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Rating:
Add a barely sufficient rhythm section, a bit of fuzzy guitar noise that follows the bass lines plus some noise to look cool, some lyrics like "yo man, get the motafukka outta hea" yelled by a guy pulled off the sidewalk in some Hispanic neighborhood in alternately Seattle, Los Angeles or San Diego and here you have the new Rage Against The Machine.
Just make a lot of noise and give the impression you're thinking it through and you immediately get some damn contract with a damn major like Sony Music. Whether what is played is fake like the Nike polos sold by Moroccans under the Scalzi Bridge in Venice, it doesn't matter. American kids consume crap in industrial quantities; they are the equivalent of kids who 10 years earlier were buying Poison records. MTV does its part, so does Sony Music, and boom! The new rock for the new millennium.
And then maybe the members of the new rock sensation start to hate each other, no problem, split for musical differences and here you are with Audioslave 1, Audioslave 2, 3, etc., with the crappy managers tripled.
Music criticism: use of the minor tone, the "rhythm" is the same (try with a metronome), the repetitiveness of the main riff, the fact that the riff itself is based on the same intervals, without digging too much into technical matters, these are clones of the Zeps and the Soundgarden, just listen: Cochise is Black Dog, so much so that I've heard cover bands put them together in medleys seamlessly.
But holy crap, this is an album that has its reason for being only blasted on Sunday mornings when you're in your damn bourgeois courtyard washing your dad's Punto, which he lent you the night before because you had to take your girl to gulp down crappy cocktails in some damn private club, and you still have the seats stained with drool, oh no, it's just her saliva since you couldn't even finish because obviously of this crappy band's crappy music.
And the RATM??? Who remembers them?? Extremely derivative the Ratm: more or less evident plagiarisms from the first Urban Dance Squad and the Sweet Lizard Illtet album (who annihilated Morello and company as for originality and stylistic versatility). Because, in truth, what did the clumsy Rage reduce to on the first album (the only one I own, the others I listened to in passing since they were photostatic copies)? Rhythm of granite power but devoid of flickers with that bass often too limited to copying the guitar riffs, Morello who, after treating us to the scholastic hard rock loop (listen to the Zeppelin-like "Kashmir" heists within the album) attempted to astonish the dumb audience with special effects on pedals and ended up becoming the poor man's Belew, La Rocha with his hysterical rapping (model "horseradish root in the ass") that already grated in just the second listen. A global thermonuclear shit unlistenable, make the youngster listen and there's the misplaced magic word, "masterpiece," oh...but are these the Fugazi? What deconstruction of song form!! No, not at all dude listen to me well, what you are listening to you son of a bitch are the Audioslave because they like to play like they did 30 years ago not caring if meanwhile rock died and became post, they don't give a damn they’re just looking for a way to build something important (like a damn terraced villa in Bel-Air for example). Such shit that compared to them Linkin Park seems like the Jesus Lizard. I borrowed it before writing the review and even listened to it TWICE. If this is a good hard rock album, the Saxons were fundamental pioneers. Compared to them even late Pearl Jam are suddenly reevaluated. I put them on one night in the car, I was with the girl and couldn't get aroused, put the audio stuff she says to me, but fuck you and the slaves try lifting that boob if you can! What’s wrong can't you do it and what the hell do you expect from me?? Useless smelly go back to blowing the hipsters with GEM at full blast.
The Audioslave, open-minded social people!! Like the Ratm!!! Back off to the cultures that live together (yes yes like in Jerusalem) a black, an Indian, a Hispanic and an American in the same band playing rock and roll!!! Isn't it all brilliant?? Soy ispanighe soy Ascanio der shit, I’m a male of the ispanighe type. Yes they claim the rights of the shitty minorities instead of experimenting in music something new, Cornell who cares about the poor abhauabahauab, but bahauabahaubau even for Zack goddamn liar of rock, maybe the sissies deserve a lot of things from the State, they certainly don't deserve “more rights” than common people.
[Follows a series of raving nonsense, which we spare you. Vic, your fascist goody-two-shoes proclamations please write somewhere else. Try with Feltri.]
So dear ex Ratm, I don't give a damn that you're leftists, rich-ass bastards go to hell with your social bullshits, art is something else, it has nothing to do with social issues, what the fuck Bob fucking Geldof is not an artist!! I'm going back to the terrace to continue to weightlift the bird.
Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos
01 Cochise (03:44)
Well I've been watching
While you've been coughing
I've been drinking life
While you've been nauseous
And so I drink to health
While you kill yourself
And I've got just one thing
That I can offer
Go on and save yourself
And take it out on me
I'm not a martyr
I'm not a prophet
And I won't preach to you
But here's a caution
You better understand
That I won't hold your hand
But if it helps you mend
Then I won't stop it
Go on and save yourself
And take it out on me
Drown if you want
And I'll see you at the bottom
Where you'll crawl on my skin
And put the blame on me
So you don't feel a thing
Go on and save yourself
And take it out on me
02 Show Me How to Live (04:39)
And with the early dawn
Moving right along
I couldn't buy an eyeful of sleep
And in the aching night under satellites
I was not received
Built with stolen parts
A telephone in my heart
Someone get me a priest
To put my mind to bed
This ringing in my head
Is this a cure or is this a disease
Nail in my hand
From my creator
You gave me life
Now show me how to live
Nail in my hand
From my creator
You gave me life
Now show me how to live
And in the after birth
On the quiet earth
Let the stains remind you
You thought you made a man
You better think again
Before my role defines you
Nail in my hand
From my creator
You gave me life
Now show me how to live
Nail in my hand
From my creator
You gave me life
Now show me how to live
And in your waiting hands
I will land
And roll out of my skin
And in your final hours I will stand
Ready to begin
Ready to begin
Ready to begin
Ready to begin
Nail in my hand
From my creator
You gave me life
Now show me how to live
Nail in my hand
From my creator
You gave me life
Now show me how to live
show me how to live
show me how to live
show me how to live
show me how to live
03 Gasoline (04:41)
House is haunted
I just want to go for a ride
Out and on
Before I set this room alight
Left alone forever and for crimes unclear
With my patience gone
Someone take me far from here
Burning that gasoline
Burning that gasoline
New day yawning another day of solitaire
House is honest
Clearly more than I can bear
Drag me off
Before I set my world on fire
Out and gone
The sun will never set tonight
Burning that gasoline
Yeah
Burning that gasoline
No what for's,
Only a can of red
Says danger on it
I have found another way
Burning that gasoline
Yeah
Burning that gasoline
Burning it all the way
Burning it all the way
05 Like a Stone (04:56)
On a cobweb
Afternoon
In a room full of emptiness
By a freeway
I confess I was lost in the pages
Of a book
Full of death
Reading how we'll die alone
And if we're good we'll lay to rest
Anywhere we want to go
In your house
I long to be
Room by room
Patiently
I'll wait for you there
Like a stone
I'll wait for you there
Alone
And on my death bed
I will pray
To the gods and the angels
Like a pagan
To anyone who will take me to heaven
To a place
I recall
I was there so long ago
The sky was bruised
The wine was bled
And there you led me on
In your house
I long to be
Room by room
Patiently
I'll wait for you there
Like a stone
I'll wait for you there
Alone
Alone
And on i read
Till the day was gone
And i sat in regret
For all the things I've done
For all that I've blessed
And all that I've wronged
In dreams until my death
I will wander on
In your house
I long to be
Room by room
Patiently
I'll wait for you there
Like a stone
I'll wait for you there
Alone
Alone
06 Set It Off (04:25)
We were standing at the rock
gathering the flock
getting there with no directions
and underneath the arch
it turned into a march
and there we found the spot to set this fucker off
set if off
set it off my children
set it right
set it off
set it off my children
alright
set it off
set it off my children
set a fire
set it off
set it off my children
suddenly a shot
ripped into his heart
and then he needed some attention
and there he played his card
going into shock
the last thing that he said was set this fucker off
set if off
set it off my children
set it right
set it off
set it off my children
alright
set it off
set it off my children
set a fire
set it off
set it off my children
alright
alright
alright
alright
alright
alright
jesus at the back door
everything is alright
all we need is some direction
everytime the wind blows
everything you don't know
turns into a revelation
and it all adds up inside your head
time is wasted
set if off
set it off my children
set it right
set it off
set it off my children
alright
set it off
set it off my children
set a fire
set it off
set it off my children
Alright
Alright
Alright
Alright
Alright
Alright
07 Shadow on the Sun (05:45)
Once upon a time I was of the mind
To lay your burden down
And leave you where you stood
And you believed I could
You'd seen it done before
I could read your thoughts
And tell you what you saw
And never say a word
But now all that is gone
Over with and done-never to return
And I can tell you why
People die alone
I can tell you I'm
A shadow on the sun
Staring at the loss
Looking for a cause
And never really sure
Nothing but a hole
To live without a soul
And nothing to be learned
And I can tell you why
People go insane
I can show you how
You could do the same
I can tell you why
The end will never come
I can tell you I'm
A shadow on the sun
Shapes of every size
Move behind my eyes
Doors inside my head
Bolted from within
Every drop of flame
Lights a candle in
Memory of the one
Who lived inside my skin
I can tell you why
People go insane
I can show you how
You could do the same
I can tell you why
The end will never come
I can tell you I'm
The shadow on the sun
Shadow on the sun
Shadow on the sun
Shadow on the sun
Shadow on the sun
Shadow on the sun
Shadow on the sun
Shadow on the sun
Shadow on the sun
Shadow
Shadow
08 I Am the Highway (05:36)
Pearls and swine bereft of me
Long and weary my road has been
I was lost in the cities
Alone in the hills
No sorrow or pity for leaving I feel
I am not your rolling wheels
I am the highway
I am not your carpet ride
I am the sky
Friends and liars don't wait for me
'Cause I'll get on all by myself
I put millions of miles
Under my heels
And still too close to you
I feel
I am not your rolling wheels
I am the highway
I am not your carpet ride
I am the sky
I am not your blowing wind
I am the lightning
I am not your autumn moon
I am the night, night
09 Exploder (03:28)
I met a man locked away
for things he hadn't done
Innocence on a ball and chain
He'll never feel the sun again on his face
Or roses in his hands
But when he smiled at me
I could understand
If you're free you'll never see the walls
If your head is clear you'll never free-fall
If you're right you'll never fear the wrong
If your head is high you'll never fear at all
There was a daughter of a man
Who took his life too young
She swore she'd never do the same
Then did just what he'd done
And a boy who's gone insane
Had voices in his head
No one knows what they say
Now his mother's dead
If you're free you'll never see the walls
If your head is clear you'll never free-fall
If you're right you'll never fear the wrong
If your head is high you'll never fear at all
There was a man who had a face
That looked a lot like me
I saw him in the mirror and
I fought him in the street
And when he turned away
I shot him in the head
Then I came to realize
I had killed myself
If you're free you'll never see the walls
If your head is clear you'll never free-fall
If you're right you'll never fear the wrong
If your head is high you'll never fear
10 Hypnotize (03:28)
Well if you set your mind upon it
I know that you can
You've got everything you wanted
You've done everything you planned
So let me make an offer
I'm only trying to help
You can make your load
Just a little lighter
All you got to do is share the wealth
Oh no don't you keep your
Good luck to yourself
Oh no don't you keep your
Good luck to yourself
Well I know you got problems
I see it in your eyes
But if you want to live
To see the morning
Give it up to your brother
Or you'll get a surprise
Oh no don't you keep your
Good luck to yourself
Oh no don't you keep your
Good luck to yourself
Well it's time to see
You got to give or you're gonna receive
It's time to see
You got to live if you wanna believe
You can be
11 Bring 'Em Back Alive (05:31)
I was on my way to the center of the sun
When I lost my wings and I fell into a crowd
And they carried me to the hole in the ground
And they buried me
Where no one could see
And no one would be around
I am a virus, I live in silence
I was on my way to a city in the clouds
When I lost my mind and I had to settle down
Then I had a dream of an island in the sea
Where the lepers die
Where no one survives
And no one can hear the cries
I am a virus, I live in silence
And just like the heathens thinking
On our feet we believe in God
And with one step, two steps
Three steps toward the graveyard
On the high road to remembering
It seems that we forgot
I am a virus, I live in silence
12 Light My Way (05:05)
In my hour of need
On a sea of gray
On my knees I pray to you
Help me find the dawn
Of the dying day
Won't you light my way
A bullet is a man
From time to time he strays
I compare my life to this
To this I relate
And I'm willing
To listen to your answers
And I'm not afraid
To tell you I need you today
Won't you light my way
So when I'm lost
Or I'm tired and depraved
Or when my high bullet mind
Goes astray won't you light my way
Don't save it for another day
Won't you light my way
13 Getaway Car (05:01)
The first time I saw you, you were
Chasing down
A cyclone
All alone in the field
With rail yards and clovers
I kept rolling on
Never thought you'd wind up chasing me
Well settle down I won't hesitate
To hit the highway
Before you lay me to waste, no
Settle up and I'll help you find
Something to drive
Before you drive me insane
You're tired of walking
And you loathe the ground
The sidewalk will barely
Touch your feet and life moves
Too slowly to hold you down
With ringing hands
You take it out on me
Well settle down
I won't hesitate to hit the highway
Before you leave me to waste, no
Settle up and I'll help you find something to drive
Before you drive me insane
So get yourself a car and drive it all alone
Get yourself a car
Ride it on the wind, ya
Get yourself a car and drive it all alone
Get yourself a car
And ride it on the wind
Settle down
I won't hesitate to hit the highway
Before you lay me to waste, no
Settle up and I'll help you find something to drive
Before you drive me insane
So get yourself a car and drive it all alone
Get yourself a car
Ride it on the wind
Get yourself a car and drive it all alone
Get yourself a car
Ride it on the wind
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Other reviews
By Rivo
The oil in our experiment is the Rage Against The Machine stripped of their protest scream.
The result is predictable and weak: I only highlight "Gasoline," "Cochise," and "Light my way."
By mantaray
The voice is the astonishing trademark of Audioslave.
This is an energetic and direct rock album, without contaminations, no trace of hip hop or other deviations from the main path.
By il trucido
This album has guts, a collection of songs that recreate the '70s style like we haven’t heard in a while, without being derivative.
I am convinced that Audioslave are better than Rage (read Cornell’s lyrics... they are a bit more profound).
By Baz
"A more eccentric than ever Morello and a poetic Cornell should be enough to give a CD everything it needs to please those who understand music."
"'Like a Stone' ... a melody that makes me feel as if my heart is tangled many times over and then put back in its place."
By FabbioAW
It always seems like listening to the plastic revision of that sound explosion that was the self-titled debut of Rage Against The Machine.
It is an album that lives (or “survives”) on no longer original ideas.
