Beastie Boys: Paul's Boutique
1989
Capitol Records
Format I Own it on: Compact Disc
Track Listing : 1. To All the Girls 2. Shake Your Rump 3. Johnny Ryall 4. Egg Man 5. High Plains Drifter 6. The Sounds of Science 7. 3-Minute Rule 8. Hey Ladies 9.5-Piece Chicken Dinner 10. Looking Down the Barrel of a Gun 11. Car Thief 12.What Comes Around 13. Shadrach 14. Ask for Janice 15. B-Boy Bouillabaisse (1. 59 Chrystie Street 2. Get on the Mic 3. Stop That Train" 4. A Year and a Day 5. Hello Brooklyn 6. "Dropping Names 7. Lay It on Me 8. Mike on the Mic 9. A.W.O.L.)
It's just a fact that this is the greatest hip hop album of all time..This may sound weird to some people, but I honestly think rap hit it's creative peak in the 80's and early 90's...The MC providing the storytelling was one part of the equation, but I considered the DJ to be equally vital...
Back in the day. hip hop music was so new that no one even bothered to think about the legal ramifications of sampling.As a result, albums would use a wide array of other artist's music to construct new tracks...but this practice died very quickly in the 90's when the artists that wrote and recorded the original music wanted credit and (most importantly) royalties for having their work used, which is a legitimate request, but unfortunately it was one that destroyed rap in my eyes...
After the high-profile Biz Markie case, suddenly bands wanted top-dollar and no one could afford more than one sample per track. which effectively turned rap into some sort of karaoke (which to be fair isn't totally unrelated to rap's 70's roots...). So instead of the kaleidoscope of colorful samples on classic hip hop albums like "Paul's Boutique," Public Enemy's "It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back," or the groundbreaking "The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel" single, you now have some guy going "Uh! Shake dat ass in da club" over a single repetitive sample..
.Of course that's an overly simplistic view...There's still plenty of up and coming rappers who have a lot to say and are creating innovative music...It's just that they're missing a vital tool that made the music so appealing in the first place...I am happy to see the practice of using a live band come into play...Despite this promising development, there just doesn't seem to be as much great rap as there used to be...It probably has quite a bit to do with the fact that people don't care about substantial music anymore, unfortunately...It sometimes seems the simpler and stupider the song, the bigger hit it becomes...Although, I do have to keep things in perspective by reminding myself that 1989 was the same year that brought us Milli Vanilli...
(You know...In this age of "auto-tune" these guys probably wouldn't have had to give back their Grammy Awards...Their tape would have skipped and they could have just done an Ashlee Simpson-style dance and nobody would have even questioned it...Never underestimate the power of the Ashlee Simpson dance...
)
But back to "Paul's Boutique:" Listening to this back to back with "Licensed to Ill" makes it all the more striking...You realize the Beastie Boys are attempting to make the hip hop version of "Abbey Road," right down to the side two medley (and even going as far as extensively sampling the Beatles on "Sounds of Science.") The Dust Brothers provide indisputable proof that sampling is an art form...You can listen to this album a million times and never hear it all...In fact, its density is its greatest asset...It's the album that keeps on giving! I've had this record a couple decades now and I'm still picking up on references I previously didn't understand (it took me a long time to figure out what Putney Swope was...
)and I can't tell you how many times I've checked out some obscure song and realize, "Hey! The Beastie Boys sampled this on "Paul's Boutique!"
This album has received endless accolades and you don't need one more person carrying on about how great it is (and it is great!) so instead we're going to take a look at the foundation that "Paul's Boutique" was built upon...We're going to check out just a few of the original songs that provided the building blocks for this record...
To All the Girls:
This track is based around the cool and jazzy "Loran's Dance" by drummer Idris Muammad...The most chilled-out 11 minutes you're ever going to experience in your life...
Shake Your Rump:
Features the unforgettable "That's the Joint!" sample from Funky 4+1, who were a classic old school rap group that was notable for having a woman MC...Listening to this one makes me want to put on parachute pants and spin around on my head...
Johnny Ryall:
Is mostly based around the instantly recognizable "Sharon" by David Bromberg...
Egg Man:
Samples "Sport" by Lightnin' Rod, which is the funkiest damn song I've ever heard in my life...Check it out...
The obvious thing to do here would be to post "Those Shoes" by the Eagles, but I can't pass up the opportunity to listen to "Suzy is a Headbanger" by the Ramones...What a great song!
The Sounds of Science:
This song is based mostly around a handful of Beatles songs, most prominently "The End," but let's check out "I Do Not Sniff the Coke" by Pato Banton...
3-Minute Rule:
Dig the funky drum break from the beginning of "Feel Good" by Fancy...
Hey Ladies:
Features "So Ruff, So Tuff" from the Kings of the Vocoder...Zapp & Roger!
.5-Piece Chicken Dinner:
Yee-hawww! It's "Shuckin' the Corn!"
Looking Down the Barrel of a Gun:
Fast forward to about the 4 and a half minute mark on the Incredible Bongo Band's "Last Bongo in Belgium" and you'll hear the basis of "Looking Down the Barrel of a Gun." This song marks the only track that I know of on "Paul's Boutique" where the Beastie Boys provide their own instrumentation over the sampled drum track...
Car Thief:
This song consists largely of "Rien Ne Va Plus" by Funk Factory...Very funky...
What Comes Around:
This song samples the guitar riff from "It's Hot Tonight" by Alice Cooper...You can listen to it here...
Shadrach:
The "Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego" chant in this song is from "Loose Booty" by Sly Stone...This is just ridiculously funky...Make sure you listen to this one...
B-Boy Bouillabaisse:
"Paul's Boutique's" unforgettable climax is a 12 and a half minute suite featuring innumerable samples an snippets...(randomly chooses one) how about "Starski Live at the Fever" by Love Bug Starski...
Whew...That was a long listening session..I'm not gonna tie you guys up any longer, so let's wrap things up with "Hey Ladies!" by the Beastie Boys...
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