Sounds of Science vs. Solid Gold - Best introductory album?
 

I'm currently spinning through the Anthology and I still think this is the best album to introduce people to Beastie Boys.
From the versatile track selection to the accompanying photos and booklet, I think this is the most accurate representation of the majority of their work.

The only thing with the SOS is that it might be a little to extensive and time consuming for the casual listener who is just being exposed to the band for the first time. In that case maybe a simple greatest hits / singles collection like SGH is the way to go.

Or... maybe a debut full-length album like Licensed to Ill is the best hook.
That was them knocking down the door with a brand new sound and style along with producing their biggest hits and singles.

What do you guys think?

Re: Sounds of Science vs. Solid Gold - Best introductory album?
 

A friend of mine has Solid Gold Hits on vinyl. Fair play.

Re: Sounds of Science vs. Solid Gold - Best introductory album?
 

I voted for Sounds of Science because like many bands, their hits were actually kind of dissimilar to the majority of their work, so SGH is kind of a weird compilation.

I was tempted to vote "Other" and actually go with Check Your Head. Hear me out...

CYH covers a few different genres, which is an important part of understanding the band. But more than that, you get these genres right up front. Within the first four songs you've got rap, funk, and rock, and one of the rap tracks is Pass the Mic which casual listeners may connect to since it was kind of a popular track for mainstream audiences.

CYH is also not too long. Of what I'd call their three genre-defying albums (CYH, IC, HN), it is the shortest at just over 53 minutes while IC is just shy of an hour and HN is a grueling 67 minutes (I don't find it grueling, but in their 2009 commentary they say that they should have cut it short and that when they played if for their friends they were like "Oh wow... so it's still going?") I feel like for an "intro" album, you don't want to overburden people (which is the problem with Sounds of Science).

CYH was also their crossroads album. By their own admissions, this was the album when they found themselves as a band. The LTI vibe is dead by this point, but there are still references to mackin' on girls and flashy shit. At the same time, the conscious lyrics that would define much of their later work also shows up. So if someone were listening to it they might be like "Oh that 'you scream and you holla 'bout my Chevy Impala' rhyme is nice!" they could go back and check out Paul's Boutique; if they thought "Wow, they've got some deep shit to say here" they could check out IC and listen to Yauch given a full sermon on Mahayana Buddhism.

Anyway, my two cents.

Re: Sounds of Science vs. Solid Gold - Best introductory album?
 

I'm going with this for those reasons

Re: Sounds of Science vs. Solid Gold - Best introductory album?
 

I wholeheartedly agree with this ideology, though would place my vote on IC. It captures the same scope, but is also a more polished interpretation of their range. If CYH documented them forging their “base” identity, then IC shows that muscle fully developed and being flexed, following a touring cycle to further hone it in. if they found themselves on CYH, they mastered themselves on IC.

to play devils advo though, if IC is the work that best represents their identity, i still think the anthology is a better intro for someone who is generally unfamiliar. its not just hits, but album cuts and some more experimental stuff as well. not to mention they chose the tracks themselves, better indicating how they personally intend their body of work to be interpreted.

Re: Sounds of Science vs. Solid Gold - Best introductory album?
 

Yup, it could really go either way for me too. IC always felt like CYH Part 2 in some ways, and I think they admit to such in their commentary and book - that they were on a roll in the mid-90s and went right back to the studio after CYH. Those two albums back to back are a fucking trip.

Re: Sounds of Science vs. Solid Gold - Best introductory album?
 

I voted for SGH (an album that I think I don't have) just because it reunites the bigger songs of different eras. I feel like you already have to be a bit more into the Beastie Boys to fully appreciate the SOS.

Re: Sounds of Science vs. Solid Gold - Best introductory album?
 

I feel LTI is the best way to start. listening to the band album by album is the only way to appreciate their growth as musicians and human beings imo. i put my nephew on to the Beasties a couple years ago and i gave him LTI, PB, CYH, IC and HN and instructed him to listen to them in order. he's been a fan ever since and i don't think he's listened to anything outside those 5 albums.

Re: Sounds of Science vs. Solid Gold - Best introductory album?
 

for what it's worth, LTI was my initial intro to bboys and it soured me on them for years. i thought it was dated and obnoxious (im a 90s kid). took me wrapping my head around the rest of their catalogue, understanding their breadth, before I could look past the immature qualities of LTI and appreciate it for what it was.

Re: Sounds of Science vs. Solid Gold - Best introductory album?
 

yeah, not for me bro. the opposite reaction as a matter of fact, but i'm a 80s kid. i bought Raising Hell and License to Ill at the local music store with my best friend and both records blew me away and i still have HUGE love for both.

i guess the lyrics may come across immature now but the beasties lyrics have always been pretty silly in retrospect. the sonics of LTI still hold up without a doubt tho.

Re: Sounds of Science vs. Solid Gold - Best introductory album?
 

its funny, i got into the bboys during the HN era, and LTI sounded so ancient and rudimentary to me back then. but as the 00s progressed and hip-hop devolved back to a minimalist 808 culture again, it really revitalized that sound and reasserted just how well-crafted the LP's sonic and production prowess was. kind of a full circle thing, in a way.

Re: Sounds of Science vs. Solid Gold - Best introductory album?
 

this....i picked up raising hell and LTI at same time at warehouse records on bmx strapped with walkman with money given by parents. listened to RH on way home and was instantly hooked, LTI after locked me in for life. i always say it was the BIG 4; RH, LTI, BAD and Nation. i went through at least 3 or 4 cassettes of each. the different RH covers, the different color cassettes for Nation, the braggadocio of LL and motherfucking LTI the cherry on top of all. 86 87 88 were great years then mind reset and blown again in 89 when PB's hit and i both hated and loved that some absolutely despised the record. i wanted them to see and appreciate the genius of it but it also became my own little special secret that was my own. anyway around and in between and after the big 4 floodgates just bust open forever... LTI was my favorite beastie album until probably around spring of '90 when i called PB my fav for 1st time, still do and LTI is around 5th or 6th now but the number means little because it's still awesome.

as far as introductory....i like the CYH logic but honestly i'd prob just make someone a mixtape/playlist if i was asked. this way i could drop i don't know in with the vibes and tadlock and car thief and stand together and root down and gratitude and egg raid and mullethead and something's got to give and posse in effect and transitions and skills to pay the bills and i want some......and you know the rest

Re: Sounds of Science vs. Solid Gold - Best introductory album?
 

[quote=dust monkey;1822982]this....i picked up raising hell and LTI at same time at warehouse records on bmx strapped with walkman with money given by parents. listened to RH on way home and was instantly hooked, LTI after locked me in for life. i always say it was the BIG 4; RH, LTI, BAD and Nation. i went through at least 3 or 4 cassettes of each. the different RH covers, the different color cassettes for Nation, the braggadocio of LL and motherfucking LTI the cherry on top of all. 86 87 88 were great years then mind reset and blown again in 89 when PB's hit and i both hated and loved that some absolutely despised the record. i wanted them to see and appreciate the genius of it but it also became my own little special secret that was my own. anyway around and in between and after the big 4 floodgates just bust open forever... LTI was my favorite beastie album until probably around spring of '90 when i called PB my fav for 1st time, still do and LTI is around 5th or 6th now but the number means little because it's still awesome.

That was my life too, nice to read.for me that was hip hop and l will never forget those times, they up there with star wars OT and beer!

Re: Sounds of Science vs. Solid Gold - Best introductory album?
 

As an introductory album for your casual fan, SGH is the way. No casual fans are coming for instrumentals, skits, b-sides, hardcore etc. The Anthology for me always seemed more a gift for the converted anyway, especially given the option to devise your own tracklisting and the ultimate inclusion of rarities among some shrewd selections.

Alternatively, I'd go with Micodin - start at LTI and go forward from there. LTI made sense to me early on, although seemingly quite far away from the Beasties I fell in love with (more Sure Shot, Intergalactic, So What'Cha Want - the 90s videos constantly on MTV). I remember playing Rhymin and Stealin on headphones in a local record store - I think the 2000 remaster/reissue had just been released - and thinking it was the coolest sound I'd ever heard.

In any case I actually bought the Anthology as my gateway. Obviously I latched on to the singles I had heard and loved (Sure Shot, Root Down, Intergalactic etc) and other hip-hop joints. It took a very long time to appreciate a lot of the other material - although granted, I was only 11 or so at the time. I don't think it opened my ears and inspired me to broaden my tastes in the same way IC and CYH did, as everything going on in those records somehow begins to make much more (and masterful) sense in the context of the actual albums.

Re: Sounds of Science vs. Solid Gold - Best introductory album?
 

Absolutely. It's an immortal, timeless record. There's a reason it's sold over ten million copies. Dated garbage does not do that. Also, in my humble opinion, their voices sound the best on that album, outside of Mike D.

Re: Sounds of Science vs. Solid Gold - Best introductory album?
 

I typically start them off with "Some Dumb Cop Gave Me 2 Tickets Already" then move on to "Netty's Girl", "Your Sister's Def", and finish out with "Honkey Rink" If they're not huge fans by then I know they never will be.

Re: Sounds of Science vs. Solid Gold - Best introductory album?
 

this if funny

Re: Sounds of Science vs. Solid Gold - Best introductory album?
 

It's very hard, I guess I would says Sounds, but there is a lot of stuff on there that's unnecessary. I think if Rhino or somebody did one it would just be a solid 20+ songs on one disc with all the best stuff and no filler, my inclination would have it heavily weighted with songs from LTI to IC or HN. You can't really do them justice that way though. They went through so many phases, it's like trying to introduce someone to Miles Davis. It's easier to say these are my 4 or 5 favorite albums, listen to these and go from there.

Re: Sounds of Science vs. Solid Gold - Best introductory album?
 

It's interesting, yeah the lyrics are immature, but if you listen to kids today that are the same age as they were then, it's really no different. It's just that we've matured. But kids are still the same, if not worse to be honest. Back then it was considered shocking. Now that kind of thing is par for the course.