After You ve Gone is preceded by the equally sophisticated but more wildly exuberant Senegalese Stomp by the Savoy Bearcats. But what s most exciting is the breadth of aesthetic and artistic content. Too often the Harlem Renaissance is spoken of with so much reverence that it comes off like Shakespeare, something that s rarefied and good for you. What the folks at Rhino have done is the same thing Shakespeare scholars have tried to do for centuries remind us that the power of the art wasn t just in the cerebral, but in the sexy muck of body fluids and messy emotions. It s a grenade of an album that unfortunately will be the last to include front man Zack de la Rocha.
Renegades oozes cacophonous rage and latent contempt.
De la Rocha makes out with the microphone in a tender rendition of Devo s irony-heavy Beautiful World, the only song in contention for the spotlight dance at the Communist Prom. Morello drops riotous riffs like a Led Zeppelin weight on MC5 s Kick Out the Jams. How I Could Just Kill a Man. A renegade as an individual who rejects lawful or conventional behavior is not what Rage exemplifies on this album. Rather, they re renegades within their own ranks, creating a sound and platform that establishes a mandate for a new convention.