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Album Review: Rise Against – Long Forgotten Songs: B-Sides & Covers 2000-2013

Rise Against are most widely known for being that shouty punk band from Illinois, who are all do goody and support Amnesty, PETA and other organisations like that. Not in an, “ooh, look at me I’m saving an orangutan”, while the TV cameras encircle the terrified primate. They’re more of the understated, we’ll slam the political dialogue in the verses and let our music do the talking, and for the past 14-ish years it has quite comfortably.

Now after releasing six politically charged albums they have released a collection of b-sides and songs that got lost in the ether: ‘Long Forgotten Songs: B-Sides & Covers 2000-2013’. A collection of thrown away half-baked ideas it is not though, compiled to be an extra pay cheque with minimal effort. Instead the record bizarrely has a kind of cohesiveness to it that it really shouldn’t. Not that this reviewer is complaining in the slightest.

Twenty-six songs was always a weighty ask, but when there are changes of pace galore as you race through this goliath of a record you can hardly gripe and moan. There’s some Rise Against token acoustic gold in the shape of the beautifully crafted ‘Everchanging’, where Tim McIlrath does his best to tug on the heartstrings, maybe not to the same ilk as the touching ‘Hero of War’, but still McIlrath is at his sentiment wrenching best.

Then when you reach the conclusion of this bountiful chest of forgotten tracks that have fallen by the wayside, there is a smattering of quite unusual covers. Which are absolutely what you would not expect from a band like Rise Against. However, what a surprise they are with the star studded cover of ‘The Ghost Of Tom Joad’, proving to be the jewel in the crown and the perfect way to finish the record. While their cover of Boy’s ‘No Good’ is as unexpected as it is majestic.

Altogether, it’s a testament to the musical ability of Tim McIlrath, Zach Blair, Joe Principe and Brandon Barnes that their leftover pizza, after the night out that is dining on their six albums, still tastes as good right now as it would have earlier.

8/10

‘Long Forgotten Songs: B-Sides & Covers 2000-2013’, a compilation of Rise Against b-sides and rarities, is available now from Polydor.