CD Odyssey Disc 545: The Beastie Boys

I’m just back from my first workout in over a week and a half.  It went surprisingly well.  A workout is one of those things you never look forward to, but are always glad you went.

Disc 545 is…. Check Your Head

Artist: Beastie Boys

Year of Release: 1992

What’s up with the Cover?  A very hip hop cover, with the boys looking cool n’ urban.  I assume they are waiting for the bus or something. They have instruments with them, which foreshadows their foray into playing some jazzy licks on this record, but more on that later…

How I Came To Know It:  This was just me drilling through the Beastie Boys collection, although I bought this one pretty early.  My friends Casey and Nick both had it and it was often quoted in my circle of friends (more on that later as well) so it was an easy pick.

How It Stacks Up:  I have nine Beastie Boys albums, including their two instrumentals.  “Check Your Head” is good, but hardly their best.  I’ll put it sixth.

Rating:  3 stars

Three albums into their career, “Check Your Head” showed once again that the Beastie Boys weren’t content with simply being a bunch of white kids taking the rap world by storm.  They were intent on experimenting with the style in as many directions as possible.

This makes “Check Your Head” a damned interesting album, and a piece of music history.  It also prevents it from having much focus, detracting from what it is trying to accomplish.

On the rap front, the Boys are in fine form from the outset, with “Jimmy James” a funky masterpiece and “So Whatcha Want” introducing audiences everywhere to the power of the squawk box.  The fact that artists would go on to abuse and misuse the power of the squawk box is not the Beastie Boys fault any more than Pearl Jam can be blamed for Creed.  Nickelback however, can be blamed entirely for Daughtry, and many other auditory atrocities besides.  But I digress…

Back to “So Whatcha Want” a deserving hit song, chock full of down and dirty energy and rhymes that sound like they are being spat onto the mike.  Every one of the Beasties is right in the pocket on their raps on this song and as noted above, the squawk box effect actually makes things better.  The song features rock guitar offset against some grade A scratching.

The Beastie Boys’ sense of humour is also everpresent, and there are a few songs that became heavily quoted among my circle of friends in the day.  “Funky Boss” is only 1:35 long but spitting “funky boss, get off my back!” in a fake (for us) New York accent was always great therapy after a hard day of work.  I’ve been pretty lucky in the boss department, but this song is the anthem for all those out there that aren’t so fortunate. 

The bass sample at the beginning always sounds to me like the beginning of the song on “The People’s Court” and I expect Judge Wapner to enter at any moment.  After his judgment the Beastie Boys would probably tell them to get off their backs, of course.  For years I operated under this sampling assumption and only recently found it was actually from some obscure song.  I think I have the song, but now that I’m writing the review I can’t find the damned thing.  Like a missing pen, I’ll find it as soon as I’m finished and no longer need it.

The other winner is “Professor Booty” which begins with a little dialogue:

Man’s Voice:  “Professor, what’s another word for pirate treasure?”

Professor:  “Why I think it’s…booty!”

Damn that line got used a lot in my feckless youth and it still gets quoted even now.  I’d say it was overused, but I’m not sure that’s possible.  It’s fresh, funny and extraordinarily helpful when working on a crossword puzzle.

Like previous albums, there are a lot of seventies influences, both soul and rock, but the Boys also branch out into jazz-inspired instrumentals.  On these tracks, which are also very groovy, they aren’t sampling, but rather playing their own instruments, showing a whole new side to their talent.  Four of the songs, “Groove Holmes”, “POW”, “In 3s” and “Namaste” would show up four years later on their first entirely instrumental “The In Sound From Way Out.”

It is an interesting experience, but I would have debuted all four tracks on the later record rather than extend “Check Your Head” which is already very bloated at twenty tracks.  The Beastie Boys are exploding with creative talent but “Check Your Head” just has too much filler surrounding all the highlights and listening to it from front to back is a bit of chore, despite its innovation.  Know when to say when, guys.

Best tracks:  Jimmy James, Funky Boss, So Whatcha Want, Professor Booty