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The Beastie Boys and Rage Against The Machine have finally abandoned plans for their joint "Rhyme & Reason 2000" tour, citing "insurmountable logistical, scheduling, and health problems."

The outing, which was originally announced in late June, was supposed to have kicked off on August 2 in Toronto, but was then indefinitely postponed after Beastie Boy Mike Diamond injured

In a statement issued today by the Beastie Boys' reps, attempting to reschedule the new tour dates was ultimately "unsuccessful due to a confluence of prior commitments, holds, scheduling, the venues in question, and numerous other factors."

According to a source close to Rage Against The Machine, one of those factors may have included frontman Zack De La Rocha's designs to head back into the studio and continue work on his upcoming solo album.

Rage recently recorded a pair of shows at the Grand Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles for an upcoming live record due out on November 21

Rage Against The Machine has recorded "radically different" versions of songs by Cypress Hill, Devo, Bob Dylan, and Minor Threat for a project due in November or December, according to guitarist Tom Morello.

"I hate to call them covers, but we take the lyrics from other songs and write brand new Rage Against The Machine tracks underneath," Morello said. "Dylan's 'Maggie's Farm' sounds maybe more like a Black Sabbath song than a Bob Dylan song, and Devo's 'Beautiful World' sounds more like a Woody Guthrie campfire ballad than new wave."

The tracks, produced by Rick Rubin, will be released along with recently recorded live material. Morello said the band has not decided whether the project will turn out to be one album or a double album featuring one live CD and one studio disc. Rage is working with about 30 songs for the project; about 12 are studio covers and the rest are live.

The covers also include Cypress Hill's "How I Could Just Kill A Man," Minor Threat's "In My Eyes," and the Rolling Stones' "Street Fighting Man."

"It's really one of the most liberating and exciting creative experiences that I've ever been involved in," Morello said. "Even with Rage Against The Machine, there are precious few rules, but with this, we've completely thrown out any conventions."

The band also will release a DVD called "The Battle Of Mexico City" from a show it played there last year.

The members of Rage Against The Machine -- Morello, vocalist Zack De La Rocha, bassist Timmy C. and drummer Brad Wilk -- are freed up to concentrate on new projects since their planned "Rhyme & Reason" tour with the Beastie Boys has been canceled.

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Page Updated Sat Mar 10, 2001 9:06pm EST