Rancid – Life Won’t Wait
Epitaph Records
1998
[url]www.rancidrancid.com[/url]
Tim Armstrong – Vocals, Guitar
Lars Fredericksen – Guitar, Vocals
Matt Freeman – Bass, Vocals
Brett Reed – Drums
From the moment you hear the Intro, you expect this to be like their first album – fast punk songs, one after the other. Don’t let that make that change your mind about listening to the album. I’d recommend keeping it in your CD player for a while, but once you’ve listened to it, I think you’d agree.
After the Intro, the album properly begins with “Bloodclot�. This was one of the songs on the album that was given a video, if memory serves me correctly. This would be one of my favourite tracks, especially with the “mini-bass solo� in the bridge. The songs continue to be the “fast punk songs� you’d expect to hear in a Rancid album, but once the title track starts playing, you immediately stop what you were doing and wonder what the hell is going on, that is, if you’re not a ska fan like myself. “Hooligans� and “Wrongful Suspicion� continue in the same way.
There are some really strange tracks on the album. One of which, would be “Crane Fist�. It begins with a voice recording, and then a piano comes in, like the kind of piano you would hear in a saloon in the Wild West. The biggest shock on the album would easily be “Lady Liberty�. It sounds like an old swing band, with a punk singer. Quite an interesting combination you must admit. The strongest song on the album in my opinion, would either be “Black Lung� or “1998�. I particularly like “1998� for it’s music, and lyrics too. Bare in mind that I had to use a lyrics site to understand what he was saying. He tells the story of a problemed neighbourhood:
“ Little kids sitting in the shooting gallery
Set yourself up for manifested misery
Well this is what you want
not the way they fucking say.�
Matt continues to impress us all with his skill on bass, although you can hear him using riffs he used in earlier songs on this album. For example, the bridge to “Roots Radicals� is used on the album for a bridge bass part. With this aside, he still remains as an inspiration to me for punk bass playing. The bass parts in the songs “Bloodclot�, “Cash, Culture and Violence� and “1998� are credit-worthy in my opinion. I think Matt plays a double bass on “Lady Liberty�, as it has a very deep sound to it; lower and more accurate than an electric bass. I may be wrong.
The vocals on this album are good on Lars behalf, and inaudible on Tim’s. What disappointed me was the lack of singing from Matt, because I for one like his singing. There is also some singing from people who were brought in. I don’t know their names, or what kind of singing they are, but it’s a sort of reggae/Jamaican style of singing.
The guitars on this album aren’t anything spectacular, although on some tracks they have come up with some rather catchy riffs, for example “1998�, “Lady Liberty� and “Black Lung�. On the most part, it is the usual punk chord-progression. The Intro has one of the best sets of music on the album in my opinion, and I think it’s thanks to the guitar on the most part. The same can be said for “Hooligans�.
One thing I love about this album, is they take a different approach to the music. They did this on “Indestructible�, and I loved it. On this album, the added keys, brass instruments and what sounds like harmonicas. It adds that little “something� to the music that makes the album “Life Won’t Wait� stand out, and not classed as yet another repetitive punk album.
On a side-note, according to the [url=www.epitaph.com]Epitaph Records[/url] site, two songs on this album were recorded in Jamaica; with those songs being “Hoover Street� and the title track “Life Won’t Wait�.
Recommended Songs:
Bloodclot
Black Lung
Warsaw
1998
Cash, Culture And Violence
Life Won’t Wait
This is a fairly different album, compared to it’s predacessors. There is a hint of ska in this album, bringing back the old Operation Ivy days, showing Tim and Matt haven’t lost touch with their roots, and keeping Operation Ivy alive in our minds. This album gets
4/5.
