CD Odyssey Disc 104: Beastie Boys

The soundtrack reign of terror is over! Instead, I rolled some old bullshit. No - seriously - that's what I rolled.

Disc 104 is...Some Old Bullshit
Artist: Beastie Boys

Year of Release: 1994 but the music is from 1982 and 1983.

How I Came To Know It: I had most of the Beastie Boys other albums and knew this was out there. I had half-considered getting it, and I actually think Sheila eventually bought it for me for my birthday one year.

How It Stacks Up: I have all the Beastie Boys albums, while this album is technically a compilation of all their early stuff, and not a true album, I will still rank it - I'll say it is 9th out of 9 albums. That is to say, last.

Rating: 2 stars.

As I noted earlier, "Some Old Bullshit" is just that - a bunch of the Beastie Boys' very early work, when they were a hardcore band, not a hip hop band. All the music on this album is pretty much a hardcore punk sound, with only "Cooky Puss" remotely resembling their later fusion of this sound with hip hop and rap.

I'm not a big fan of hardcore, and so this stuff doesn't really grab me. I am impressed with the visceral energy on this album, and you can see the early seeds of why they'd one day be huge.

This album is also the earliest example of the Beastie Boys' fascination with egging people, later to be brought up on their second LP, "Paul's Boutique." I don't quite know if this egging thing is some urban code for something, or if they actually engaged in egg-throwing battles with their rivals. I just know I wouldn't have invited them to parties.

I like the liner notes, which has a couple of gems, including the publication of an early letter written to them slamming them as "the most feeble band I have ever seen".

I also enjoyed learning the early history of the band as written by Mike D, which reveals that "Beastie" is actually an acronym for "Boys Entering Anarchistic States Towards Internal Excellence" which he thankfully acknowledges "might sound idiotic." Of course, the Beasties are known to outright lie about stuff like this, so I don't take it for gospel, even when it is printed with the record. It certainly sounds idiotic.

Generally, this album sounds like stuff that could just as well have been left in the basement. This changes with "Cooky Puss", which singlehandedly saves the record. I don't fully know what this song is even about, apart from a series of loosely connected prank calls and sexual references. It has a great groove though, and it is damned funny.

At one point, between calls, our singer exclaims (without prior set up or warning):

"These pussy crumbs are making me itch
Maybe I should scratch?"

Then the Boys break out their two turntables and proceed to do just that - and do it well.

And the rest, as they say, is history - or some old bullshit - depending on your perspective.

Best tracks: Cooky Puss (uncensored version only).