Feeder – “Renegades” (Special Edition) [Album Review]

In the late 90’s Feeder took the British rock scene by storm with their debut, Polythene. Throughout the first half of the 00’s Feeder enjoyed tremendous success with hit after hit, with fans being blown away by critically acclaimed albums. Then, with the release of 2008’s Silent City, sadly their popularity began to diminish. A few years later they released 2010’s similarly disappointing Renegades. Now, don’t get me wrong, there was nothing particularly off with either Silent City or Renegades; however, they failed to meet the expectations of Feeder’s fanbase which makes it all that more surprising that the decision was taken to release and 2012’s follow-up, Generation Freekshow, as special editions, although this could also be due to the fact that neither had ever had a digital release.

Given that the Internet is littered with reviews of the original release, I find little point in covering any songs from the original release, so I will skip forward to the additions found on the special edition that consist of recordings that failed to make it into the original release. In this instance, there are 5 unheard songs – if we discount “Godhead” and “Fallen” as they made it into the UK’s deluxe edition as well as their inclusion on the Japanese release of the original.

Kicking off with “Time Goes By” the new additions are not off to a great start. While it has the feel and tone of a Feeder song it lacks any kind of hook to draw you into the tune, and the same can be said for both “Time of Crisis” and “All I Ever Wanted”. I will confess the penultimate track “Sending Out Waves” and the final song “Side by Side” pick up and give a glimmer of Feeder’s glory days but isn’t really enough to save this Special Edition from simply being a bit lacklustre.

In conclusion, the new material does very little to improve the original release. Although there is nothing here that makes the album bad as all the songs are enjoyable and maintain the very British feel that Feeder brought to the rock scene, it simply does not hold up against its predecessors. As such, only die-hard Feeder fans should seek this out in order to complete their record collection.

Renegades Track Listing:

01. White Lines
02. Call Out
03. Renegades
04. Sentimental
05. This Town
06. Down to The River
07. Home
08. Barking Dogs
09. City in a Rut
10. Left Foot Right
11. The End
12. Time Goes By
13. Godhead
14. In Times of Crisis
15. All I Ever Wanted
16. Fallen
17. Sending Out Waves
18. Side by Side

Run Time: 56:54
Release Date: March 24, 2017

Check out the video for “Call Out”