Such was the power of Licensed to Ill that everybody, from fans to critics, thought that not only could the Beastie Boys not top the record, but that they were destined to be a one-shot wonder. These feelings were only amplified by their messy, litigious departure from Def Jam and their flight from their beloved New York to Los Angeles, since it appeared that the Beasties had completely lost the plot. Many critics in fact thought that Paul's Boutique was a muddled mess upon its summer release in 1989, but that's the nature of the record -- it's so dense, it's bewildering at first, revealing its considerable charms with each play. To put it mildly, it's a considerable change from the hard rock of Licensed to Ill, shifting to layers of samples and beats so intertwined they move beyond psychedelic; it's a painting with sound. Paul's Boutique is a record that only could have been made in a specific time and place. Like the Rolling Stones in 1972, the Beastie Boys were in exile and pining for their home, so they made a love letter to downtown New York -- which they could not have done without the Dust Brothers, a Los Angeles-based production duo who helped redefine what sampling could be with this record. Sadly, after Paul's Boutique sampling on the level of what's heard here would disappear; due to a series of lawsuits, most notably Gilbert O'Sullivan's suit against Biz Markie, the entire enterprise too cost-prohibitive and risky to perform on such a grand scale. Which is really a shame, because if ever a record could be used as incontrovertible proof that sampling is its own art form, it's Paul's Boutique. Snatches of familiar music are scattered throughout the record -- anything from Curtis Mayfield's "Superfly" and Sly Stone's "Loose Booty" to Loggins & Messina's "Your Mama Don't Dance" and the Ramones' "Suzy Is a Headbanger" -- but never once are they presented in lazy, predictable ways. The Dust Brothers and Beasties weave a crazy-quilt of samples, beats, loops, and tricks, which creates a hyper-surreal alternate reality -- a romanticized, funhouse reflection of New York where all pop music and culture exist on the same strata, feeding off each other, mocking each other, evolving into a wholly unique record, unlike anything that came before or after. It very well could be that its density is what alienated listeners and critics at the time; there is so much information in the music and words that it can seem impenetrable at first, but upon repeated spins it opens up slowly, assuredly, revealing more every listen. Musically, few hip-hop records have ever been so rich; it's not just the recontextulations of familiar music via samples, it's the flow of each song and the album as a whole, culminating in the widescreen suite that closes the record. Lyrically, the Beasties have never been better -- not just because their jokes are razor-sharp, but because they construct full-bodied narratives and evocative portraits of characters and places. Few pop records offer this much to savor, and if Paul's Boutique only made a modest impact upon its initial release, over time its influence could be heard through pop and ap, yet no matter how its influence was felt, it stands alone as a record of stunning vision, maturity, and accomplishment. Plus, it's a hell of a lot of fun, no matter how many times you've heard it.
The first and only hip hop record ever to be likened to "Abbey Road", "Dark Side Of The Moon" and "Pet Sounds". Beastie Boys' groundbreaking "Paul's Boutique" will celebrate its 20th birthday with a re-release! Listen to it right here for free!
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I think i started this monstrosity known as hip hop night, i feel obligated to drop my two cents in!
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Shadrach, Meshach & Abednego, if you remember the story, got boiled alive but were still prophesying, or singing, or something. Not that the Old Testament story has a damned thing to do with the rhymes. But come on. They name-dropped J.D. Salinger and Mario Andretti in this one. You gotta give 'em props for that.
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A brief run-through of the far too many things I picked up at the record store today. I imagine I'll be coming back to a few of these, as they're worth a space to themselves. Simon Bookish - "Everything/Everything" : A used copy cost me all of $3 bucks. Despite not really being my thing for the most part, "A New Sense of Humour" alone is strong enough to make it well worth it. It's not a bad al...
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1. Fine Young Cannibals, "She Drives Me Crazy." Recently covered by Dolly Parton. It's better than her cover of "Stairway to Heaven." The gossip fans will be sorry to hear that Dolly removes "she" from the title.2. Barrence Whitfield and the Savages, "Rockin' the Mule in Kansas." Whitfield is a great, unknown treasure. His live shows are legendary, or would be if anyone had ever heard of him. I...
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my first submission to youtube.
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Beastie Boys talk Paul's Boutique 20 Year Anniversary Reissue from ian rogers on Vimeo.
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The first and only hip hop record ever to be likened to "Abbey Road", "Dark Side Of The Moon" and "Pet Sounds". Beastie Boys' groundbreaking "Paul's Boutique" will celebrate its 20th birthday with a re-release! Listen to it right here for free!
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Retrospect is a fucking beautiful phenomenon. Capitol Records would have sure loved a stack of stock in that particular power when the Beastie Boys arrived on their roster at the fag end of the 1980s, fresh from their brat-rap rise to notoriety with Rick Rubin's Def Jam . Back then an extra dimension was what The Beasties were crying out for, after stoking such cultural tumbles as Volkswagen b...
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Changing opinions about an artist happens very infrequently for me. I've decided that my defining personality trait is that I'm a synthesizer -- in all aspects of my life, I seem to gather information and don't form opinions for a long, long time. But once I decide, that's usually it. So it is rare that a band can overcome my initial conception of them.But it has happened. Sometimes it's th...
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"It's true," claim the Beastie Boys on their website. "Paul's Boutique is turning 20! So we remastered the sucker. Sign up to be notified." Done. I had always assumed that licensing issues/sample clearances would prevent them from ever reissuing this...
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If you know our history here at the hill, and I realize that perhaps three people reading this might, you might`ve guessed that today's OSM was going to be dedicated to the man know as Dolomite : Rudy Ray Moore . Rudy passed away last weekend after 81 years of dissing crackers and crackin' on hoes, and because I already had a Liquid Swords OSM in the works to prepare for the GZA's HPX show I h...
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Sophomore albums are make or break. Far too many artists come up with one decent album and then slip off the radar... forever. After finishing touring in support of "Licensed to Ill" the Beastie Boys seemed like they were on the verge of breaking up. It was Matt Dike and the Dust Brothers super sample compilations and a multi-million dollar record deal from Capitol records that kept them tog...
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To celebrate the 20th birthday of the Beastie Boys classic album Pauls Boutique, the group have decided to remaster and re-release it. *Cough* tha's wha' i'm talkin' bout yo'. . . No? Anyway. . . A release date isn't exactly confirmed as yet but Amazon have been claiming January 27th for some time now.
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| Title | Lyrics | Buy |
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| 1 To All the Girls |
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| 2 Shake Your Rump |
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| 3 Johnny Ryall |
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| 4 Egg Man |
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| 5 High Plains Drifter |
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| 6 The Sounds of Science |
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| 7 3-Minute Rule |
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| 8 Hey Ladies |
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| 9 5-Piece Chicken Dinner |
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| 10 Looking Down the Barrel of a Gun |
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| 11 Car Thief |
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| 12 What Comes Around |
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| 13 Shadrach |
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| 14 Ask for Janice |
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| 15 B-Boy Bouillabaisse |
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 "Paul's Boutique")
