Customer Reviews

BYO Split Series, Vol. 3

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I happen to be a bigger fan of NOFX than I am of Racid, but I've got to tip my hat to Rancid because I think they did a better job.

I thought that NOFX could've chose better Rancid songs to cover, but their version of Olympia WA was almost better than the original.

Now Rancid chose some great songs and did them well. Their versions of Don't Call Me White and Brews is excellent and their version of Vanilla Sex is classic.

Don't pass this one by. It's more than a novelty.

Some of the people reviewing this are being kind of stupid and looking at it wrong. The bands weren't trying to out-do each other or anything. It was all just for fun. Some guy said NOFX ruined the Rancid songs by changing the style too much. THAT WAS THE WHOLE POINT! Of course it's not going to sound like it's "supposed to!" They wanted to do the other's song in their own style. What would be the fun in trying to make it sound the same as the original version? I think they both did a great job.

Personally I liked NOFX's stuff better just because I'm a bigger fan of them. I'm a huge Rancid fan, too, but the vocals on "Don't Call Me White" and "Moron Bros." were kind of annoying. I guess just because Tim and Matt's vocal style doesn't really match up well with Fat Mike's, so it sounds really weird. As for NOFX, I liked all the songs. "Tenderloin" kind of bugged me because at first I didn't even recognize it until he started singing the chorus, but it was an okay cover. "Antennas" was awesome, and so was "Corozon De Oro." Their version of "Radio" was hilarious. I've talked to Rancid fans that hated that, but it's pretty obvious that it's a joke, especially if they saw them play it live at Warped Tour in 2002. They brought out a few rastafarians to play keyboard for it. It was great.

Best tracks are NOFX - "Olympia, WA" and Rancid - "Stickin In My Eye" or "The Brews," I can't decide.

Overall it's a cool buy, but before getting this I'd probably suggest owning most, if not all, of the NOFX and Rancid albums so you recognize the songs. It'll be cooler that way.

What a good idea! Worth owning for the novalty alone. Not much I can say about it that you don't know. Nofx covers Rancid and the other way around. Personally I liked Rancids covers better, souped up bass lines, nicer guitar work, plus Lars snarling, Tim mumbleing, plus Matt singing "Don't call me white" made be chuckle a little the first time I heard it. Nofx holds their own though to. The 'fat albertish' "hey hey heys!" on "I'm the one" is funny. Though they did turn some of the songs into pop, especially "Antennas" it's still very enjoyable. The cover of "Radio" is great and it works so well is almost has the sound and feel of one of a Nofx song. I kind of wish they would have added a few more songs, maybe more of the same or a few new, unrealesed songs or something like that. Still worth owning anyway.

This album is rad. Two of the best bands covering six of the other's trax. Punk rock is infinitely the most dynamic, original source of music still.

I'm stoked NOFX covered Corazon de Oro. Their version isn't as good as the original but is quality to hear pumped up. Antennas is a faster, though less agro version. Radio is raggae throughout, which works really well with a completely different tempo. I'm surprised NOFX choose to cover Olympia,WA, and I'm shocked they covered I'm The One and Tenderloin. These covers are still good, but don't really differ much from the originals.

NOFX is a really good band but this split makes it clear that Rancid is unparalleled. The NOFX covers aren't as good as the originals (though still good) but the Rancid covers are unbelievable.

The only questionable cover Rancid chose is Vanilla Sex. I would haver preferred Please Play This Song on the Radio, but the change of pace works well on this disc. I would have chosen Liza and Louise over Don't Call Me White but Matt's vocals make the cover original. I didn't think it was possible to record better versions of The Brews and Bob, but Rancid succeed. The solo for Bob is one of the best you'll ever hear. Stickin' In My Eye and The Moron Bros are solid.

Probably the biggest surprise here is that the Rancid covers sound as though they were recorded around the time of the ...And Out Come the Wolves sessions, though with more intensity. Rancid is going into the studio this summer for Rancid VI, and I hope this sound is foreshadowing of things to come.

Epitaph Records was cool enough to let BYO put out this split and it worked out really well.

I love Rancid and like NOFX, and when I bought this album I loved NOFX and liked Rancid. The original versions of the songs are better, but these covers are good and really interesting. Don't Call Me White is better than the original, Rancid does it good and I don't like that song when its by NOFX. I I'm the One is probably the best song by NOFX compared to the original Rancid song. GET THIS ALBUM!

I think this is one of the greatest things ever thunked up... I am a big Rancid and a big Nofx fan and to me this is one of the best cds ever slapped together. I liked hearing Rancid doing Nofx songs.. replacing Fat Mike with Tim or Lars or Matt like on Don't Call Me White, I love when he says the line "I wasn't brought here I was born." and that's the same for the Rancid songs done by Nofx, though I do have a lot of songs by each band I would still like to hear them do...

For the past two years I have been desperately waiting for one of my two favorite bands, NOFX and Rancid, to put out a CD. And since 2000, neither of them had. Until now. This CD is an all around great album for anyone who enjoys punk. The two highlights are Olympia, WA, which Fat Mike does a great job on, and Bob, which is even better Rancid style than the original NOFX version. The only problem with the album (other than the fact that it is VERY SHORT), is Radio. Sure, the reggae version works okay at the end of NOFX's set. But compared to the original, Radio just plain bad. The purpose of split records are to play each other's music in your own style while still playing it well. Rancid is in a very NOFX-reggae style, but it sounds more like Bob Marley than punk. However, this CD is over all quite good and I would therefore give it 4 stars. If you like NOFX and Rancid, it will be a good buy.

This was a great idea; have the two godfathers of modern punk make a split where they cover each others songs. I was really stoked about it when I first heard about it. The songs are pretty good, I'm just wondering where the other half of the album went? 27 minutes, only 12 songs..this shouldn't be considered a full length production.

NOFX's covers in my opinion are better than Rancid's, for a few reasons. First of all, the vocals on the songs that Rancid covers are really scratchy. Secondly, the guitars just can't match up to the classic NOFX duo of Melvin and El Hefe. Hefe is the best guitarist in punk and it shows on this album. I will say that the bass in Rancid's covers is much better than what Fat Mike played originally. Matt Freeman's bass solos in Rancid's covers are great.

All in all its a pretty good album, I just wish that Rancid would have covered some of NOFX's later songs (one will notice that the most recent songs covered were off of Punk In Drublic, which is very good, but was also released eight years ago). Woulda been nice to see something from SLATFATS or Pump Up the Valuum on it.

I have been a NoFX fan for a while now and it's definitely an experience to hear their songs played by someone else. Of course I will always think the NoFX renditions are the best, but Rancid puts in a solid effort to put their own twist on the songs. NoFX as well did a spectacular job covering the Rancid material. A must have addition to your collection if you're a Rancid or NoFX fan.

If you're a fan of NOFX or Rancid you should definitely add this to your collection. I liked some of the covers better than I liked the originals (Tim Armstrong's voice fits really well with the lyrics of "Bob" and the Rancid cut of "Vanilla Sex is much more polished than the NOFX version off "S&M Airlines". The NOFX cut of "Corozon De Oro" is great too, as is their cut of "I'm the One".) The note from Fat Mike in the liner notes is very amusing, too. A very good album, my only problem with it is that it's like 27 minutes. Even though it's 27 minutes of great music it would have been nice to have a couple more tracks by each band. Overall very well done.