Cheap Live & Rare (Music) (Rage Against the Machine) Price

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Customer Reviews of Live & Rare

Better than Live at the Grand Olympic Auditorium
This "official bootleg" is a telling compilation of various Rage concerts throughout the mid-90s and may represent the final phase of "old school" RATM. What do I mean by old school? From the beginning up until the Evil Empire days, Rage's live concerts emphasized speech and wicked guitar improvisations. Oddly, this sense of adventurism faded out around the time BOLA was released... and it's quite obvious too. The "Bullet in the Head" solo on this disc destroys the one on Grand Olympic Auditorium. "Zapata's Blood" is a recognizable live track to any hardcore Rage fan and this may be the best performance of the song ever. The bonus demo cuts are pretty good, and "F*ck tha Police" is a wild ride. But the real treat is "Hadda be Playing on the Jukebox", an 8 minute poem that tells a story by its guitar work alone.

This CD may not be as accessible to Rage newbies as Grand Olympic Auditorium, but will be an instant classic to true fans.

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A Great Live Rage Album Not To Be Missed
A great collection of live and rare songs from Rage Against The Machine, one of the best live acts in modern rock. I still remember Rage's charged performance at Woodstock '99 and how bad they made Metallica, the band going on stage after them, look. The two rare tracks are merely mediocre, although they may be of interest to hardcore fans. One especially noteworthy performance is Rage's cover of NWA's anti-police brutality anthem, F*** The Police. They turned a great old-school gangster rap song into an even better one. Chuck D. of Public Enemy, a large influence on Zack, also makes an appearance on the CD. This album is not to be missed, although it makes you want to kick yourself for not seeing Rage live when you had the chance.

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Too bad it isn't better-known
I can imagine that the import price made a few people in the US think twice about buying this album-I know I thought twice. But Rage is the kind of band that makes you think, "well it's expensive, but from this band it is worth it." Their studio albums are more of an excuse to get their message out and raise money for charity, as well as a way to remember their live shows. Because that's where the group really shines, onstage. Bullet in the Head is a great song live, and the guitar on it is impeccable. Get any album with Tom Morello playing guitar, trust me.
Just so you know, the songs on this disc are compiled from various shows which are listed in the liner notes. Other than their usual live songs (all pre-Empire except one) there are other interesting features. Chuck D and the band collaborate on Zapata's Blood and Intro-(just hearing the first part of that sentence should make you want to buy it), and Rage jams to the lyrics of a poem by Allen Ginsberg.
But if you still aren't convinced, you can hear the last two tracks, which are not on any of their other releases. They are good, too, not just throwaways.