Rage Against the Machine - Renegades (2000)Release ID: 57
1999’s “The Battle Of Los Angeles” album was a good return to form for Rage Against The Machine after their sophomore effort “Evil Empire” had failed to capitalize on the solid groundwork they had set with their impressive self-titled debut earlier that decade. The less ambitious back-to-basics approach worked well & the improved production offered fans a satisfying & well-compiled record filled with plenty of the energetic grooves the band have become renowned for. Strangely I had never actually ventured further than that before now. The fact that this is a covers album would undoubtedly be some of the reason for that as I’ve traditionally never been much of a fan of that particular phenomenon but having recently given the rest of their back catalogue the once over I felt it would be a shame if I didn’t complete the mission.
What becomes immediately apparent about “Renegades” is that it sounds like a Rage Against the Machine album. This is not a band that is suffering from any sort of identity crisis here. They may have decided to tackle other artists material here but they’ve definitely made a conscious decision to do it their way & I find that a much more appealing prospect than mere emulation. The production is very good & the musicianship is excellent as usual. I honestly don’t think there is much that Rage Against the Machine couldn’t pull off as they’re clearly very accomplished musicians & work off each other very well.
During my first listen to "Renegades" I tended find myself feeling the record out a bit but things settled down pretty quickly on the second sitting. The tracklisting is not obvious & I find that an attractive quality in a covers album. Rage Against The Machine start with a couple of hip hop numbers & prove themselves to be quite adept at rearranging them into a rock/metal framework. Volume 10’s “Pistolgrip Pump” is particularly effective & is one of the album highlights. Things start to get more diverse from there. I really enjoy the stripped back version of Devo’s “Beautiful World” as it gives the song a completely new atmosphere. It was interesting to find that I recognized the hit singles “Renegades Of Funk” (Afrika Bambaataa) & “The Ghost Of Tom Joad” (Bruce Springsteen) although I previously had no idea that they were not RATM originals which is quite the feather in the bands cap in my opinion. The real highlight for me comes in the form of closing track “Maggie’s Farm”; a lovely reworking of Bob Dylan’s classic folk rock song from 1965. I’m a fan of the original & was intrigued to hear how they reinterpreted it. Certainly not everything the band tried worked as brilliantly though. The punkier numbers like MC5’s “Kick Out The Jams”, Minor Threat’s “In My Eyes” & The Stooges “Down On The Street” did little for me as the band didn’t do as much to rework them & I’m not much of a punk fan to begin with. The Rolling Stones “Street Fighter Man” didn’t quite gel as nicely as I’d like either but they took an interesting direction with it.
During my first couple of listens I found myself genuinely interested to see what direction the band had taken with each track & was pleasantly surprised on most occasions. As with all covers albums there are some wins & losses here but overall I feel that the wins easily outweigh the losses. They’ve lost none of the bounce & energy that was such a highlight of their best original material & I’d actually go so far as to say that I enjoyed “Renegades” a fair bit more than the disappointing “Evil Empire”. It’s great to hear a band that knows their sound & challenges themselves at the same time. This is definitely worth a few listens for all Rage Against The Machine fans however if you aren’t into their original material then this one probably won’t appeal to you either.
