Additional information
Rancid: Lars Frederiksen, Tim Armstrong (vocals, guitar); Matt Freeman (bass, background vocals); Brett Reed (drums). Additional personnel: Paul Jackson (Hammond organ); Bashiri Johnson (percussion); DJ Disk (scratches). In the wake of the Offspring's success, Rancid became a hot band, earning a dedicated cult and sparking a major-label bidding war. After flirting with a handful of major labels, the band decided to stick with Epitaph and returned with And Out Come the Wolves. While the title is a veiled reference to the attention the band gained, the album doesn't mark an isolationist retreat into didactic, defiantly underground punk rock. Instead, Rancid develop their own identity on the record, which ironically makes them more accessible. Although they continue to draw heavily from the Clash and the Specials -- and their roots in the ska-punk band Operation Ivy are quite clear throughout the record -- the band plays with such energy and conviction, it's easy to forgive their derivativeness. On the whole, And Out Come the Wolves is a little too long to make a major impact, but individual tracks are classic moments of revivalist punk, including the skittering 2-Tone tribute "Time Bomb." ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Reviews
Spin (5/01, pp.110,112) - Ranked #35 in Spin's "50 Most Essential Punk Records". Spin (12/95, p.62) - Ranked #10 on Spin's list of the `20 Best Albums Of '95.' Entertainment Weekly (12/29/95-1/5/96, p.132) - Ranked #6 on EW's Top 10 Albums Of 1995 - "...Rancid recalls a time when punk was less about safety pins than it was about bristling, blow-the-roof-off anthems..." Q (10/95, p.125) - 3 Stars - Good - "...they look most likely to cement their country's nascent punk revolution..." Alternative Press (3/02, p.96) - Included in AP's "Essential Punk Influences '02 Style" - "...The sound of 4 street-bred musicians with punk in their jeans - and its post-Clash mix of ska and scruff was catchy as hell..." Village Voice (2/20/96) - Ranked #16 in Village Voice's 1995 Pazz & Jop Critics' Poll. NME (Magazine) (8/26/95, p.47) - 7 (out of 10) - "...the allure of sulphate riffage coupled with traces of dub and a sensation that all is not quite well with the world is quite considerable....a thousand chugging riffs unearthed since 1978, and most of them are fairly excellent [or] quite awesomely ridiculous..."
