In honor of the Beastie Boys’ new release, The Hot Sauce Committee Part Two, we’re listening to their first seven albums (in order) and blogging our thoughts. Join us, won’t you, on a B-Boy Odyssey…
Paul’s Boutique (1989)
1. To All The Girls
This song is such a lure. You’re like, “Oh shit, this is going to be laid back and easy-like. No need to worry about trying to keep up with this album.” Little do you know that Paul’s Boutique was the catalyst for the sampling laws that artists have to adhere to today. Let’s see how many I can correctly identify…
2. Shake Your Rump
Did everyone else get the CD that is mixed really low? I feel like Paul’s Boutique is like… 5db (talking out of my ass, I don’t know what that means) lower than any other CD I have. Does that mean it’s like, original or something? Is it worth more? Probably not, it just sounds like shit. By the way, if you have not heard The Hood Internet’s mash-up of this song with Matt & Kim, here it is. I’m known the most packinest.
3. Johnny Ryall
So I couldn’t name any samples from “Shake Your Rump.” It’s not looking good for “Johnny Ryall” either. This has got to be another album that, when it hit, people were like “I don’t know what the fuck this shit is, but I love it.” Got my first sample, from “Mr. Big Stuff”: “Who do you think you are?”
4. Egg Man
God damn, I’m having a hard time keeping up with this album already. All of this stuff is much faster than Licensed To Ill, and it just keeps coming. So I think this song is pretty much about driving around in the summertime and chucking eggs at people. Which means we’re still in the adolescent phase of the B-Boys. Sample from the Psycho theme at the end.
5. High Plains Drifter
Ah, finally a slow jam that’s four minutes long. I appreciate that they knew I would someday be trying to keep up with them, but this song kind of drags. It reverts to the problems I had with a couple tracks on LTI, I feel like they didn’t really know where they were going… What a fucking stupid thing to say. Do they ever know? Isn’t that what makes it great? Nope, this song sucks.
6. The Sounds Of Science
You know what song doesn’t suck? “The Sounds Of Science.” It’s all like, “Oh hey, I’m so boring. Listen to my kindergarten beats and rhymes. You think I’m super boring, don’t you? Well guess what? ROPE-A-DOPE!” Also they sample Abbey Road in this song, how bad-ass is that? Pardon me while I get up and dance by myself.
Best B-Boys lyric nominee:
Droppin’ science like Galileo dropped the orange.
7. 3-Minute Rule
What is this, “High Plains Drifter #2?” By cheating, I’m looking forward on the track list and seeing that this is the “click-click-click” before the “wheeeeee” on the Paul’s Boutique roller coaster. Here’s something interesting though, an MCA lyric:
I was making records when you were suckin’ your mother’s dick.
First of all, their first album (let’s all agree on LTI), came out three years before this one. It’s not like he’s been doing this forever. And is he bashing the children of transgendered parents? Seems a little harsh for a guy that says he just wants to party and have girls shake their butts.
8. Hey Ladies
“Hey Ladies” is a song, like the Fresh Prince’s “Summertime,” that should be a staple on any warm weather party mix. It’s goofy, groovy, and chances are there will be someone drunk enough to bust out the Carlton Dance. You’re picturing it right now, aren’t you? You already know who it will be. This is the music video to remember from Paul’s Boutique, as well. It features Mike D. in a pimp suit, MCA’s “beard-like-a-billy-goat” (mentioned in “Shake Your Rump”) and the greatest high-five in the history of MTV. (video)
9. 5-Piece Chicken Dinner
23 seconds of euphoria.
10. Looking Down The Barrel Of A Gun
A preview of what was on-deck for the Beastie Boys, this song has a hard rock flavor that was honed for Check Your Head. I found Beastie Boys albums in a non-chronological order, and I think Paul’s Boutique was fourth or fifth on the list. This was the song that I heard probably 15 years after it was released and made me go out and buy all of the albums that I didn’t already own, just to make sure I had this track.
11. Car Thief
The beginning of this song reminds me of Keene, NH circa 1998, when I made a rap about Hamlet to this song in my English class. It didn’t go well. This was before the days of Garage Band or Audacity, so we had to keep hitting the back button on the CD player every 10 or 15 seconds to get to the instrumental part of the song. Being a whiteboy from New Hampshire, the deck was already stacked against me. Skipping back to the beginning of the track definitely affected my already stunted “flow.”
12. What Comes Around
Latest nominee for best lyric:
Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair,
So I can climb up and get into your underwear.
This song has a lot of stuff going on in the background. Of course, that’s the calling card for the entire album, but this track seems to be the right tempo to really let you hear all the layers of insanity that they put together. A good example of what made Paul’s Boutique unique.
13. Shadrach
This is the last real “single” on Paul’s Boutique, and it’s a funky one. It’s another track that easily could have wound up on a later Beastie release and it’s in a good spot on the album, especially for our purposes. Because they’re all so nuanced, it’s difficult to pick the best tracks from this album. I find myself circling “best Paul’s Boutique” tracks, only to cross them out when better ones start playing. This album gets better as you go through it.
14. Ask For Janice
The number is 718-498-1043. It’s in Brooklyn.
15. B-Boy Bouillabaisse
Ah, a 12:32 long track round things out. It’s perfectly named, it’s like a million different songs all spliced together. One bit, we can call it “Get On The Mic, Mike,” features MCA and Adrock telling Mike D. what a great guy he is and that he needs to get on the mic. Then they start giving shouts out to the various boroughs, etc. Paul’s Boutique was really a huge step for the B-Boys. As previously stated, there are bits and pieces of Check Your Head, Ill Communication, and even To The 5 Boroughs all over this album, and the bridge back to License To Ill is recognizable thanks only to a few songs that heavily mention beers and/or girls.
Only 5 more minutes to go… About 7 minutes in we get the big thumping bass track, just like the end of LTI. I’ve heard Paul’s Boutique probably a hundred times and I’ll bet this is the third time I’ve heard this much of “B-Boy Bouillabaisse.” To reference Abbey Road again, this is totally like the end of that album, except it’s all one track. They should have moved “Ask For Janice” to the very end, it would have made a nice Beastie version of “Her Majesty.”
J-Mazz is writing the next part of the odyssey (Check Your Head), so in honor of taking an album off:
JB’s in the house, whatcha gonna do?
I’M GOIN AWOL!
Read all parts here.
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