Beastie Boys

Ill Communication

Discogs: https://www.discogs.com/release/3855123-Beastie-Boys-Ill-Communication

Year Of Release: 1994

Review

The first Beastie Boys album I owned was Check Your Head (a story for another time). It’s also my favourite. While nowadays I’ll buy anything that Beastie Boys are even loosely attached to, it took some time for me to get to that point. After I finished high school, I did an exchange year in France. I picked up a copy of Paul’s Boutique on CD and loved it, and my best friend purchased a copy of Ill Communication. He was particularly fascinated by the sample at the start of B-Boys Makin’ With The Freak Freak, and we never could quite work out what was said after the French lady stopped speaking. The most striking thing about this album, besides the judicious combination of sampling and instrumental music, was the way in which the band seemed to switch effortlessly from one type of music to another without breaking a sweat. It felt like listening to a compilation tape, but then you were surprised that the band was the same on each track. I still giggle when I hear Sure Shot at the beginning of each episode of Patriot (a great show if you haven’t seen it). I never got as excited about Sabotage as some folks did, but I loved what they did with the music video. Favourite tracks are Root Down and Do It.

Rating: 8/10