Rage Against the Machine - Live At the Grand Olympic Auditorium

Why are you reading this review? It's Rage Against The Machine and it's their final shows; what more do you need to know? Go buy this album! BUT, just in case you need a little more convincing, here is a little more info. With Live at the Grand Olympic Auditorium, Rage Against the Machine have released what they hope will be the last piece of music the band is remembered for. Over the course of two nights in Los Angeles Rage recorded a multitude of songs, the best of which they mixed down, and have released on this record and an accompanying DVD. All the great songs are here, from "Bullet In the Head" and "People of the Sun", to "Kick Out the Jams" and "Testify" and everything in between. The band made sure all the classics were covered, and the more I listen to the disc, the more I wish I had somehow been at these shows. What about the sound quality you ask? Well, when you hire Rick Rubin to produce a live album, take two nights to record it, and then spend several months mixing it all, you get nothing but the best. All the instruments as well as the vocals are very distinct in the mix, the bass lines are nice and thick, and every one of Tom Morello's guitar solos sounds studio perfect. I have never been a huge fan of the live album, simply because the sound quality usually isn't all that great and the songs generally don't sound different enough from the studio version to warrant listening to a live disc. However, when Rage Against the Machine announced they were breaking up, I can remember being really pissed off that I didn't make it to one of the shows on their last tour. With Live at the Grand Olympic Auditorium, Rage has attempted to give their fans the next best thing to actually being at one of these shows. I can't see any self-respecting fan of the band not supporting this final effort from undoubtedly one of the greatest bands of our generation. [www.ratm.com]