Beastie Boys - "Paul's Boutique"

Nearly three years after the release of their wildly successful debut, “Licensed to Ill”, the Beastie Boys released “Paul’s Boutique” on July 25, 1989. After parting from Def Jam due to royalty disputes, the Beastie Boys joined Capitol Records, where they spent the rest of their career. Parting from Def Jam, also meant parting from legendary producer Rick Rubin but lucky for all of us, the Beastie Boys linked up with the Dust Brothers for the production on “Paul’s Boutique.” The beats on “Paul’s Boutique” are mosaics. The Dust Brothers sampled over 105 records on the album, 24 on “B-Boy Bouillabaisse” alone. The lyrical content is similar to that of “Licensed of Ill” and the Beastie Boys employ the same synchronous and sentence-finishing style they used on tracks like “Brass Monkey” throughout the entire album. “Paul’s Boutique” didn’t have the commercial success that their debut did but it was well received by critics and fellow musicians. In fact, Miles Davis even said that he never got tired of listening to it. 

Guest reviewer Mario (@majtheraj)'s first appearance on the blog

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Chris: Mario! Welcome to the blog, man! I’ve been wanting to review “Paul’s Boutique” for a while now and I couldn’t think of a person who would appreciate re-listening to and reviewing “Paul’s Boutique” more than you. To be transparent, “Paul’s Boutique” wasn’t an album I was very familiar with going into this review. I had heard tracks from the album here and there but I wasn’t well acquainted with the entire album. I was much more familiar with “Licensed to Ill”, “Check Your Head” and “Ill Communication.” What compelled me to want to listen to “Paul’s Boutique” was an interview with E.Z. Mike (from the Dust Brothers) that I recently read in an old issue of Wax Poetics. How familiar are you “Paul’s Boutique” and do you have any memories attached to listening to the album? 

Mario: Chris! Thanks so much for the invitation. I actually have a vivid memory attached to “Paul’s Boutique.” I considered myself to be somewhat of a Beastie Boys super-fan when I was younger. Like a lot of people I was simultaneously fascinated & confused by their ability to switch between punk, hip hop, and instrumental styles. I think most of us were familiar with the more mainstream albums that you mentioned, but for some reason I compartmentalized “Paul’s Boutique” as some sort of cult outlier album. The cover art even seemed a little different from the rest. I kind of realized I wasn’t hardcore if I didn’t do the proper full discography immersion. So, I gave it a listen and was completely blown away. It’s such a treat to make your way through that album on first listen. You keep discovering all these great little moments .. the lyrical references, the layered beats, the interludes .. I would rewind them over and over again just trying to understand what I was listening to. It seemed like there were somehow more and more of these moments as the album went on. The way it all builds up to “B-Boy Bouillabaisse” is so perfect. The album completely changed my whole idea of who the Beastie Boys were and what they were capable of. 

Chris: So the story goes, the Beastie Boys met the Dust Brothers at party out in LA. The Dust Brothers played them tape that they were intending to release as an instrumental album. The Beastie Boys loved what they heard and wanted to use it for their new album. The Dust Brothers used a four-track to layer their loops, which gave them multi-textured tracks you hear on “Paul’s Boutique”. The Dust Brothers offered to strip down the beats and make a little more basic like the songs they produced for Tone-Loc and Young MC but the Beastie Boys insisted on leaving them the way they were. What do you think of the production on “Paul’s Boutique” and where do you rank “Paul’s Boutique” in the Dust Brothers’ discography? 

Mario: It’s legendary. It’s easier to think of the Dust Brothers as collage artists rather than music producers. I would kill to learn how they chopped up all those samples and came up with the general structuring of the album. Considering that they drew from a hundred plus source tracks, it’s obvious they have this ridiculous ability to pull that special sauce out of most anything that they sample. One of the coolest things about the album is how perfectly the eclectic production style compliments the Beastie Boys woven rhyming style. The Beastie Boys also had this really great character rapping ability that they really took to another level on this album. Without “Paul’s Boutique” it makes you wonder how different the other albums could have sounded. Tangentially, it’s also crazy to think about how the album couldn’t have been made today. Aside from the staggering cost of the licensing fees, I think the album highlights this Wild West moment when artist’s weren’t as restricted by the copyright laws. For me personally, I think it’s easily the Dust Brothers’ best. 

Chris: I read in several places where Chuck D (from Public Enemy) said “the dirty secret among the Black hip hop community at the time of the release was that ‘Paul’s Boutique’ had the best beats.” I can’t think of a better endorsement than that. I, too, would have loved to be a fly on the wall during those sessions with the Dust Brothers. The marriage between the Dust Brothers’ production and the Beastie Boys rhymes is a match made in Hip Hop heaven. 

Chris: One track in particular that I wanted to get your opinion on was “Shadrach”. It’s a great example of the creative genius of the Dust Brothers, as there is a plethora of really funky elements (drums, horns, vocals and more drums) all pieced together from different sources. The lyrics on the songs are what interested me most though. The song references a story in the Book of Daniel in which three young men (Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego) are ordered to be thrown into a furnace by King Nebuchadnezzar for refusing to worship a golden idol. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego came out of the fire unharmed. Stunned by what he saw, Nebuchadnezzar promoted the three to high positions within his office. I bring this story up because I see a parallel between Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and the Beastie Boys. The Beastie Boys refused to “worship the golden idol” which would have been making another “Licensed to Ill” type album with Def Jam and instead deciding bet on themselves and their creative abilities. The outcome probably looked pretty bleak at first but I would say that leaving Def Jam for Capitol is probably the best decision the group ever made. What are your thoughts on the song “Shadrach” and what kind of career do you think the Beastie Boys would have had, had they stayed with Def Jam? 

Mario: That’s such a trip. I may not listen to it the same way now. They way it starts out with the hi hat and that female vocal is so catchy. The song itself has a similar quality to “Paul Revere” the way it’s loosely based on some sort of historical narrative. I think they were fond of adopting parts or narrative elements of some of these more well-known historical figures to imagine their own lyrical narrative. The track also happens to have one of my favorite references on the album .. “i’ve got more stories than J.D.’s got Salinger.” To be honest, I really hadn’t thought about how the biblical reference might be related to their music career, but now that you bring it up I think they would have been very different act had they stayed. Def Jam was going to keep doing what they did best, which was releasing hip hop albums. The Beastie Boys, while great hip-hop artists, really found their strength as more of a crossover group. I don’t get the sense that the Def Jam, even with Rick Rubin, would have gotten behind some of their albums that had some of those really amazing punk, jazz/funk, and instrumental influences. The Beastie Boys had a winning formula to make killer hip-hop albums with Def Jam, but I’m sure they wanted an outlet to explore all those different influences and styles. Their defection to Capitol makes complete sense. 

Beastie Boys – “Shadrach” 

 

Chris: I wanted to ask you a question about the Beastie Boys individually and if you thought that one of them had separated themselves from the others by this time but the more I listened to “Paul’s Boutique”, the more I realized what a ridiculous question that is. Not just because of their style but because I think this is a situation where the sum is greater than its parts. And not to turn this into a Bible study but back to the Book of Daniel for a second, Daniel 3:51 says “[t]hen the three with one voice praised and glorified and blessed God in the furnace.” “The three with one voice”, that verse, to me, defines the Beastie Boys and what makes them so great. I’m interested to hear your thoughts on that… 

Mario: I feel like when MCA passed you would hear about all these touching stories about how he was the creative glue that bonded them from the beginning. He may have been willing to take them to places creatively that they might not have gotten to otherwise. As they matured he had a really huge impact on their politics and activism especially. He was the driving force behind them starting the Tibetan Freedom Concert, which was a huge music event at the time. He also cofounded the film company Oscilloscope Laboratories . But you’re right, because their voices were so intertwined, it’s hard to separate the individual from the group. They all had contributing roles within the group, but the real strength of the Beastie Boys was always the trio. 

Chris: A lot of people like to compare “Paul’s Boutique” to the Beatles’ “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.” Which I can see because like the Beatles, they went to another place with that album, both conceptually and musically. The comparison though that I really enjoy is “Paul’s Boutique” to De La Soul’s “Buhloone Mindstate.” When you listen to “Buhloone Mindstate” it’s just so much different than “3 Feet High and Rising” and “De La Soul is Dead”, if you were expecting more of the same on “Buhloone Mindstate” you may not have appreciated it as much at the time but I’ve heard people say, and I actually feel the same way, that if you go back and listen to it, it’s actually some of their best work. If not, THE best. I have the same feeling about “Paul’s Boutique”. It’s not “Licensed to Ill” but it is so much more. How do you feel about the comparison “Sgt. Pepper’s” and my comparison to “Buhloone Mindstate”? 

Mario: I think a lot of groups have albums that encapsulate this kind of creative transformation. I can definitely see a parallel with The Beatles’ “Sgt. Pepper’s” and De La Soul’s “Buhloone Mindstate”. “Buhloone Mindstate” also happens to also be my favorite De La Soul album. Like the Dust Brother’s on “Paul’s Boutique”, you can see Prince Paul’s stamp all over “Buhloone Mindstate”. It has this off the wall manic energy that makes it so much fun to listen to. I think you can find that throughline in all of these albums really. They all have this zaniness about them. You definitely see that with “Sgt. Pepper’s”. I think the Beatles were inspired to venture deep into the horizon to find chase something new. Maybe that’s what you have to tap into when you try and do something completely different. I think all of them were willing to take some risks as they found their voices. If I was under the pressure to make the same album over and over I might do the same. 

 

Beastie Boys – “Hey Ladies” 

 Jeanette “Lady” Day – “Come Let Me Love You” 

Chris: There are so many dope songs on that album. My favorite is probably “B-Boy Bouillabaisse” because it’s basically a compilation of several really dope songs with these funky samples all within one track. It’s kind of like the Beatles’ medley on “Abbey Road” or Paul McCartney’s “Band on the Run”. Were there any tracks that stood out for you? 

Mario: Oh man. There are so many. I think that “B-Boy Bouillabaisse” is really the masterpiece of that album. Another of my favorites is “Shake Your Rump.” What other kind of song starts out with a crazy drum fill that transitions to a really funky beat? There’s also this really cool bong rip transition halfway through the track. “Hey Ladies” has a great vibe to it. It’s kind of a skirt chaser track. Dave Weigel, Washington Post reporter, said it best … The only time I want to think about Chuck Woolery is in this, one of the top five Beastie Boys couplets: “Tom Thumb, Tom Cushman or tomfoolery I'm dating women on TV with the help of Chuck Woolery..” “High Plains Drifter” is a really great one too. The track takes it’s name from the 1973 Clint Eastwood movie. They give the track a 90’s Hip Hop bass heavy Spaghetti Western feel. “5-Piece Chicken Dinner” has to be one of my favorite craziest non sequitur interludes ever. 

Beastie Boys – “B-Boy Bouillabaisse” 

Chris: So has “Paul’s Boutique” stood the test of time for you? 

Mario: Absolutely, the album was completely ahead of its time. When I listen to music now it all sounds so digital. Albums like “Paul’s Boutique” make me crave that organic analogue sound. There are some albums that are just so cool you wish you had made them yourself if you had the ability. I count “Paul’s Boutique” among those albums. 

Chris: I couldn’t agree more. Since I started listening to the album again, I haven’t been able to stop. In my mind, it’s perfect. One of the best compliments that you can pay an album is that you don’t feel the need to skip a track and that is definitely true of “Paul’s Boutique.” After listening to it again, several times at the point, I would have to say that it is one of my favorite albums of all-time.