send in an SASE (or visit the RATM website) for the liner notes. I had no problem looking up info on these tracks using the 'net, but not everyone has a computer, y'all.

My second complaint: Zach "quitting" the group... America needs RATM now more than ever, especially since Dan Quayle... sorry... George W. Bush is now the leader of the "free" world. Zach, take a break if you need one, but get back to Rage ASAP, bro!

 

 

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2001 © Raptorial Media