Arts
February 23
First issued in July of 1989, "Paul's Boutique" by Beastie Boys is older than many college students who will read this review. Despite its age, though, it still feels startlingly fresh and better than nearly everything it influenced over the past two decades. The album has been digitally re-mastered and re-released nearly 20 years after it first hit store shelves.
The year 1989 saw N.W.A.'s then-terrifying and now-seminal "Straight Outta Compton." In '89, EMPD had some "Unfinished Business," and Big Daddy Kane let the world know that "Pimpin' Ain't Easy." Only a year before, in '88, Public Enemy issued their declaration with "It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back," and a year later, Ice Cube would dub himself "AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted." Hip hop was angry, violent and scary, but all Beastie Boys wanted to do was have a good time, crack some jokes and get girls.
Produced by the Dust Brothers, "Paul's Boutique" is an incredible work in the art of sampling. Grabbing sound clips from P-Funk to Led Zeppelin, from Kurtis Blow to the Eagles, Beastie Boys were out-girl talking Girl Talk while Gregg Gillis was still in grade school.
The samples can seem obtrusive upon first listen, with the most blatant ones completely interrupting the song's flow. But, after hearing the album a few times, the listener realizes that the samples serve as stylistic punch lines. In "High Plains Drifter," for example, when the Boys tell of stealing a car, rather than simply stating which song was playing in the car, they include a sample of the song "Suzy is a Headbanger" (1977) by the Ramones. Other times, the samples are incorporated into the beats. For example, a bass line from Curtis Mayfield's "Superfly" (1972) is borrowed for "Eggman," and a guitar sample from a Beatles song is used in "The Sounds of Science," making the beats into something familiar and comfortable, over which Michael "Mike D" Diamond, Adam "MCA" Yauch and Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz can bust their ridiculous rhymes.
Beastie Boys are not known for heady metaphors or clever lyrics, but for the interplay between band members. One will start a bar and someone else will quickly jump in to finish it. The three have different sounds and styles, so in "The Sounds of Science," the line "Peace is a word I've heard before/ So move and move and move up on the dance floor" is a potentially weak rhyme, but sounds great as each rapper says "and move" in quick succession. Following Beastie Boys' flow is a challenge and a thrill for the ears.
Upon its initial release, "Paul's Boutique" was not exactly a hit. It more or less tanked. But it went on to be certified double platinum, meaning that it sold more than 2 million copies. This means that nearly all hip-hop fans already own the album, which raises the question of whether this reissue has any right to exist or if it's just a double-dip in consumers' pockets.
The answer is somewhat ambiguous. Audiophile fans will be pleased with the 24-bit remastering, but to most fans, this won't be the deciding factor in whether or not to buy the album. It only means that the sound quality will be slightly higher than the old, 16-bit mix. Everything is slightly crisper and the stereo mixing is a bit changed, but most listeners who rip the album to their iTunes and listen on low-quality earbuds will remain unaffected by the improvements.
That said, the album is a classic, and no one can take issue with wanting to celebrate such an important milestone in hip-hop history. The reissue is available on CDs or vinyl and in .mp3 form. A $129.99 collector's edition, which most definitely feels like a double-dip, comes with all formats and includes a poster and a t-shirt is also available.
The only major change on the reissue is the splitting of the album's final track, "B-Boy Bouillabaisse," into nine component sections. The album feels different without the 12-minute rap stew that acted as its closer. The split helps listeners pinpoint particular sections of the song and skip parts with ease. It ends up helping rather than hindering the album.
Any fan of hip hop or music in general who refuses to give "Paul's Boutique" a shot is, as the Beasties rap on "Looking Down the Barrel of a Gun," "A sucker free basin/ Looking for a fist to put [their] face in."
