Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Calling this a covers album does no justice., 25 Dec 2002
Critics generally passed this off, with the exception of a few music magazines that hailed what would be Rage Against The Machine's last album. But as one magazine said about RATM's previous album, "who cares? This rocks."Rage make every song on this album their own. Even turning the Rolling Stones' 'Street Fighting Man' into a breakneck speed, beat and effect-driven whirlwind, Zack's voice going from lazy drawls to heavy whispering, to classic Zack screams. The angry, violent 'How I Could Just Kill A Man' or the thunderous bass displayed on the cover Volume 10's 'Pistol Grip Pump' are amazing lessons in how rap and metal should be combined, as is the opening 'Microphone Fiend', or Afrika Bambattaa's classic 'Renegades Of Funk'. The last is practically a description of Rage in one chorus. A groove-laden version of Bruce Springsteen's haunting 'The Ghost Of Tom Joad' is here, also a almost apocalyptic cover of Bob Dylan's 'Maggie's Farm'. There is one problem, but I am nitpicking, is that that the haunting whispered acoustic cover of Devo's 'Beautiful World' is not the closing song, but hey, Rage never did anything the orthodox way. The only covers album to ever be essential. You need this album.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A fine curtain call., 18 April 2006
By 1999, RATM felt like a spent force. Having spent aeons producing their second and third albums (four years between their debut and Evil Empire; three years between that and The Battle of Los Angeles) the cracks were starting to show. But the band confounded all expectation, releasing a covers album in tribute to the artists that influenced them growing up, produced by - who else, for a record of this nature? - Rick Rubin.
All told, this is a patchy album, but the better tracks more than make up for it, and a good way for the band to bow out. Springsteen's 'The Ghost of Tom Joad' is a gloriously echoing epic that made it justifiably into their latter-day setlists. 'How I Could Just Kill A Man' is a faithful, if slightly rocked up, Cypress hill song that feels like it was written for RATM. 'Kick Out The Jams' is one of the weaker moments due to Tom Morello's outlandish solo; always an inventive player, just this once the song would have been more suited to a normal solo.
There are less enjoyable covers here as well - 'Pistol Grip Pump,' 'Street Fighting Man' - but all the songs here, good or bad, are blown away by the closer, 'Maggie's Farm.' Previously one the standouts of Dylan's wondrous Bringing It All Back Home album, it's the song the band rework to the best effect. The song is almost completely unrecognisable except for the fantastic lyrics, with Morello's multi-textured, explosive solo replacing Dylan's wheezy harmonica with ease. It's six and a half minutes in length, and - just like 'Freedom' on their first album - is a fitting closer to the album and the band's career.
This album is not perfect; it may not even have been necessary. But if you want to complete all the pieces of the Rage Against The Machine picture, you need to buy this album, to see where the ideas came from for the most incendiary band of the 1990s.
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Rage are Stunning in Zack's Breath-taking Finale!, 8 April 2001
After the shock announcement which leaves one of the most explosively vibrant bands of our time without a front man, and many fans without the band which was their inspiration and drive, comes RENEGADES; Rage Against The Machine's 4th album. Perhaps at first a curious concept for a band so inventive- its an album of cover versions- Rage's choice reworkings of a selection of politically conscious hip-hop, rap and rock songs blend perfectly. Stand out tracks include 'Kick out the Jams' (which will be familiar to anyone fortunate enough to witness their amazing live set), the anger unleashed that is 'In My Eyes', furious hip-hop groove 'How I could Just Kill A Man' and a storming version of the 80s classic 'Maggie's Farm'. Tom Morello's characteristically forceful guitar solos and Zack's hard-edged though surprisingly versatile vocal talents give RENEGADES a fresh, cutting-edge feel which recaptures the power of their self-titled debut. Add to this 2 bonus live tracks and you have an unmissable album no Rage fan should be without.
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