Okay. It's not just that. Anything that RATM does has to be considered in light of their politics. Not my idea; it's theirs. Their politics permeate everything they do, from their websites to their lyrics to their liner notes to the disc holder (one lifts up the CD to find---surprise---a list of organizations and their websites which taken together constitute the largest group of nattering naybobs of negativism on the planet). The guys are outfront, unapologetic communists, and hey, that's fine, whatever floats their boat, and they want you in there with them while it sinks. The only problem is that if the fit hits the shan and the boat starts sinking, they're gonna be the only ones with lifejackets.

Exhibit A for this proposition is "Maggie's Farm" on the CD. There is no mistaking it, they take this classic Bob Dylan tune and make it their own, and do quite well with it. The only problem is that Tom and the boys work for one of Maggie's biggest farms: Epic Sony, and are paid quite, quite well for it. That's great, and God bless 'em for it; but for all their griping about money and big business and the like, I don't see them doing a Fugazi and putting out their stuff by themselves. Then there's "Kick Out the Jams." This song was a goddam ANTHEM in Detroit in the mid-'60s, recorded by the MC5 and released in a live version that still holds up, and the MC5, no matter how you felt about their radical leftist politics, meant it. They didn't preach anarchy and then sell tee-shirts, caps, and posters at three times their value over their website (mainly because there wasn't a www back then) or anywhere else. Now, RATM's studio version of"Kick Out the Jams" doesn't sound like an anthem. It sure isn't something you could march to, unless you're used to slogging down the street in cadence while wearing cement overshoes. But the CD also has a concert version of this tune, one of two "hidden" tracks on the RENEGADES (Zen question of the day: if a sticker on a CD says there are two hidden tracks on the CD, are the tracks still "hidden"?) Where RATM really DOES kick out the jams, knocking the listener against a cement wall and closelining him from behind when he bounces off, which is the whole point of this song. This approach doesn't always work, however; Springsteen's "The Ghost of Tom Joad" suffers from this heavy-handed treatment. Springsteen's spare, quiet original ultimately speaks louder that RATM's heavy-handed assault.

It's not that the comrades aren't capable of effectively taking it down a notch or two. "Beautiful World" fares quite well, giving the listen a second to catch his breath after their classic take on Afrika Bombaattaa + Soul Sonic Force's "Renegades of Funk." Similarly, their version of "How I Could Just Kill A Man, " both in studio and in the live, "hidden" track (where they are joined by the song's originators, Cypress Hill) will wake you up, get your attention, and have you hauling out the original to compare and contrast. But RATM, just when you think they have won you over, at least to their music, again demonstrate that, as often as not on RENEGADES, the band's reach exceeds their grasp. Both The Stooges' "Down on the Street" and the Rolling Stones' "Street Fightin' Man" are far beyond RATM's capabilities.

RENEGADES will apparently be RATM's last studio CD, at least in their current form. While hardcore fans of the band will revel in it, this is not the one to pick up if you're unfamiliar with the band. Get them at an earlier point and use that as a reference point, not only for their music, but also for their baggage.