Track Listing

1. Microphone fiend
2. Pistol grip pump
3. Kick out the jam
4. Renegades of funk
5. Beautiful world
6. I'm housin'
7. In my eyes
8. How could I just kill a man
9. The ghost of Tom Joad
10. Down on the street
11. Street fighting man
12. Maggies farm

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #6187 in Music
• Released on: 2002-12-09
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Explicit Lyrics

Amazon.co.uk Review
Produced by rock-rap supremo Rick Rubin, Rage Against The Machine's Renegades contains a series of cover versions whose selection seems as considered as the band's politics. And there, in part, lies the problem. Among the downright obvious there are moments of pure inspiration. They are on safest ground when rehashing hip-hop for the mosh pit: Eric B and Rakim's "Microphone Fiend", EPMD's "Housin'" and Cypress Hill's "How I Could Just Kill A Man" all rock with a furious energy. Best of all, though, is the revision of the relatively obscure "Pistol Grip Pump" by Volume 10. The bass rises and crashes like a tsunami, while Morello morphs his guitar into cheesy funk synth licks--it's as close as they'll ever get to raging against the funk, although their cover of Afrika Bambattaa's "Renegades Of Funk" comes in a close second. Elsewhere, the band's limited powers of reinvention are stripped bare when they tackle a holy grail of confrontational rock--the Rolling Stones' "Street Fighting Man", the Stooges' "Down On The Street" and MC5's "Kick Out The Jams". On the latter, Zack makes a valiant attempt to sing (later sounding as fragile as a butterfly on a wheel on the acoustic version of Devo's "Beautiful Farm") and makes it plain that screaming like a member of the Socialist Workers Party is clearly what he excels at. Renegades is like a lesson in "how can be I down?" historical revisionism, one that sees RATM attempting to secure their legacy up among their musical heroes. They get five out of 10 for effort. --Chris Campion

Customer Reviews

Calling this a covers album does no justice.
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.

A fine curtain call.
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.

Rage are Stunning in Zack's Breath-taking Finale!
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.