Rancid: Life Won't Wait (2LP) [EPITAPH]

Why you'll love it

This Epitaph 2LP set in a gatefold jacket gives all 22 songs room across four sides. It reached No. 35 on the Billboard 200 and won Outstanding Punk/Ska Album at the 1999 California Music Awards.

This edition

• 2LP set
• Gatefold jacket

About the album

After ...And Out Come the Wolves, Rancid could have made the same record again. Instead Tim Armstrong and Lars Frederiksen took the band on the road to record: San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, New Orleans and Kingston, Jamaica, where they cut "Hoover Street" and the title track. They produced it themselves, and Brett Gurewitz helped pick and sequence the songs.

The guest list reads like a ska and punk family reunion. Buju Banton sings on "Life Won't Wait," Billie Joe Armstrong adds the hey-hos to "Bloodclot," Neville Staple and Lynval Golding of The Specials turn up on "Hooligans," and Dicky Barrett of the Mighty Mighty Bosstones shouts along on "Black Lung." Vic Ruggiero's organ runs through the whole thing, and "Coppers" closes it out on steel drums. The cover photo tips its hat to John Lennon's Rock 'n' Roll and Neil Young's After the Gold Rush.

AllMusic called it a powerful slice of old-school punk, and its mix of reggae, ska and street punk has aged beautifully. The band recorded more than 50 songs for it and kept 22, which counts as restraint in Rancid terms.

Also at Kops: more Rancid on vinyl · browse Punk

Tracklist

Listen

On Epitaph (cat# 86497-1), a reissue of the 1998 album.