dee_bee_76
06-13-2004, 12:49 PM
Ahem...not the greatest review you're gonna read, but here goes anyways:
Behind the times
Rap trio's new CD has passed its sell-by date
BEASTIE BOYS
"To the 5 Boroughs"
(Capitol)
There's a fine line between celebrating your roots and rehashing your past. The Beastie Boys - Mike Diamond, Adam Horovitz, Adam Yauch - fall on the wrong side of it on their latest CD, their first release in six long years.
So many elements of the album yearn for a time gone by - beginning with the cover drawing, which depicts a New York skyline with the twin towers gleamingly intact.
Musically, too, the CD looks back in ardor. It's a return to the electro-charged hip hop of rap's first commercial era. But the Beasties Boys' approach is so literal-minded, the 12 tracks all seem like variations on Afrika Bambaata's groundbreaking 1982 smash, "Planet Rock."
That can still make for some great party tracks, with grooves worth moving to. For a club record, this has its merits. But there's no escaping the fact that "5 Boroughs" is the least ambitious album of the Beastie Boys' career.
The trio's five previous releases each made significant advances, from the punk-hip hop of 1986's "Licensed to Ill" and the psychedelic rap of 1989's "Paul's Boutique" to the jazzy hard-core adventures of 1992's "Check Your Head" and 1994's "Ill Communication."
The group added lots of new instruments on its last CD, 1998's "Hello Nasty," and sampled from music as wide-ranging as classical (Rachmaninoff) and Latin (Tito Puente). They even sang for the first time.
NO VARIETY
This time we get one uniform sound, with no references to hardcore rap, Latin jazz or rock. It's all about needling synths, booming bass lines and a cracking beat. It works best on the opening cut, the single "Ch-Check It Out," and on the final slamming groove of "We Got The." But the sameness of the sound drags things down in the middle.
The only twist is a change in Yauch's voice; he has a new rasp that makes him sound like Redd Foxx with a strep throat.
The intriguing change can't hide the fact that the trio's rapping references date them badly. Much of their verbiage seems like something out of a "Nick at Nite" trivia contest, with allusions to everything from "Get Smart's" cone of silence to "Diff'rent Strokes'" catchphrase "What you talkin' 'bout Willis?"
No one younger than 35 will have any idea what they're talking about.
In its more earnest moments, the group protests President Bush and decries America's current role in the world. It manages to do this with a certain wit and flair. But the most sincere piece - a post-9/11 "Open Letter to N.Y.C." - seems generic and redundant coming from these lifelong locals.
For more than a decade, the Beasties found their own way to develop the bratty characters they began with. But now nearing 40, they've lost their will to forge ahead. They're settling on fighting for the right to party rather than on the grander battle they could easily wage.
Behind the times
Rap trio's new CD has passed its sell-by date
BEASTIE BOYS
"To the 5 Boroughs"
(Capitol)
There's a fine line between celebrating your roots and rehashing your past. The Beastie Boys - Mike Diamond, Adam Horovitz, Adam Yauch - fall on the wrong side of it on their latest CD, their first release in six long years.
So many elements of the album yearn for a time gone by - beginning with the cover drawing, which depicts a New York skyline with the twin towers gleamingly intact.
Musically, too, the CD looks back in ardor. It's a return to the electro-charged hip hop of rap's first commercial era. But the Beasties Boys' approach is so literal-minded, the 12 tracks all seem like variations on Afrika Bambaata's groundbreaking 1982 smash, "Planet Rock."
That can still make for some great party tracks, with grooves worth moving to. For a club record, this has its merits. But there's no escaping the fact that "5 Boroughs" is the least ambitious album of the Beastie Boys' career.
The trio's five previous releases each made significant advances, from the punk-hip hop of 1986's "Licensed to Ill" and the psychedelic rap of 1989's "Paul's Boutique" to the jazzy hard-core adventures of 1992's "Check Your Head" and 1994's "Ill Communication."
The group added lots of new instruments on its last CD, 1998's "Hello Nasty," and sampled from music as wide-ranging as classical (Rachmaninoff) and Latin (Tito Puente). They even sang for the first time.
NO VARIETY
This time we get one uniform sound, with no references to hardcore rap, Latin jazz or rock. It's all about needling synths, booming bass lines and a cracking beat. It works best on the opening cut, the single "Ch-Check It Out," and on the final slamming groove of "We Got The." But the sameness of the sound drags things down in the middle.
The only twist is a change in Yauch's voice; he has a new rasp that makes him sound like Redd Foxx with a strep throat.
The intriguing change can't hide the fact that the trio's rapping references date them badly. Much of their verbiage seems like something out of a "Nick at Nite" trivia contest, with allusions to everything from "Get Smart's" cone of silence to "Diff'rent Strokes'" catchphrase "What you talkin' 'bout Willis?"
No one younger than 35 will have any idea what they're talking about.
In its more earnest moments, the group protests President Bush and decries America's current role in the world. It manages to do this with a certain wit and flair. But the most sincere piece - a post-9/11 "Open Letter to N.Y.C." - seems generic and redundant coming from these lifelong locals.
For more than a decade, the Beasties found their own way to develop the bratty characters they began with. But now nearing 40, they've lost their will to forge ahead. They're settling on fighting for the right to party rather than on the grander battle they could easily wage.