I wrote some articles on unreleased Beastie Boys albums
 

Hi

I haven't been here in years but I recently was reading up on Beastie Boys again and decided to put together some articles:

White House — The Unreleased Beastie Boys Album
About the unreleased Def Jam album from 1989.


Grand Royal VS Mo’ Wax — The Collaborations of Mike D & James Lavelle
A history of collaboration between Mike D and James Lavelle focusing on the never released compilation Grand Royal VS Mo’ Wax.

Let me know what you think, and if there are errors please let me know.

I'd love to write about what Beastie Boys were doing leading up to Hello Nasty's release, but I feel like that's an entire book and maybe not for me right now.

I'm currently writing a book about UNKLE's Psyence Fiction album (which featured Mike D) and these articles were just some distraction from that.

Re: I wrote some articles on unreleased Beastie Boys albums
 

First of all, I think they're both really great reads. I really didn't know much about the Mo Wax / Grand Royal collaboration album, but just reading about it now, I don't think I could have stood the anticipation and eventual disappointment if I had been aware! Besides Beastie Boys, Blackalicious is one of the very few groups that I actually collect, so hearing a compilation album with both groups would have been mind blowing.

Your White House piece is great as well, and a nice summary of a frustrating history. Given what a dick Russel Simmons is, I was always surprised he never tried to cash in on that unreleased stuff. There this (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XryyG2uV25w) fairly recent clip of Russel being totally unaware of the real world, declaring that the Beastie Boys could have been "bigger than Eminem" if they had stuck with him. But I digress. It's a really good summary, and I had never seen some of the interview material you have in there.

One tiny think you might want to consider regarding your snippet on Rock Hard. You say that it was never released after the initial 1984 pressing (which was ultimately withdrawn). I believe Def Jam in Europe re-released it in 2007 as a vinyl single. Not sure if you want to look into that, but I thought I'd bring it up just in case.

Awesome stuff.

Re: I wrote some articles on unreleased Beastie Boys albums
 

Great reads! I'm a big UNKLE fan so I too was surprised to realize that album was almost a thing. I knew Mike D appeared on Psyence Fiction but didn't realize how much history he and Lavelle had together. It's a shame that they were never able to make it happen, it sounds like it could have been something really special. What could have been...

I did notice in the Mo' Wax article there's a reference to the Beastie Boys' first album being released in 87 instead of 86.

Looking forward to that Psyence Fiction book! Hopefully it's released sooner than the deluxe edition of the album.

Re: I wrote some articles on unreleased Beastie Boys albums
 

I also had no idea that there was ever supposed to be a Mo Wax vs Grand Royal album. Man, what a bummer!

Also, super interesting that Lavelle recorded (or at least attempted to record) the first U.N.K.L.E album w/ Mario C. Would love to hear some shit from those sessions.

Side note. I bought the Psyence Fiction album for Mike D's The Knock Drums's of Death Pt.2, and yes sure, it's an OK track, but I think we all know Drums of Death Pt. 1 is like the standout track on that album.

let us know when your Psyence Fiction book is done. Would love to buy it. Who are you writing it for? etc. etc. Just for fun? have a publisher, putting it out yourself?

These were good reads. Thanks for sharing.

Re: I wrote some articles on unreleased Beastie Boys albums
 

Thanks for catching those. I've fixed them now :)

And thank you everyone for the positive feedback! I'll definitely share my Psyence Fiction book here once it's done. I had originally submitted it as a proposal to the 33 1/3 series of books but they didn't pick it up. I feel I'm unlikely to get a publisher interested without going through an agent first, and honestly I'd just like to get it out there so I'll upload it as a PDF or put it up a website for people to read, and possibly put it on a self-publishing platform (Blurb or Amazon Createspace etc) for people who want a hard copy.

I hope my book will be ready when Psyence Fiction is re-released too. Mine will definitely be out this year though :P

Re: I wrote some articles on unreleased Beastie Boys albums
 

Nice work...

Re: I wrote some articles on unreleased Beastie Boys albums
 

That's too bad. I'm a big fan/was a big fan of the 33 1/3 books. I feel like they started off really strong, and even when I didn't really like the book as a whole, it still give me some insight into the album. I've gone back to re-read most of the ones I own. But Jesus, the Grey Album book, the Fear of Music book and the Illmatic book were three of the most boring, pseudo intellectual academic snooze fests I have ever had the displeasure of reading. (sorry if anybody here wrote those :D)

I feel like they have been falling off in quality, so even though the 33 1/3

Re: I wrote some articles on unreleased Beastie Boys albums
 

great stuff. would love to read more!

Re: I wrote some articles on unreleased Beastie Boys albums
 

apparently the end of my statement didn't publish. I have no idea what I was trying to say. I don't even remember typing this.


33 1/3 used to be awesome. By rejecting your submission they prove to me they don't know what they are on about.

Re: I wrote some articles on unreleased Beastie Boys albums
 

I believe that 2007 single is a bootleg but Rock Hard was put on an official European Def Jam Compilation in 1987: https://www.discogs.com/Various-Kick.../release/89879

I never understood how that could be but assume it has to do with either a variation in the copyright laws or perhaps Def Jam just being like "eff it".

Re: I wrote some articles on unreleased Beastie Boys albums
 

It could be bootleg, but both the Beastiemania site and Discogs list it as an official Def Jam release (though Mercury records). I don't actually own a copy of this mysterious reissue though, so I can't be sure!

Re: I wrote some articles on unreleased Beastie Boys albums
 

It's not a boot. The 2007 release was official as part of a Def Jams Classics series. https://www.discogs.com/label/87603-Def-Jam-Classics

Re: I wrote some articles on unreleased Beastie Boys albums
 

I see, you were referring to this (which I was totally unaware of)
https://www.discogs.com/Beastie-Boys...release/983473

I was referring to this one
https://www.discogs.com/best-of-gran...elease/1279448

Seems like there's some sort of loophole in Europe on the sample clearance for the cut.

Re: I wrote some articles on unreleased Beastie Boys albums
 

This got me thinking, has it ever been said where the title "White House" comes from? I'm assuming it has something to do with them being white but it always struck me as an odd, random title.

Re: I wrote some articles on unreleased Beastie Boys albums
 

they went to capitol records....

Re: I wrote some articles on unreleased Beastie Boys albums
 

Haha true, also I just remembered that it was rumored to be House music remixes...

Okay, carry on ;)