The Magnificent Seven: Paul's Boutique
This is the third in a series of articles that looks at seven albums the authors appreciate. In terms of criteria: they must be albums listened to only in their entirety…content and form together like houses in motion. They also must have enormous personal relevance: they are corner stones. They may not be cool, but they are us.
#5
Paul's Boutique, The Beastie Boys
Choosing a favorite Beastie Boys' album is like asking me to pick my favorite food. Each is spectacular and satisfying in its own glorious way. All of them summon a different period in my life; The Beasties have always been there. Their presence loomed largest when I went to college in New York City...which is why we're asking for Janice.
nighttime walks through the West Village, emerging from the 2nd Ave F stop on bright fall mornings, salivating for an everything bagel with scallion cream cheese from Russ & Daughters, drunk, sober, hungover, studying, running through Penn Station...this album was always on. stutter-stepping down the street to “Hey Ladies,” laughing my ass off to “Egg Man” and “Five Piece Chicken Dinner,” it never gets old or stale or stops being profound.
For a while, Paul's Boutique held the record for containing the most samples ever on a single album. The scope of the soundscape of this work is EPIC: The Beatles, Johnny Cash, The Sugar Hill Gang, Led Zeppelin, Sly and the Family Stone, Public Enemy, Curtis Mayfield, James Brown, The Commodores, answering machines and name checks for everything from KFC to Phillip Rizzuto.
You can get lost in the richness of the tracks, samples upon samples, the Beastie Boys building their collective musical conscious around them like tenements in the Lower East Side. These songs contain multitudes, a continuation and echo of the OG Brooklyn Bridge walker.
As if these musical tapestries weren't enough, Paul's Boutique includes some of the Boys’ best and most ridiculous rhymes. I think they are all on their game, as evidenced on tracks like “Egg Man” and “Car Thief.” Absurdity and profundity, together at last. [Who else would rhyme high plains drifter with a brandy snifter?]
The way the album ends, returning to that same sweet opening groove, I always feel a tidal tug on my heartstrings, pulling me back for one more ride. It reminds me of The Cyclone; the promise of the beginning returns at the end...Hollis Crew, whatcha gonna do?
Key Tracks: "Car Thief" -Such a cool slow roll all the way through, like you're driving down the street, talking shit with your friends, laughing and "smoking that dust at St. Anthony's feast."
"Shadrach" -I read that MCA (I still feel sad when I hear his voice) was dropping acid and spending a lot of time with the Bible which lead to the appearance of the apocryphal three wise men...killer back beat and some of my ALL TIME favorite lines: "[got] more Adidas sneakers than a plumber's got pliers, got more suits than Jacoby and Myers."
"B Boy Bouillabaisse " - Probably my favorite song on the album, a microcosm of what makes Paul's Boutique so good: antics, rude lyrics, beat boxing dissolving into laughter, Run DMC hand claps, the best lines ever written about the subway ["same faces every day but you don't know their names, party people going places on the D-Train"], Guinness shout outs, De La Soul homages, HELLOOO BROOOOKLYYYYN, Chinese Suits and FRUIT STRIPE GUM. What else do you need?
Them knew it, but them can't do it...
Emma Impink appreciates poetry in motion, coconut lotion, Green Eggs and Ham (and) Yosemite Sam.