The Beasties in 1989 (Paul's Boutique - The Beastie Boys)

Member Name: Scottyboy_Peanut

Product:	Paul's Boutique - The Beastie Boys
Date:	15/05/09 (13 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Excellent lyrics, music and sample

Disadvantages: Nothing I can think of

After the commercial success of License to Ill in 1986 it was a little surprising to have to wait all the way until 1989 to hear anything new from the Beastie Boys. Why that was I don't know but this was worth the wait.
Whatever complaints critics could levy against the debut LP being a little unsophisticated musically and a joke that we weren't in on were brushed aside by Paul's Boutique. This is light years ahead of the first effort and become one of the most important albums in the genre even though not that many actually heard it on its initial release.

Teaming up with the Dust Brothers and DJ Hurricane the boys deliver an album so full of samples, references and variety that a book could be written. It would be a long book too. The lyrics refer to and quote TV shows, musicians, other songs and even scientists.

The Rock/Rap elements are still present on Paul's Boutique on some tracks but this time it isn't like License To Ill in that respect.

The album kicks off with To All The Girls which sounds like sleazy nightclub music. It's a tame start that is literally interrupted by the drum roll intro of Shake your Rump that hits us from nowhere. We're off and running properly now. This song starts with just vocals over a beat but as it progresses some funky bass and guitar samples are added. The whole album could be summed up with this one song. The groove and beat constantly change. In this track we have samples of Sugarhill Gang, Funky 4+!, Bob Marley, Paul Humphrey, Afrika Bambaataa and Led Zeppelin among others, I hope this gives an idea of how much is going on in this song and this album. Nothing stays the same for long and yet it flows perfectly.

There are highlights all through, Johnny Ryall is a blues sounding track and is an example of how the Beasties can combine storytelling with humour and make it work like nobody else in much the same way as She's Crafty on License To Ill.

My favourite track on this whole album is the Sound of Science. This is a song of two halves. It begins with a very mellow mood and is accompanied by some kind of mock farm animal, a cow maybe. It plods along to a slowed down Beatle's When I'm Sixty Four for a third of the song with very clever lyrics. Isaac Newton, Ben Franklin and even Jesus gets a mention here.
The gentle start goes into a spoken word section backed by the crowd from the intro of The Beatles Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club. Next it kicks off into an up tempo section with rhymes that could only flow with The Beastie Boys on the mics. More Beatles samples are identifiable here. The beat from the reprisal of Sergeant Pepper and a scratched version of the guitar from Abbey Road track The End. Fabulous stuff.

The Guitar heavy Looking Down the Barrel Of A Gun is closest this album gets to a metal/heavy rock vibe. It's a pleasing enough but not one of my favourites on the album. It does have a Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Moon sample though.

The B Boy Bouillabaisse is a medley that lasts over 12 minutes. I don't' know if this was made with all the parts that they couldn't have developed into full tracks but that's kind of how it sounds. This is a mixture of just about everything in hear even some beat boxing from Mike D who really isn't that good at it but maybe that was the point. There are great rhymes from Adrock and MCA here though.
Each song in the B Boy Bouillabaisse morphs into the next perfectly so there isn't a feeling of any part being left unfinished. It works very well as a whole.
My favourite part of this medley is A Year and A Day. With just MCA on the vocals backed by Isley Brothers Who's The Lady and Led Zeppelin. It's the standout track of this medley for me and does make me wish that the Beastie boys varied their vocal style a little more during there career with a few more tracks with just one vocalist. .
.
So overall, this is the very best of what The Beastie Boys did. They hit a height with this album that was never to be repeated, and I don't just mean by them. In hop hop as a whole I can only really think of Public Enemy's Fear of a Black Planet giving this a run for its money.

I have a feeling that if this album came out a little closer to License To Ill it would have been a major commercial success. As it is it had modest sales back in 1989 but has been a steady seller ever since because it really it top notch.

Summary: The Beastie Boys bring their best album and one of the best Hip Hop albums ever.