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Rancid

The Music Videos: 1993-2003 DVD (2008)
Machete Mfg.

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Contributed by: swank
(others by this writer | submit your own)

Published on September 26th 2008

Rancid are one of those bands.

I always seem to forget the impact some of their material has had on me until it's really shoved in my face. On their last tour, I decided, very last minute, to attend and it ended up being one of the best shows I'd seen all year. Pretty much as soon as the band kicked in on the first song ("Radio") it all came rushing back to me, and reaffirmed my feelings on the band.

At times, this DVD did the same thing.

It's been a couple of years now since Rancid announced that work had begun on a comprehensive DVD of music videos and, I assumed, other DVD-type material. A documentary short perhaps? Maybe an official release of Tim's short film, "Larry Is Dead"? Unfortunately, the front cover doesn't lie: All this is is the videos. A flat, unanimated title menu, 18 videos and credits. I guess it's true what they say about when you assume things.

All the classic videos we've all seen before are here: "Hyena," "Nihilism," "Salvation" (first piss-off: it's not the much cooler "run from the guys in suits" version, it's the "stock footage of people dancing" version), "Time Bomb," "Ruby Soho," etc.

Also included are several videos made especially for the DVD. Don't worry though -- only five of them are in Tim-Armstrong-o-Vision (i.e. high contrast extreme black and white). Oddly included amongst them is the video for "Fall Back Down," changed from its previous full color version to stark Armstrong-o-Vision. Sadly, its cringe-worthy "famous people!" cameos remain.

Three of the new videos ("Roots Radicals," "I Am Forever" and "Indestructible") are amusing video scrapbooks culled from tour footage and what appears to be stills of press clippings, each from their respective eras.

A lot of the other new videos are simple performances (many in the aforementioned "Armstrong-o-Vision"), and while I didn't really expect Rancid to have a bunch of fully produced high-quality music videos tucked away in a vault like Prince has, a lot of them come off kind of same-y and could have been a touch more elaborate.

Sometimes, though, the relative simplicity works to their advantage. The standout of the new performance videos is for the Rancid (2000) track "Dead Bodies." The band plays (in full color) in Armstrong's Bloodclot Studios, Tim and Lars stylishly share a mic and they blast through the song. It, more than others, harkens back to the videos seen earlier on the DVD.

Watching these videos in order (thanks to the disc's one special feature -- "Play All") is a fun trip. It's cool to watch the band grow up, to see what looks to be the last Rancid release we'll see with Brett Reed involved and really it's just a nice to see Lars Fredriksen not in his semi-scary "viking"-era "Shady Biker Uncle" persona.

The DVD is very bare bones, and it's not without its glaring omissions ("I want my good version of 'Salvation'...who-oh-oh"), but if you're a completist, or maybe just in need of a reminder of how great Rancid can be, it's probably worth picking up.

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SilentStorms (October 2, 2008)

I post this after every Rancid review, so I guess I should continue. Rancid is the reason I was 4 years late getting into punk ... cuz they suck. And I thought punk was Rancid. Score of for them and Oi punk in general.

Ravnos (September 30, 2008)

I haven't listened to anything they've put out since the 2000 self-titled album (which I enjoyed), but I wasn't a big fan to begin with. The singles are all you really need from these guys, their albums have always tended more towards song quantity than quality. It's like they write 16-20 songs and decide to put all of them on the album, so instead of a handful of really awesome EPs or less frequent solid full-lengths, they wind up with a lot of really mediocre albums with a handful of standout tracks. I guess what I'm saying is that this seems like it would be a good buy for any casual Rancid fan, since it's going to be more consistently good than any of their actual CDs.

LinoleumMagazine (September 29, 2008)

The "run from guys in suits" version of Salvation is the only one I've ever seen. When did they change it? That's just blasphamy! You can't fuck with my adolescent memories like that. I'm glad I didn't pick this up.

INDW (September 28, 2008)

good review dude, good review.

RedElephant (September 28, 2008)

i lost my last feelings of respect for this band after seeing that music video they had with kelly osbourne and those douches from good charlotte.

I Am Forever is still a sick song though.

davo-88 (September 28, 2008)

RANCID is a money making machine that feeds off the lies of fans and consumers if i had a chance to meet tim Id shave that fuckin stinkin mohawk off his head and kick him in the nuts....

mattramone (September 27, 2008)

Meh. It was all over the moment they hired dancing girls.

T-Rock (September 27, 2008)

Has Tim Armstrong heard about the advent of YouTube?

Cos (September 27, 2008)

Rancid's videos have always been boring. No surprise.

spoon_of_grimbo (September 27, 2008)

i kinda like rancid, but their videos show a high level of suckage.

oh, and http://www.mitchclem.com/nothingnice/200/

eazyd2 (September 27, 2008)

needs more cowbell.

mikexdude (September 27, 2008)

Rancid is one of those bands?

crackpotdemagogue (September 27, 2008)

i don't understand armstrong's obsession with the high contrast thing... it's just fucking lazy using that all the time. he wore it out a long long time ago yet continues to use it on practically everything he touches. horrible!

pricey123 (September 27, 2008)

whats with the obsession of making the videos in that stupid black and white style. they did it on the give em the boot dvd and it ruined it. wont bother picking this up

usversusthem (September 27, 2008)

Man, the more they go on acting like they really only care about making money, the more my decision to stop listening to them and/or stop giving a flying fuck about them seems like the right choice. They can all go fuck themselves. "Punx," indeed. (Score is for Rancid)

conebone69 (September 27, 2008)

People who mumble are stoked

Torgo (September 27, 2008)

I didn't know there was another version of the Salvation video. I wouldn't buy this anyway, but because of B & C Sides, I'm not surprised at the weak, barebones DVD.

Make_Way (September 27, 2008)

pass