Word: rancidity
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...reconcile Rancid's derivative nature with such promise? First, realize that over its first three albums, the band's predictability progressively withered away, although it never quite disappeared completely. At the point of Wolves's release, the punk quartet had the talent, poise and drive to break out of the mold, to tweak the Rancid sound just a bit, to adventure away from history and expectation. But much to the public's gratification, they were too busy perfecting an acutely intelligent pop rock record before deciding to move on innovatively...
...band's fourth album, the new explosive Life Won't Wait, Rancid makes that ever important step toward significantly altering its approach while building upon the melodic punk sound that made the band so popular and radio friendly. There's still some signature Clash echoing throughout the record, especially on the track "Lady Liberty", but Rancid certainly forges ahead creatively and lyrically. Not only does the band evolve away from its unoriginal, limited beginnings, the group provides the public with a punkreggae eclecticism that is sure to please...
With Life Won't Wait destined to accumulate praise and a broader listenership for Rancid, the choice to open the album with unnecessarily self-aggrandizing lyrics was a poor one. To make such a singular hampering flaw on a record is not horrible, but to make it intentionally conspicuous is a significant misjudgment. Notable on the first track, "Intro," the band is too aware of its own destiny for personal success and public appreciation; the group members mistakenly assume that moral suasion should be flaunted outright instead of embracing the more preferable latent variety conveyed through experiences and opinions...
With that minuscule but unavoidable flaw out of the way, Rancid begins unleashing the usual all-out aural assault with the album's first single, "Bloodclot." Several "hey-ho's" and "nah-nah's" later, with the melodies acting as some sort of immediately infectious drug and the muscle-bound punk cowboy aesthetic getting full play, the stage is set for the rest of the record to branch out. "Bloodclot" is a successful segue from "Wolves" to the rest of the new album...
Success for a punk is quite the paradox, at least in term of ideology, and Armstrong spends a whole song contemplating the fleeting whirlwind journey of Rancid's radio success in "Backslide": "nobody knows me/I'm all alone/I gotta go/Hollywood bus stop and the party's over/I gotta go." Exemplifying the amazing lines exhibited throughout Life Won't Wait, crooning, "have you ever been looked at by your past and it will never let you go." You get the impression that the members of Rancid weren't perfectly aware of what they were getting into by releasing the modern rock...