Product Description

When The Beastie Boys hit platinum with their debut album, they were instantly labeled the Elvises of rap, accused of being just another bunch of white musicians stealing from black music. But what was overlooked was that the Beasties actually had some interesting ideas to take hip hop to new levels. While in the years to come other white rappers like Vanilla Ice and Jesse Jaymes would prove they were the true cultural thieves, the Beasties defended themselves by recording aseminal rap album, PAUL'S BOUTIQUE. The record was, in fact, so legit that it eroded their commercial appeal in middle America.
PAUL'S BOUTIQUE is a sample-fest--a post-modern epic of cut and splice studio wizardry. Taking snippets of music from sources as disparate as Curtis Mayfield, The Beatles, B.D.P., The Ramones and The Jaws soundtrack (as well as countless others), they built songs out of the debris of modern culture. Over these mind-blowing tracks, they weaved tall tales, self-promotional proclamations and sheer non-sense into a singular vision of inspired lunacy. Besides Public Enemy, no one else was producing albums as complex as this. PAUL'S BOUTIQUE sounds two or three years ahead of its time, perhaps this is why the album was considered such a failure upon its release.
Whatever the case, there really is no album that sounds quite like this one does; the Beasties returned to the top of the charts a few years later with CHECK YOUR HEAD, but they may never be able to top the originality and depth of their stunning sophomore effort.

Track Listing

1. To All The Girls
2. Shake Your Rump
3. Johnny Ryall
4. Egg Man
5. High Plains Drifter
6. Sounds Of Science
7. Three Minute Rule
8. Hey Ladies
9. Five 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

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7262 in Music
• Released on: 1993-08-16
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.co.uk Review
After the out-of-nowhere success of Licensed to Ill, the Beasties had to prove they were more than one-album wonders, and they hit it out of the park with this follow-up. The Boys' lyrics are a hysterical deluge of cultural allusion (Ponce De Leon, Japanese baseball legend Sadaharu Oh, and Love Connection's Chuck Woolery all get name-dropped), compressed wordplay, and adenoidal snottiness, but the real stars are the Dust Brothers, whose production is a hip-hop landmark. Their music tracks sound like the history of rock and funk radio boiled down to a pure concentrate--monster jams built out of thousands of unexpected samples (Johnny Cash! The Sweet!). It's a killer party album, kinetic and dense, and it never slows down. --Douglas Wolk

Customer Reviews

Infectious
If it doesn't grab you immediately, keep listening. There's enough going on to bear repeated listening. Increasingly infectious.

I cannot fault this record in anyway
I first got hold of Paul's Boutique in 1993 after Check your Head got me into the Beasties. Nearly 12 years later it still sounds as exciting as the first time I heard it. I never want to skip any of the tracks and I always hear something new that makes me smile.

I don't know why it's this good, so I won't speculate. But, it's a proven fact that your life is less good if you don't own this album.

visit paul's boutique, it's definitely worth it!
I gotta thank Graham Coxon if I started listening to the Beasties, less than a year ago....I can't believe what I was missing!