Studio Playlist 0.3
- peter etherington
- Jun 3
- 2 min read
Updated: 5 days ago
Paul's Boutique - The Beastie Boys - 1989
A visionary album from a trio discovering the breadth of their powers, Paul's Boutique has been compared to some of the Beatles' most genre-bending and explorative albums. Whether you consider it worthy of that hype or not, it certainly contains the best song ever written on the subject of egging.
Just a quick article this month as I'm busy with book edits, but I had to do this album as it's been on repeat in the car on the pre-school run (yes, I turned off the explicit lyrics). We've got Egg Man down verse for verse.
The opening tracks of Paul's Boutique tell you you're about to be played with; opening with a chill hop that bounces, without warning, into the thumping beat of Shake Your Rump. This track contains one of the deepest and most rasping bass notes you'll ever come across. If you've got one of those suitcase-sized bass speakers in the back of your sixth-form issue Peugeot 106, Shake Your Rump will make or break it.
I could do a track-by-track breakdown, but for time's sake, I'll highlight the deftly interwoven lyrics of High Plains Drifter as the star of the show. This track gives an early window into the Beastie Boys' hive mind and signifies where the trio set the bar for the future. It almost feels like you're listening to an intricate dance that's simultaneously choreographed and utterly free-flowing. The mixture of tempos and samples is mindbending.
This album has, I suspect, more samples than any other in history. Supposedly, they cleared all of the samples for around a quarter of a million dollars back in 1989 (though it's not clear whether that number includes the Beatles' post-release lawsuit). While that was a lot of money back then, the bill for clearing over 100 samples today, including tracks from the Beatles, would probably run into the tens of millions. In short, an album like this would never be made today. Our loss.
Paul's Boutique takes some wild left turns, including a 20-second hoedown, but the biggest left turn (yes, bigger than a hoedown) is the opening of The Sounds of Science. The first minute and a half gives you no indication of what's coming next, and I think that vibe sums the album up. There's no theme or overriding sound, it's just a stunning collection of ideas that somehow come together.
In 1989, the group were stepping out of the frat-boy shadow of their Licensed to Ill debut release and found themselves at a crossroads. Fledgling fans who were expecting more of the same were left scratching their heads, but with Paul's Boutique, it feels like The Beastie Boys were fighting for their right not just to party, but to be heard.
While The Beastie Boys' second album wasn't fully understood in 1989, like the far-out Beatles records it gets compared to, Paul's Boutique has become more important and impressive with age. Revisit it at your pleasure.
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