Rage Against the Machine - Renegades

Rush released after the late-2000 split between Zack de la Rocha and the rest of Rage Against the Machine, the covers album Renegades salutes the band's musical and philosophical roots, ranging from the old-school Bronx to the hard-rockin' Motor City to protest-central Greenwich Village to gangsta-ridden L.A. As could be expected, the set works best when the group focuses on material from its most recent forebears: rappers and hardcore bands. Indeed, Renegades begins with a pair of powerful hip-hop covers -- Eric B & Rakim's "Microphone Fiend" and Volume 10's "Pistol Grip Pump" -- that spotlight Rage's immense strengths: Tom Morello's clean, heavy riffing and vocalist de la Rocha's finely tuned spray of vitriol, just this side of self-righteous. Another hip-hop blast (and the one closest to home), Cypress Hill's "How I Could Just Kill a Man," is even more devastating, an easy pick for the highlight of the album. Listeners familiar with the originals, however, may have trouble with Rage's covers of EPMD's "I'm Housin'," the Stones' "Street Fighting Man," and Dylan's "Maggie's Farm," a trio of original versions whose anger and emotion were conveyed more in the lyrics than the performances. Still, drummer Brad Wilk sets an appropriately frenetic hardcore tempo for the excellent version of Minor Threat's "In My Eyes," and de la Rocha stretches out well on the MC5's "Kick Out the Jams." With just a bare few excepions, Renegades works well, in part because Rage Against the Machine is both smart enough to change very little and talented enough to make the songs its own. ~ John Bush, All Music Guide

Name Credits Aimee MacAuley Art Direction Amery AWOL Smith Crew Armando García Crew Big Pete Crew Brad Wilk Drums Brendan O'Brien Producer Brian Benjamin Crew Conrad Corizz Crew D. Sardy Mixing Darren Mora Assistant Engineer David Schiffman Engineer Ford Englerth Crew Geoff Walcha Assistant Engineer Greg Fidelman Digital Editing Jim Scott Engineer Katy Teasdale Assistant Engineer Lindsay Chase Production Coordination Marc Moreau Digital Editing Martin Richardson Crew Mike Scotella Assistant Engineer Nick DiDia Engineer Rage Against the Machine Art Direction, Arranger, Producer Rich Costey Mixing Rich Veltrop Assistant Engineer Rick Rubin Producer, Arranger, Art Direction, Production Consultant Scott Hobbs Crew Tim Commerford Bass Tom Morello Guitar Vladimir Meller Mastering Vlado Meller Mastering Zack de la Rocha Vocals