Renegades

1	Microphone Fiend (originally performed by Eric B & Rakim)
2	Pistol Grip Pump (Volume 10)
3	Kick out the Jams (originally performed by MC5)
4	Renegades of Funk (originally performed by Afrika Bambaataa)
5	Beautiful World (originally performed by Devo)
6	I'm Housin'(originally performed by EPMD)
7	In My Eyes (originally performed by Minor Threat)
8	How I Could Just Kill a Man (originally performed by Cypress Hill)
9	The Ghost of Tom Joad (originally performed by Bruce Springsteen)
10	(originally performed by The Stooges)
11	Street Fighting Man (originally performed by Rolling Stones)
12	Maggie's Farm (originally performed by Bob Dylan)

Barnes & Noble

Most serious musicians, at some point in their careers, take the time to tip their hats to those who inspired them -- and maybe even kick a few bucks in royalties their way in the process. So it's not too surprising that Rage Against the Machine are marking the end of the first phase in their career with a covers collection, paying the same kind of homage to sonic influences as they've previously bestowed upon socio-political ones. There aren't too many out-and-out shockers in the grooves of Renegades, either -- no cock-rock skeletons or surreptitious displays of Lionel Ritchie worship. No, what the band delivers is a musically potent, unflaggingly raucous collection of tunes that can easily be traced to the sounds of Rage's own tunes. The group sounds loosest on songs culled from the ghosts of hip-hop past -- notably decidedly apolitical tracks such as Afrika Bambaataa's "Renegades of Funk" and EPMD's "I'm Housin' " -- but manages to land some heavy body blows on the rock end as well. Sensibly, Rage draw heavily from the Motor City's most legendary rabble-rousers -- the Stooges (a gutsy take on "Down on the Street") and the MC5 (in two separate versions of the classic "Kick Out the Jams"). There are a few misses -- a muddled version of Dylan's "Maggie's Farm" and an "In My Eyes" that pales in comparison to the Minor Threat original -- but overall, Renegades provides both an illumination of Rage's family tree and a powerful jolt in its own right. David Sprague

All Music Guide

Rush released after the late-2000 split between Zack de la Rocha and the rest of Rage Against the Machine, the covers album Renegades salutes the band's musical and philosophical roots, ranging from the old-school Bronx to the hard-rockin' Motor City to protest-central Greenwich Village to gangsta-ridden L.A. As could be expected, the set works best when the group focuses on material from its most recent forebears: rappers and hardcore bands. Indeed, Renegades begins with a pair of powerful hip-hop covers -- Eric B & Rakim's "Microphone Fiend" and Volume 10's "Pistol Grip Pump" -- that spotlight Rage's immense strengths: Tom Morello's clean, heavy riffing and vocalist de la Rocha's finely tuned spray of vitriol, just this side of self-righteous. Another hip-hop blast (and the one closest to home), Cypress Hill's "How I Could Just Kill a Man," is even more devastating, an easy pick for the highlight of the album. Listeners familiar with the originals, however, may have trouble with Rage's covers of EPMD's "I'm Housin'," the Stones' "Street Fighting Man," and Dylan's "Maggie's Farm," a trio of original versions whose anger and emotion were conveyed more in the lyrics than the performances. Still, drummer Brad Wilk sets an appropriately frenetic hardcore tempo for the excellent version of Minor Threat's "In My Eyes," and de la Rocha stretches out well on the MC5's "Kick Out the Jams." With just a bare few excepions, Renegades works well, in part because Rage Against the Machine is both smart enough to change very little and talented enough to make the songs its own. John Bush

Rolling Stone

The very act of overcoming such diverse works as Springsteen's "The Ghost of Tom Joad" and the Rolling Stones' "Street Fighting Man," Afrika Bambaataa's "Renegades of Funk and Bob Dylan's "Maggie's Farm" requires a certain audacity, but Rage takes things further ­ executing each with the roaring, fearless spirit thatıs been missing in action since these songs were new. Tom Moon