Happy Daylight Savings Time!
I can't be the only person who is glad to see a little extra sunshine in the evening. It's gonna make a world of difference in the time running up to spring.
A couple weeks ago I wrote about the amazing remixes and mash ups of Max Tannone, including the awesome re-ordering of The Beastie Boys album Check Your Head. I mentioned how much I dig that album and it really is great. We all know the Beasties are legends in modern music and the rap community but this album of theirs is some of their best work. It's another of my favorites that, while well regarded, should really be lauded by a wider audience. I remember picking it up a long time ago and realizing how great it can sound when a hip hop group plays their instruments and really jams together. It's no wonder Tannone was able to construct a great recontextulizing of the source material - the group is in great form here with plenty of A-material to choose from. It's hard to believe they were still only two albums in to their legitimate rap careers at this point, having only put out License to Ill and Paul's Boutique before this. At that point they had barely gotten past the joke-rap, party-and-girls scene of their first album. Let's look a little closer at what was going on and why this album is so great, shall we?
The Beastie Boys had originally been a punk outfit from New York, playing hardcore and opening for the likes of the Bad Brains and Dead Kennedys. When they released a joke 7-inch of them rapping/prank calling Carville, the single 'Cooky Puss', they hooked up with producer extraordinaire Rick Rubin. Rubin convinced the group to switch up their style and go full on for the rap game. Their first release with this style, License To Ill, was a huge success. But while it was the first rap album to hit number one on the Billboard charts the group largely disavows its existence today, due to the sexist and homophobic material on it. Their next album saw them breaking out of their narrowly defined ideals, making new headway with their lyrics and teaming up with the Dust Brothers to make what Rolling Stone referred to as the 'Dark Side of the Moon' of hip hop. Paul's Boutique was rich with samples and layering, and earned them the respect and recognition of the rap community and critics alike. Their next effort, one of my favorite albums ever, saw the band marrying their past to their present, creating a new found identity.
Check Your Head saw the band return to their instruments, while still making deft use of eclectic samples. The Beasties incorporated their punk roots into the hip hop vibe they'd grown comfortable with, resulting in a groove-heavy album full of energetic and passionate music. The group's flow and sense of swagger stayed strong but there was a new vigorous vitality. There's even some legitimate punk on display, like the cover of Sly & The Family Stone's 'Time For Living'. The legendary Biz Markie makes an appearance on the short and goofy 'The Biz Vs. The Nuge'. 'Pass The Mic' has some of the best beats I've ever heard, the loose and behind the beat drums swing wide open as the Boys rap over the top, swapping verses. One of my favorite songs they've done, the crazy and wild 'So What'cha Want' has a great little guitar lick on top of the massive drum beat. The energy in that track is frenetic and loose. It's crazy and I love it.
It's not just the rapping I love here. There are some great instrumental tracks, like the funky 'Professor Booty' or the laid back 'Groove Holmes'. Tracks like these show where the Beasties started experimenting with their more esoteric ideas. Future albums would show the development and growth of these risky moves and it really pays off. The group was really starting to flex their creative muscle here. But it's not just these grooves, either. It's the honest feeling that it's not just three separate musicians throwing ideas in a pile to be edited down - there is real feeling of a group collaborating and making something vibrant and new. There's another Rick Rubin-produced album that evokes this same feeling, the Red Hot Chilli Peppers album Blood Sugar Sex Magic. It's a similar work that feels like a definite group effort that I'm sure I'll end up doing a post on, down the line. Until then, I'm gonna throw my headphones on and finish out my Sunday night doing the dishes with these young punks laying down some weird grooves while I scrub. See you tomorrow night.
I can't be the only person who is glad to see a little extra sunshine in the evening. It's gonna make a world of difference in the time running up to spring.
A couple weeks ago I wrote about the amazing remixes and mash ups of Max Tannone, including the awesome re-ordering of The Beastie Boys album Check Your Head. I mentioned how much I dig that album and it really is great. We all know the Beasties are legends in modern music and the rap community but this album of theirs is some of their best work. It's another of my favorites that, while well regarded, should really be lauded by a wider audience. I remember picking it up a long time ago and realizing how great it can sound when a hip hop group plays their instruments and really jams together. It's no wonder Tannone was able to construct a great recontextulizing of the source material - the group is in great form here with plenty of A-material to choose from. It's hard to believe they were still only two albums in to their legitimate rap careers at this point, having only put out License to Ill and Paul's Boutique before this. At that point they had barely gotten past the joke-rap, party-and-girls scene of their first album. Let's look a little closer at what was going on and why this album is so great, shall we?
