Paul’s Boutique

joo tokaa levyä tätä bändiä ei kyllä jaksais. ihan hauska se eka mutta tää kyllästyttää jo puolen välin kohdalla. 2/5

Sounded like a bunch of year 7's showing off and trying to be hard

I never want to hear this album again

1 ⭐️

I think there's a bit of a divide in the Beastie Boys output between this earlier stuff, which was puerile and misogynistic, and later work, where they even apologised for being dicks. They have to be one of the few bands that actually grew up.
Not that this is bad, some of the arrangements here are mint, and I completely forgot about "Barrel of a Gun." But it's also hard to ignore its more sexist elements.

The "Sgt. Pepper of hip-hop" according to some, but possibly drags a little unlike the Sgt. Pepper of rock. Very very good, and an absolute cornerstone of modern rap music - especially in the way they used samples. The "B-Boy Bouillabaisse" suite, while overlong as one song, shows a whole other way of doing hip-hop, more akin to the end of the second side of Abbey Road

Was thinking about the lyric "Humpty Dumpty was a big fat egg" for the rest of the album

I don't even like hip hop but I like this. Great production and a stylish use of samples combined with witty lyrics. Actually a must-hear.

I’m at a 4, which is kinda disappointing, somehow.

I dunno, I guess I was really prepared for a 5, but a few tracks here and parts of the big medley at the end just didn’t quite grab me. Regardless of that, I did enjoy most of this album. Other than the revolutionary sample usage here, which is an incredible triumph for 1989 and an incredible tonesetter for rap production in the future…

…honestly, I just don't think there's a lot to wax poetic on. Don’t get me wrong; the beats are great, the flow is great, the lyrics are pretty good, and I think for the most part, the energy stays at a good point throughout. This *IS* the Beastie Boys, and they’re doing great work on most of this album.

There’s just something about a few tracks that I simply felt weren’t too captivating or engaging enough for me to really like them like that. It could just be fatigue from its length or the fact that there’s not any breaks like on Ill Communication. It’s honestly really weird, because I’d probably normally just look past it, but for some reason, when you just know something isn’t as good as you want it to be, you can just feel it. This album is still very good, but it falls short of hitting that 4.5 mark, and even if it had, I’m not quite sure I could bump it up.

Regardless though, it’s no less than a 4 – it’s a super fun album that just kinda fell short for me in a few spots, but it’s a great listen and a great way to cap off 1980s rap.

One of my all-time favorites. To really appreciate this album, listen to KEXP’s breakdown, here: https://www.kexp.org/breakdown/paulsboutique/

I hate copywrite law for preventing us from receiving more masterful uses of samples such as this. Just incredible from start to finish. So ahead of its time.

One of my favorite albums ever. If I remember the 33 1/3 correctly, the dust brothers recorded all the samples on the album (104 of them, according to Wikipedia) directly to tape, meaning they’d have to rewind the tape and line up the timing exactly right to layer another sample or vocals on top of it. The care that went into this production is incredible. And they almost got sued by the Beatles, so they’ve got that going for them.

Favorite couplets:
There’s more to me than you’ll ever know / And I got more hits than Sadaharu Oh

Washing windows on the Bowery at a quarter to four / ‘cause he ain’t gonna work on Maggie’s Farm no more

I’m doing 120, plowing over mailboxes / radar detector, to tell me where the cops is

Cash flow getting low, so I had to pull a job / found a nice place to visit, but a better place to rob

Because it’s all high spirit, you know you got to hear it / Don’t touch the mic, baby, don’t come near it

Because I got more stories than JD’s got Salinger / I hold the title and you are the challenger

It remains the same, whether black, white or any other shade, I only like hip hop in exceptional cases. I just don't understand it. It's the same here. The aggressive shouting of the kids makes me aggressive myself. I was surprised when I read that the Dust Brothers produced the album. Their film music is one of my favorites. This album is far away from this.
1/5

I've never really gotten into this one, but have always been intrigued by the critical acclaim. Listening to it again now, I can see why it's considered so influential. It has great production and samples, but the lyrics are still painfully immature in places. It's a big improvement on Licenced to Ill though. Shake Your Rump, Egg Man Shadrach and A Year And A Day are definitely the highlights for me. Hey Ladies is definitely a lowlight.

I had a second listen on my good headphones, and the quality of the production and sampling is incredible for the time, considering it would been all analogue (I think). It's amazing that they were able to secure some of these samples..."Sounds of Science" for example, contains multiple Beatles samples. The production bumps this up to a 4 for me - would be a 5 if the lyrics were less sexist and cringe.

Too much of an OK thing. A landmark in sample-based production, the problem is it is full of reminders of cool soul and jazz and reggae and bluegrass tracks I'd rather be listening to instead.

The Sounds Of Science really kicked in this album for me. dude this album GOES places.

Fantastic album

So if you had never heard the Beastie Boys before, or maybe more interestingly if you had never heard music before, and were coming at this totally blind with no preconceptions at all, I feel like your first thought would be "wow this is terrible". And objectively I think I kind of agree. I don't think novel production methods and recording in random apartments in LA make a good album. Sure it was different for the time, that doesn't mean it's good.
But then I remember this list is 1001 albums to hear before you die, not 1001 good albums to hear before you die. So should this be on the list? Yeah I guess so just because it was different at the time it was made. Do I enjoy it? No. It's too bad because I do like some of the Beastie Boys other stuff, but I am not a fan of hip hop at all, and I suppose this counts. I'll give it a 2/5 because it's not terrible to listen to like a lot of other hip hop but it lacks anything that would make me want to listen again.

This album is an insane powerhouse of sampling and just pure confidence, but not in a way that comes off as smug, rather something more fun to be around that knows its hot shit and you agree. Nothing like this could be made today, and even if it was, it would cost millions to clear, and ain't no way there would be a whole song of Beatles samples. Despite it being a party album through-and-through, just like Licensed to Ill, it has a new sense of maturity to it that comes with the expert level production and flow of each verse that's shared so perfectly between Mike D, Ad Rock, and MCA that it doesn't have the choppiness issue many rap groups tend to have. Everything here is so professional despite how loose it is, and it just feels like the pinnacle of hip-hop in the 80s. Everything changed after this record, sadly for better and worse, but the fact that we got something so funky just in time really feels like a gift more than anything. Flaws include that it feels a tad long, and due to its nature it can feel repetitive tonally, but the change-ups instrumentally are well worth seeing this album through, especially with some of the best beats coming from the last stretch in B-Boy Bouillabaisse. I can now see why this is considered Beastie Boy's crowning achievement.

Love me some Beastie Boys. Such a unique sound. One of the few bands who are immediately recognized.

Det er sgu meget sjovt!
Relativt rodet og ikke helt min stil.. Det bliver lidt meget af det samme for min smag.

This album, and Public Enemy's Fear Of A Black Planet, are the reason why certain sampling laws were introduced and why records like this can't be made in the current day and age without being bankrupt before release unfortunately. And it's a shame.

https://kottke.org/19/12/every-sample-from-pauls-boutique-by-the-beastie-boys