Life Won't Wait

With the massive success of …And Out Come the Wolves Rancid brought the band’s punk-rock vision to its pinnacle. The 1998 follow-up, Life Won’t Wait, was their opportunity to diversify. In the past Rancid had always hung tight to its Bay Area home turf, but for Life Won’t Wait they recorded in a variety of locales, including Los Angeles, New Orleans and Kingston, Jamaica. The band also invited a host of guest musicians to join in. In addition to big names like Stephen Perkins (of Jane’s Addiction), Dicky Barrett (of the Mighty Mighty Bosstones) and Dancehall toaster Buju Banton, the album also borrows members from the Specials and the New Orleans brass band Bonerama. All of this helps to make Life Won’t Wait one of the band’s most fun and varied albums. “Cocktails,” “Leicester Square,” “Lady Liberty,” “Corozon d’Oro” and “Coppers” show Rancid outgrowing the pummeling punk rock of their early years. The band remains true to their old values, but the new sounds give them an injection of fearlessness and energy. Fuelled by new inspirations and ideas, even the brilliant, bleak portrait of “Hoover Street” becomes a musical celebration.