BEASTIE BOYS Schallplatten & CDs

Review: Beastie Boys Music is a new greatest hits compilation album that serves as a companion to 2020's Spike Jonze-directed Beastie Boys Story and 256-page photo book, Beastie Boys Book. The double vinyl affair takes in 20 classic tracks that span the iconic group's more than 30 year career, with the biggest of the big such as 'No Sleep', 'Sabotage' and 'Intergalactic' all making the cut. By now these are well worn classics, but their impact on rap cannot be overstated, and the tunes still get any party banging thanks to the immediacy of the beats and sharpness of the rhymes.

Review: There are a few Beastie Boys reissue projects in the works at the moment, but none will be more popular than this 30th anniversary edition of one of the band's best. After their experimental mini-album "Roots Down", "Paul's Boutique" is composed, vocals aside, almost entirely of samples all put together in Matt Dike's apartment and the Record Plant in Los Angeles from 1988 to 1989. It marked the moment they were taken seriously, became hip hop giants and broke free of their one hit wonder tag. Its retro style and gleeful misuse of samples was thrillingly original yet familiar and despite the myriad of sounds, scenes and styles drawn upon, somehow they all added up to make this a cohesive album.