Alright Hear This (Ill Communication - Beastie Boys)

Member Name: flamingdog

Product:	Ill Communication - Beastie Boys
Date:	07/09/00 (22 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Every track on the disk has merit

Disadvantages: 'Get It Together'

The Beasties hit on a fantastic formula for 1992's 'Check Your Head', and little changed between that and 1994's 'Ill Communication'. Taking straight-ahead hip-hop and mixing it brilliantly with funky guitar licks that could have come straight out of Starsky and Hutch, the B-Boys are once again wearing their influences on their sleeves, a fact evidenced to hilarious effect in the excellent video to flagship track 'Sabotage'.

The album consistently pleases the ear with deep, hard grooves that don't let up until the somewhat weaker 'Get It Together', featuring Q-Tip, the only shaky moment on the record.

From this point onwards, the album goes from strength to strength, combining funk, kick-ass hip-hop and punk with more chilled-out vibes. The album plays out beatifully with the delicate instrumental 'Transistions', which, having it's own deeply groovy leanings, ties the album together perfectly, just before fading out, leaving you little choice but to press play again. Not many albums of this length (59m 39s) would stand up to repeated listenings in a short period of time.

I think that says it all.

Summary: