Rush released after the late-2000 split between and the rest of , the covers album salutes the band's musical and philosophical roots, ranging from the old-school Bronx to the hard-rockin' Motor City to protest-central Greenwich Village to gangsta-ridden L.A. As could be expected, the set works best when the group focuses on material from its most recent forebears: rappers and hardcore bands. Indeed, begins with a pair of powerful hip-hop covers -- 's and -- that spotlight 's immense strengths: 's clean, heavy riffing and vocalist 's finely tuned spray of vitriol, just this side of self-righteous. Another hip-hop blast (and the one closest to home), is even more devastating, an easy pick for the highlight of the album. Listeners familiar with the originals, however, may have trouble with 's covers of ' a trio of original versions whose anger and emotion were conveyed more in the lyrics than the performances. Still, drummer sets an appropriately frenetic hardcore tempo for the excellent version of stretches out well on With just a bare few excepions, works well, in part because is both smart enough to change very little and talented enough to make the songs its own. ~ John Bush