Odds and sods collections are always a mixed bag and this bad boy is no different. While this should never be your entry point to one of the best bands of recent years, there’s enough here to still warrant checking this out if you’re already an established fan.
Tim McIlrath’s unbelievable voice could sing that annoying Gotye song or just about anything and it’d still sound decent enough. The covers here are the real stars of the show with the band’s bombastic, all-singing all-dancing version of Journey’s Any Way You Want It stealing the album while Nirvana’s Sliver sounds huge and an introspective and haunted cover of Bruce Springsteen’s The Ghost Of Tom Joad is also badass.
Though plenty of the albums released by Rise Against may change your life, this won’t be one of them. The original songs here, frankly, are B-sides for a reason but even saying that, they’re better than most bands’ singles. Not essential but worth an hour of your time.
