Let the Dominoes Fall

Let the Dominoes Fall is the seventh studio album by the American punk rock band Rancid. It is their first album of new material in nearly six years, following 2003's Indestructible, and their first with drummer Branden Steineckert, who joined the band in 2006 after the departure of founding drummer Brett Reed.

Let the Dominoes Fall
Studio album by Rancid
Released	June 2, 2009
Recorded	January 2008-February 2009
Studio	Skywalker Sound
Genre	Punk rock, ska punk[1]
Length	45:29
Label	Hellcat, Epitaph
Producer	Brett Gurewitz
Rancid chronology
B Sides and C Sides (2007) Let the Dominoes Fall (2009) Honor Is All We Know (2014)
Singles from Let the Dominoes Fall
"Last One to Die" Released: April 7, 2009[2] "Up to No Good" Released: July 27, 2009[3]

The span of nearly six years between Indestructible and Let the Dominoes Fall was Rancid's longest gap between studio albums in their career. The band had begun working on new material after their temporary hiatus in 2004,[4] but showed no signs of a new album until January 2008, when they announced that they had begun recording with producer and Bad Religion guitarist Brett Gurewitz.[5] The writing and recording process was finally finished in February 2009.[6]

Background and composition

Following the release of Indestructible in 2003, the group became dormant with each of the members either touring or releasing albums with other bands.[7] After a break in 2004, Rancid began writing their follow-up to Indestructible a year later. In November 2005, it was announced that the band had begun working on a "large amount of new material" for the album and guitarist Lars Frederiksen mentioned that it would surface sometime in 2006.[4] On April 13, 2006, Rancid posted a large update to their MySpace page and mentioned that the album would be released in the spring of 2007.[8]

For sometime later, it was announced that the release date had been changed to summer/fall 2007, despite frontman Tim Armstrong's solo tour schedule, supporting his first album A Poet's Life. On November 3, it was announced that drummer Brett Reed left the band. His position was filled in by Branden Steineckert, formally of The Used. Alternative Press mentioned that the group was going to record a new album in early 2007, with a projected mid-2007 release date.[9] On June 12, 2007, Steineckert posted on his MySpace blog stating that members of Rancid were expected to get back together in the fall to begin writing the album, then resume recording it in January 2008.[10] In December of that year, it was reported that Rancid had finished writing the album.[11]

Recording

Recording of the album at Skywalker Sound[12] began in January 2008.[5] The album was completed in early February 2009.[6] The album is the band's fourth with producer Gurewitz, who previously worked with the band on Let's Go, their self-titled 2000 album, and the previous album, Indestructible.

Some known tracks left off the album include "Darlene'", which was reworked on the self-titled album by Devils Brigade, "Just For Tonight", which was reworked for Tim's Sings RocknRoll Theater album, and the electric version of "The Highway".

Release

"Last One to Die" was made available for streaming on April 7, 2009 via the band's Myspace page.[13] As of May 26, the album can be heard on MySpace entirely.[14] Let the Dominoes Fall was made available for streaming on May 26 on their Myspace profile, before being released on June 2[15] through Hellcat Records. "Up to No Good" was released as the album's second single.[16] A deluxe edition of the album was released which included a bonus CD of the entire album in acoustic form, a DVD featuring a documentary about the making of the album, three posters and four guitar picks. In June and July, the band supported Rise Against on their headlining tour of the US.[17]

Reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[18]
IGN	(8.8/10) [19]
Robert Christgau	[20]
Kerrang!
The Kill Times	(favorable) [21]
Rock Sound	[22]
Rolling Stone	[23]
SPIN	[24]

It debuted at #11 on the Billboard 200, making this Rancid's highest charting album to date.

Track listing

All tracks are written by Rancid, except where noted.

No.	Title	Lead vocals	Length
1.	"East Bay Night"	Armstrong	2:05
2.	"This Place"	Armstrong	1:03
3.	"Up to No Good" (written by Rancid and Brett Gurewitz)	Armstrong	2:40
4.	"Last One to Die"	Armstrong	2:23
5.	"Disconnected"	Armstrong, Frederiksen, Freeman	2:00
6.	"I Ain't Worried"	Armstrong, Frederiksen, Freeman	2:36
7.	"Damnation"	Armstrong	1:30
8.	"New Orleans"	Frederiksen	3:04
9.	"Civilian Ways"	Armstrong	4:11
10.	"The Bravest Kids"	Armstrong	1:36
11.	"Skull City"	Armstrong	2:51
12.	"LA River"	Freeman	2:35
13.	"Lulu"	Armstrong	2:11
14.	"Dominoes Fall"	Armstrong	2:43
15.	"Liberty and Freedom"	Armstrong	2:45
16.	"You Want It, You Got It"	Armstrong, Frederiksen, Freeman	1:36
17.	"Locomotive"	Armstrong	1:38
18.	"That's Just the Way It Is Now"	Armstrong	2:52
19.	"The Highway"	Armstrong	3:10
Total length:			45:29

Bonus tracks

iTunes version

No.	Title	Length
20.	"Oil and Opium"	1:49

Japanese edition

No.	Title	Length
20.	"Outgunned" (electric version)	2:13

Let the Dominoes Fall acoustic

A version of the album was released on CD with a bonus disc of acoustic versions of songs from the album. These songs are also included in expanded editions of the album at digital download stores such as the iTunes Store and Amazon MP3. Note that all the songs here are acoustic. Not all songs were made into acoustic versions.

No.	Title	Length
1.	"East Bay Night"	2:07
2.	"LA River"	2:43
3.	"I Ain't Worried"	2:44
4.	"This Place"	1:03
5.	"Disconnected"	1:53
6.	"Liberty and Freedom"	3:04
7.	"Dominoes Fall"	2:54
8.	"New Orleans"	2:48
9.	"You Want It, You Got It"	2:12
10.	"Outgunned"	2:16
11.	"The Bravest Kids"	1:34
12.	"Last One To Die"	2:18
Total length:		27:36

Chart performance

Charts (2009)	Peak position
Australian ARIA Albums Chart	31
Finnish Albums Chart[25]	29
New Zealand Albums Chart	32
Swedish Sverigetopplistan	27
UK Albums Chart	41
US Billboard 200	11

Personnel

• Tim Armstrong - Guitar, Vocals
• Lars Frederiksen – Guitar, Vocals
• Matt Freeman – Bass, Vocals
• Branden Steineckert – Drums

Additional musicians

• Michael Bolger - horns on "Up to No Good"
• Ryan Foltz - mandolin on "Civilian Ways"
• Greg Graffin - gang vocals on "Disconnected"
• Brett Gurewitz - producer, background vocals, percussion
• Booker T. Jones - keyboards on "Up to No Good"[12]
• Tom Lea - viola on "Up to No Good"
• Joel Pargman - violin on "Up to No Good"
• Vic Ruggiero - keyboards
• Jay Terrien - string arrangement on "Up to No Good"
• Ina Veli - violin on "Up to No Good"
• Pat Wilson - gang vocals on "Damnation"
• Adrienne Woods - cello on "Up to No Good"

References

1. https://www.allmusic.com/album/let-the-dominoes-fall-mw0000818142
2. "'Last One to Die', the New Single from Rancid's Next Album". Noise Press. Retrieved 2009-04-08
3. "Radio Industry News, Music Industry Updates, Arbitron Ratings, Music News and more!". FMQB. Archived from the original on 2012-06-20. Retrieved 2012-02-27.
4. Rancid: New Album Soon Ultimate-Guitar.com. November 28, 2005.
5. "Rancid Enters Studio." Epitaph Records website. January 14, 2008 (retrieved March 30, 2009).
6. "Rancid post update: album release and tour plans." Punknews.org. February 3, 2009.
7. "Rancid to put on four "Hellcat Nights" in L.A. this March". Alternative Press. February 8, 2006. Archived from the original on August 16, 2016. Retrieved June 27, 2016.
8. Rancid worldwide tour in July, upcoming DVD, new record in early `07 Archived 2007-09-27 at the Wayback Machine Punknews.org. April 13, 2006.
9. "Brett Reed leaves Rancid; replaced by Branden Steineckert". Alternative Press. November 3, 2006. Retrieved August 6, 2016.
10. Rancid posts update, plans to record in January 2008 Punknews.org. June 12, 2007.
11. Rancid completes writing for new album Punknews.org. December 18, 2007.
12. "Rancid announce Let the Dominoes Fall for June." Punknews.org. March 30, 2009.
13. "Rancid post "Last One To Die"". Alternative Press. Alternative Press Magazine, Inc. April 7, 2009. Retrieved August 8, 2017.
14. "Rancid Announce Let the Dominoes Fall. Absolutepunk.net. March 30, 2009.
15. "Rancid Streaming Let The Dominoes Fall". Alternative Press. Alternative Press Magazine, Inc. May 26, 2009. Retrieved August 9, 2017.
16. Up To No Good Songfacts
17. "Rise Against and Rancid tour dates revealed". Alternative Press. Alternative Press Magazine, Inc. February 20, 2009. Retrieved August 2, 2017.
18. Let the Dominoes Fall at AllMusic
19. Jim Kaz (2009-06-03). "Rancid - Let The Dominoes Fall Review - Music Review at IGN". Music.ign.com. Archived from the original on 2012-04-06. Retrieved 2012-02-27.
20. "CG: rancid". Robert Christgau. Retrieved 2012-02-27.
21. "Rancid - Let The Dominoes Fall - The Kill Times". Sites.google.com. Retrieved 2012-02-27.
22. Oli Robertson. "Rancid - 'Let The Dominoes Fall' | Reviews | Rock Sound". Rocksound.tv. Retrieved 2012-02-27.
23. "Rolling Stone Music | Album Reviews". Rollingstone.com. Retrieved 2012-02-27.
24. "Rancid, 'Let the Dominoes Fall' (Hellcat/Epitaph)". SPIN. Retrieved 2012-02-27.
25. Suomen virallinen lista Archived 2009-07-27 at the Wayback Machine

External links

• Let the Dominoes Fall at Metacritic