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Post by Deleted on Aug 1, 2015 11:04:24 GMT -5
The winner of the August Anniversary Record Club poll is Rancid's third album ...And Out Come The Wolves, released August 22, 1995. The album, released on the independent label Epitaph, rode the mid-90s wave of success for punk and sold over a million copies. Tell us what you think about this record after 20 years, which saw a longer and more reggae-influenced follow-up, occasional hiatuses to focus on side projects, and the band continuing to record on independent labels to this day. Full album on Youtube
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Post by Jimmy James on Aug 2, 2015 12:56:23 GMT -5
These guys were one of my favorite bands in high school, probably second behind Bad Religion. I think Life Won't Wait was their newest record when I first got into them, but I hadn't discovered the Clash yet and I feel like I wasn't ready for its spread of styles. This felt like a much tighter album, and a little bit slicker or more pop than Let's Go.
This is still a really great album. There are a lot of punk bands from the same time & place as Rancid, but I think the two things that separate them from the rest of the pack are Matt's bass work, and Tim's hooks. Even the least memorable Rancid song has a chorus that can make the kids pump their fists and shout along.
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Post by Lord Lucan on Aug 2, 2015 23:25:47 GMT -5
I'd never heard these guys before. Definitely groovier and less dissonant than I was expecting, and I like the mild ska influence.
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Post by ganews on Aug 3, 2015 16:45:25 GMT -5
I knew "Time Bomb" from the radio, but when I think of Rancid I think of "Be my Punk Rock Friend" by the little Georgia outfit Fairburn Royals:
Well I like the Ramones
And I like the Misfits
I like the Clash, and I kinda like Rancid
So where does that leave us now
Can we be friends?
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Post by Djse (and a Sack of Cats) on Aug 3, 2015 20:28:57 GMT -5
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Post by Djse (and a Sack of Cats) on Aug 3, 2015 22:41:15 GMT -5
This album came out while I was the music director of a college radio station. I'd already played the hell out of the self-titled debut and Let's Go and I needed more...and it was there, and it was good. I've probably listened to this album hundreds of times. Here are some scattered thoughts as I listen to it all the way through for the first time in at least five years. Right from the beginning of "Maxwell Murder", any concerned that I'd had that the band had softened up or lost any of that great bass sound were gone. Matt Freeman is a FUCKING BEAST, and thankfully he shines from the start. I'd heard a different version of "Roots Radical" before I got this album, as I'd gotten a limited edition single with my copy of Let's Go a few years prior. The single version's a bit more stripped down...less backing vocals and a bit less energy overall. I'm glad they re-recorded it. The ska-ish songs on this album ("Time Bomb", "Daly City Train", "Old Friend") brings me back to the days of Op Ivy (that's Operation Ivy, the band Tim and Matt were in before Rancid, which you should all listen to sometime) and I can't help but do a bit of chair-skanking to this day. "She's Automatic" reminds me Op Ivy as well...maybe because it's thematically similar to "Bombshell"? I dunno. "Olympia, WA" was my practically theme song when I was living in New York, except I would sing it as "baaaack to Oregooooon". The wordplay in "Junkie Man" makes me grin every time. "I make love to my trance sister...and my trance parents see from the balcony..." I wanted this to be a single really badly for some reason. I'd play it during every radio show, and would call and request it during other DJs' shows. "Listed M.I.A." is one of those songs that should play in movie montage scenes of kids leaving school on the last day of the year. "Journey To The End of the East Bay" serves as a quick history lesson for the kids who thought Rancid were the first band these guys were in. ("Started in '87, ended in '89...") If there is one song I love to scream along with on this album, it is "Disorder and Disarray". Holy fuck it is really fun to belt out that "CRUCIFY-Y-Y-Y-Y ME" bit in the car. I gotta be honest - after that one, the rest of the album feels a bit like filler. I know it's just because I really like the chorus of this one song, because if I skip "Disorder and Disarray" then the last 5 tracks are as solid as the rest...but if I'm listening to the whole album and I get to track 14, I usually listen to that one song at least 3 times, and then MAYBE I'll go on to the rest of the album. The Prighlofone, I'm not sure if this is really up your alley but you should give it a shot. There are plenty of songs here that should speak directly to a guy who is ready to get the fuck out of dodge and start the next chapter of his life. |
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Post by Some Kind of Munster on Aug 4, 2015 8:31:29 GMT -5
I know I really liked this album at the time but I’ve never bothered to replace my dubbed cassette copy so I haven’t actually heard it in probably 10 or 15 years. Gonna have to give it a listen because I’m not even remembering most of these song titles.
(Although I DO remember liking “Junkie Man” a lot – as I recall it was a little “weirder” than the rest of the album and I’ve always preferred Rancid when they try do something other than straight-ahead punk rock.)
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heroboy
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Post by heroboy on Aug 4, 2015 12:39:45 GMT -5
I wasn't huge into punk, but I did have some of the bigger 90s bands like Rancid, Bad Religion, and NOFX in my collection. Bad Religion would be the only punkish band that I really listened to on a regular basis, as I didn't really care that much for Rancid's ska influence, or NOFX's, idunno, angrier sound.
Ruby Soho, though, has long been one of those songs that just stuck in my head, and comes popping out randomly for no apparent reason, and I'll just find myself singing it even if I haven't heard it in years.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Aug 4, 2015 21:22:15 GMT -5
I love this album. "...and Out Come the Wolves" never left the CD player in my car when I was 16 and friends would put songs from it on the jukebox when I'd walk in the bar a decade later. I was so into Rancid that people tell me that when they hear this record it still reminds them of hanging out with me when we were teenagers. So, yea, I fully support this winning the anniversary poll. The album cover poster hung over my bed from the time I was 16 until I moved in with my wife five years ago. It's currently in a poster tube waiting to get mounted at my new place.
My wife and I walked into our wedding reception to "Radio" last year and my coworkers still bust my balls about the reception impromptu circle/skanking pit to "Time Bomb." MA was even skanking in her wedding dress. :-)
I've been into punk since I was a preteen, all genres, from classic stuff to ska to 90s skate punk, whatever. There is something about Rancid (and Op Ivy) that separates them from their peers IMO - more willingness to be weird, wider influences, something... I know some of it is nostalgia, I've had a lot of great times to their tunes and amazing memories.
However, it's not JUST nostalgia like some of the music I still love. (I don't think Pennywise is actually very good, but some of their albums are still in rotation because they bring back great memories. Insane circle pits to "Bro Hymn" and the like.)
I highly recommend that people who haven't heard '...and Out Come the Wolves" to check it out. Matt's awesome bass, the hooks, the ska, the weird Jim Carroll poetry in Junkie Man. It's worth at least one listen.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 4, 2015 21:23:35 GMT -5
Tangentially related, I'm going to see Fat Wreck Chord's 25th Anniversary Tour on August 16 in Philly. Nofx! Lagwagon! Swingin' Udders! It's going to be awesome.
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monodrone
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Post by monodrone on Aug 5, 2015 4:40:33 GMT -5
I'd never listened to this album for no good reason - I got into punk a few years after it came out with The Offspring's Americana, Green Day's Nimrod and Blink 182's Enema of the State which isn't trve pvnx but it's all I had growing up in a small rural town in the north of England. I was aware of Rancid at that time from the Timebomb and Ruby Soho videos being on TV a lot but I knew Tim Armstrong more for Transplants and being Mr Brody Dalle than Rancid itself.
Despite that, listening to ...And Out Come The Wolves is a nostalgic experience - I didn't recognise any of the song titles outside of the big singles, Ruby Soho and Timebomb, but it turns out roughly half the songs got regular play at the punk clubs I used to go to in my eary 20s (let's call it 2005 to 2008) so hearing Roots Radical, Junkie Man, Journey to the End of the East Bay and Avenues & Alleyways take me straight back to bouncing around a dancefloor with by buds. I'll definitely be keeping it around for future listening.
That said, there's absolutely no reason for a punk album to run for 50 minutes - I lose focus on it somewhere in the second half (hard to pinpoint where it is because my brain just drifts away) only to be drawn back in for the last few songs.
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Post by Nudeviking on Aug 5, 2015 7:33:12 GMT -5
This was in my walkman for a huge chunk of sophomore year (with Snapcase's Lookinglasself on the b-side of the tape). Because of the length the last two tracks never made it on the tape, so to this day "Avenues & Alleyways" and "The Way I Feel" don't feel like they really belong on the album to me so I have no strong feelings about either of those songs at all. As a disgusting high school student I liked "Junkie Man" the best, and that probably holds true now as well.
In my rather humble opinion, a lot of later day Rancid has kind of been hit or miss, but ...And Out Comes the Wolves is still as awesome today as it was back in '95.
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Post by Some Kind of Munster on Aug 5, 2015 10:06:16 GMT -5
This was in my walkman for a huge chunk of sophomore year (with Snapcase's Lookinglasself on the b-side of the tape). Because of the length the last two tracks never made it on the tape, so to this day "Avenues & Alleyways" and "The Way I Feel" don't feel like they really belong on the album to me so I have no strong feelings about either of those songs at all. As a disgusting high school student I liked "Junkie Man" the best, and that probably holds true now as well. In my rather humble opinion, a lot of later day Rancid has kind of been hit or miss, but ...And Out Comes the Wolves is still as awesome today as it was back in '95. My tape had … And Out Come the Wolves on one side and Bad Religion’s Stranger Than Fiction on the other. Because I was kind of a punker-than-thou dickbag, this tape was my secret shame, as it had Bad Religion’s major label debut sellout album AND Rancid’s mainstream breakthrough album. I kept it hidden when my “cooler” friends were around. |
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Post by ganews on Aug 5, 2015 11:41:17 GMT -5
I can't seem to find time after work to get past the first 20 minutes, but I dig it. Particularly the high bass in the opener.
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Smacks
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Post by Smacks on Aug 5, 2015 12:15:38 GMT -5
This was in my walkman for a huge chunk of sophomore year (with Snapcase's Lookinglasself on the b-side of the tape). Because of the length the last two tracks never made it on the tape, so to this day "Avenues & Alleyways" and "The Way I Feel" don't feel like they really belong on the album to me so I have no strong feelings about either of those songs at all. As a disgusting high school student I liked "Junkie Man" the best, and that probably holds true now as well. In my rather humble opinion, a lot of later day Rancid has kind of been hit or miss, but ...And Out Comes the Wolves is still as awesome today as it was back in '95. My tape had … And Out Come the Wolves on one side and Bad Religion’s Stranger Than Fiction on the other. Because I was kind of a punker-than-thou dickbag, this tape was my secret shame, as it had Bad Religion’s major label debut sellout album AND Rancid’s mainstream breakthrough album. I kept it hidden when my “cooler” friends were around. You've reminded me of my cassette tape with Agent Orange on one side and Operation Ivy on the other and how incredibly cooooool I thought I was senior year of high school. |
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Post by ganews on Aug 6, 2015 23:32:29 GMT -5
The last half largely blended together for me, but "Went to his room and smashed his Billy Bragg record / Didn't want him to hear that communist lecture" won my heart.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 14, 2015 17:54:21 GMT -5
This was in my walkman for a huge chunk of sophomore year (with Snapcase's Lookinglasself on the b-side of the tape). Because of the length the last two tracks never made it on the tape, so to this day "Avenues & Alleyways" and "The Way I Feel" don't feel like they really belong on the album to me so I have no strong feelings about either of those songs at all. As a disgusting high school student I liked "Junkie Man" the best, and that probably holds true now as well. In my rather humble opinion, a lot of later day Rancid has kind of been hit or miss, but ...And Out Comes the Wolves is still as awesome today as it was back in '95. SNAPCASE! They were one of the bands my boyfriend (2003-2005) listened to that I also liked and always meant to listen to more. (I have him to thank for my love of Failure, Hot Snakes, QOTSA, Tool, Autolux, and many more.) As for the album up for discussion, it was in heavy rotation during my last couple years of high school, tho I preferred Let's Go. I was never into hardcore punk, but I loved Rancid. |
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Post by Nudeviking on Aug 14, 2015 18:21:15 GMT -5
This was in my walkman for a huge chunk of sophomore year (with Snapcase's Lookinglasself on the b-side of the tape). Because of the length the last two tracks never made it on the tape, so to this day "Avenues & Alleyways" and "The Way I Feel" don't feel like they really belong on the album to me so I have no strong feelings about either of those songs at all. As a disgusting high school student I liked "Junkie Man" the best, and that probably holds true now as well. In my rather humble opinion, a lot of later day Rancid has kind of been hit or miss, but ...And Out Comes the Wolves is still as awesome today as it was back in '95. SNAPCASE! They were one of the bands my boyfriend (2003-2005) listened to that I also liked and always meant to listen to more. (I have him to thank for my love of Failure, Hot Snakes, QOTSA, Tool, Autolux, and many more.) As for the album up for discussion, it was in heavy rotation during my last couple years of high school, tho I preferred Let's Go. I was never into hardcore punk, but I loved Rancid. Rancid were kind of one of those bands that if you liked rock music of any genre in the mid-90s it was okay to like. And I too like Let's Go a little bit more, but that might just be because "Side Kick" is the goofiest, and therefore best, thing Rancid has ever done. |
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Post by Jimmy James on Aug 15, 2015 18:22:43 GMT -5
SNAPCASE! They were one of the bands my boyfriend (2003-2005) listened to that I also liked and always meant to listen to more. (I have him to thank for my love of Failure, Hot Snakes, QOTSA, Tool, Autolux, and many more.) As for the album up for discussion, it was in heavy rotation during my last couple years of high school, tho I preferred Let's Go. I was never into hardcore punk, but I loved Rancid. Rancid were kind of one of those bands that if you liked rock music of any genre in the mid-90s it was okay to like. And I too like Let's Go a little bit more, but that might just be because "Side Kick" is the goofiest, and therefore best, thing Rancid has ever done. Something about the verse "Wolverine was sad / It made him mad / Every single cop got a bullet in the head" is pretty silly. Operation Ivy, mentioned up thread and chronicled on this album in "Journey to the End of East Bay" are pretty fantastic. Their lone full length Energy is one of my top albums of all time not just on the strength of some good ska punk tunes, but also some honestly pretty beautiful lyrics. I always felt this was the biggest deficiency of Rancid viz their predecessors. Let's Go is also worth discussing here in connection with how, in the process of overstuffing a lot of Rancid albums, they tend to include some songs that might not be quite finished, which I always thought was reminiscent of some of the scraps and half-baked ideas on the Clash's Sandinista. This means that bits like "Motorcycle Ride" near the end of Let's Go wind up in polished singles like "Time Bomb" here- the first verse If you wanna make a move then you better come in It's just the ability to reason that wears so thin Living and dying and the stories that are true The secret to a good life is knowing when your through appears verbatim in both. There are some similar borrowed lines on the sophomore album's "Harry Bridges" and the unlisted track "Union Blood" on their debut Rancid[1993]. |
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repulsionist
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Post by repulsionist on Aug 17, 2015 17:28:34 GMT -5
Now that the hubbub of bonhomie has died down a bit...I came to this album far too late to appreciate it as, "This was my high school jam". I entered this splinter of punk rock via Operation Ivy, when I picked up Energy (quite good) in 2002 or 2003; I never sought out any of its offshoots...until a same-aged friend put me on a 5-minute blast for not having Rancid's "seminal" punk rock beam of light that transfigures all corrupt and turns all to pure heavenly power. I dutifully borrowed the album from him and listened to it. I'd already heard and loved most of their influences on this record. Hearing those influences again, as filtered through the blaze of "Isn't this shit the coolest!?!" supplication most of the band appears to use as its means to express the assembly of like sounds into manufactured song, did not diminish the power of those influences. It only highlighted how little value it is to borrow those ideas wholesale and leaving them to spoil in a temple of dogmatic pride. Perhaps making things a bit rancid, I'd say.
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