i meant sophomore slump in commercial terms, obv both albums got good reviews right away
― some dude, Wednesday, 9 May 2012 14:43 (twelve years ago) link
xxp - I also seem to recall that, when Odelay became the toast of the town, there was a lot of buzz abt The Dust Brothers & thus a surge of renewed attention paid to PB - critically at least.
yep – the RS Album Guide published in 2004 makes this point (some dude did too). I know I didn't get a copy of PB until my editor made a CD-R in early '97 ("It changed my life," he actually said lol; not sure he would've liked the Shins).
― Exile in lolville (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 9 May 2012 14:43 (twelve years ago) link
uh C-90
― Exile in lolville (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 9 May 2012 14:44 (twelve years ago) link
huh i guess the source didn't originally give out 'mics'.
http://pressrewind.files.wordpress.com/2007/04/delasoul_source591.jpg
― Thoughts? You must have loads. (a hoy hoy), Wednesday, 9 May 2012 14:46 (twelve years ago) link
yeah the RIAA certifications i posted upthread indicate that PB racked up as much as 75% of its sales to date post-Ill Communication
― some dude, Wednesday, 9 May 2012 14:46 (twelve years ago) link
"Yo, it's like that Prego commercial"
― Thoughts? You must have loads. (a hoy hoy), Wednesday, 9 May 2012 14:49 (twelve years ago) link
COS I'VE BEEN DROPPING THE NEW SCIENCE AND IVE BEEN KICKING THE NEW KUH-NOWLEDGE
otm, "kicking the new kuh-nowledge" is one of those things I look forward to hearing every time that track comes on. "Sound of Science" is fighting for a top-3 placement on my ballot.
― something of an astrological coup (tipsy mothra), Wednesday, 9 May 2012 15:12 (twelve years ago) link
yeah after 4 years there was a lot of pent up demand for new beasties material from several successive waves of new fans in '98.
This really rings true for me - some of my friends caught onto Ill Communication in about 1995, then over time people started checking out the other albums (I wound up with Paul's Boutique and Check Your Head on a C90 that I played to death in summer 1997). Hello Nasty was definitely an event, we all loved it - I haven't heard it in years though, I'm not sure how well it holds up.
― Gavin, Leeds, Wednesday, 9 May 2012 15:18 (twelve years ago) link
Wiki reckons it samples LOADS of Beatles:
"Back in the U.S.S.R." by The Beatles"Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" by The Beatles"Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)" by The Beatles"When I'm Sixty-Four" by The Beatles"The End" by The Beatles"Walk from Regio's" by Isaac Hayes"Don't Sniff Coke" by Pato Banton"Get Up, Get Into It, Get Involved" by James Brown"My Philosophy" by Boogie Down Productions
Never noticed USSR or 64 in there!
― Sick Mouthy (Scik Mouthy), Wednesday, 9 May 2012 15:18 (twelve years ago) link
64 is the backbone of the first half of the song.
― how's life, Wednesday, 9 May 2012 15:27 (twelve years ago) link
I remember excitedly buying paul's boutique on its release date and, like a whole lot of other people, just not getting it. the fanzine I was writing for at the time was very pro-beasties, but we ended up giving it to lisa suckdog to pan since nobody else wanted to touch it. there were a lot of positive reviews in the mainstream press, but iirc they mostly exhibited a begrudging respect for its sprawl rather than actual passionate raving.
then a weird thing happened... in 1990 I got an inexplicable hankering to hear it again. there wasn't any impetus, like a song being in a commercial or a TV show appearance, just wanted to check it out again, so I went looking for it in record stores and couldn't find a copy *anywhere*. I phoned up one store and the guy on the line said, "you are the third person who's called looking for that album this week. no, we don't have it." some bizarre hive mind moment. when I finally did locate a copy it didn't leave my car stereo for months.
paul's boutique was one of those times when somebody gets so far out in front it takes a while to catch on, and nobody ever catches up.
― diamanda ram dass (Edward III), Wednesday, 9 May 2012 15:30 (twelve years ago) link
Throughout most of the 90s, the Beasties were a good year ahead of everyone else in almost every respect. I don't think they were conscious about steering trends, but they were doing it.
― Johnny Fever, Wednesday, 9 May 2012 15:33 (twelve years ago) link
the fanzine I was writing for at the time was very pro-beasties, but we ended up giving it to lisa suckdog to pan since nobody else wanted to touch it.
can i just say how much i love this sentence
― some dude, Wednesday, 9 May 2012 15:35 (twelve years ago) link
I'll have to listen again with 64 in mind; it'll probably be embarrassingly obvious now, it's just never really registered. The drums from The End hit me the first time I heard it, I think.
cosign on the sentence. Would hang with Lisa Suckdog.
― Sick Mouthy (Scik Mouthy), Wednesday, 9 May 2012 15:37 (twelve years ago) link
what's suckdog?
― fishermen are coveted by whores & stoners (Pillbox), Wednesday, 9 May 2012 15:41 (twelve years ago) link
Read Edward's post!
― Sick Mouthy (Scik Mouthy), Wednesday, 9 May 2012 15:42 (twelve years ago) link
btw carrying on from this convo, Paul's is the 2nd most popular of the band's original LPs to return to the Billboard 200 this week:
In the wake of Beastie Boys member Adam "MCA" Yauch's death on Friday, the group's landmark 1986 debut, Licensed to Ill, broke back onto the charts at #18 on sales of 19,000, as business picked up by more than 800 percent over the previous week.
It was one of several Beastie Boys albums that crashed back onto the charts, which also included Solid Gold Hits (#51, 8,000), Paul's Boutique (#56, 8,000), Hot Sauce Committee Part Two (#107, 4,000), Ill Communication (#109, 4,000), Check Your Head (#124, 4,000) and Anthology: Sounds of Science (#141, 3,000).
― some dude, Wednesday, 9 May 2012 15:49 (twelve years ago) link
I was at Target yesterday and they had cds of Licensed to Ill for $5 (didn't see any of the other albums at all). I got one just because it's easier than digging in a box to find my old copy.
― Johnny Fever, Wednesday, 9 May 2012 15:51 (twelve years ago) link
pillbox you may know her by her govt name
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lisa_Crystal_Carver
― diamanda ram dass (Edward III), Wednesday, 9 May 2012 15:52 (twelve years ago) link
very diff albums pecking order on the current most listened to albums on US Spotify btw: Ill Communication (#62), Licensed (#65), Hello Nasty (#66), Paul's Boutique (#70), Hot Sauce (#99)
― some dude, Wednesday, 9 May 2012 15:54 (twelve years ago) link
i just kind of vaguely know Lisa Suckdog as an '80s underground rock person, since she wrote the liners for the reissue of Sonic Youth's Evol
― some dude, Wednesday, 9 May 2012 15:56 (twelve years ago) link
I somehow ended up with a cassette copy of Licensed to Ill when I was about 15 - I don't remember buying it so I'm not sure how I ended up with it. But especially once I started driving, it was "the little cassette that could" for like, 10 years. Bored with new stuff, radio sucks? Throw on LTI. Crappy day, gonna drive to get some pizza? LTI. Even when PB and CYH became the cool Beasties albums, there was something about LTI. And like someone mentioned upthread, it always settled those knock down, drag out, who-rules-the-stereo-arguments with your friends.
― Peppermint Patty Hearst (VegemiteGrrl), Wednesday, 9 May 2012 16:01 (twelve years ago) link
lisa never really rocked, except maybe back and forth
― diamanda ram dass (Edward III), Wednesday, 9 May 2012 16:08 (twelve years ago) link
it's going to be hard not to do a 100% paul's boutique / ill communication ballot
― the late great, Wednesday, 9 May 2012 16:21 (twelve years ago) link
dunno that there's such a thing as a bad ballot itt
― Peppermint Patty Hearst (VegemiteGrrl), Wednesday, 9 May 2012 16:23 (twelve years ago) link
I fucked up the order of my ballot because I was too impatient to get it out there, but I'm happy with my song selection.
― how's life, Wednesday, 9 May 2012 16:24 (twelve years ago) link
i just remembered that LTI was the first non-Christian record I owned as a kid (mom was on the whole PMRC/satanic-panic tip), on cassette & given to me for my tenth birthday by my not-totally-ex-hippie uncle David. My folks let me keep it for some reason &, there then being no rationale for a continued household ban on the devil's music, I was free to pursue a life of music fandom and hedonic apostasy.
― fishermen are coveted by whores & stoners (Pillbox), Wednesday, 9 May 2012 16:33 (twelve years ago) link
my ballot was pretty silly, I'm sure I would rank them differently on any given day. Resisted the urge to just submit the Paul's Boutique tracklisting.
― Roger Barfing (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 9 May 2012 16:34 (twelve years ago) link
when the re-appraisal of Paul's Boutique kicked in is hard to measure. I remember it being praised as similar to (and better than) "3 Feet High and Rising" when it came out while I was in high school, but I couldn't find a copy. I remember seeing the Hey Ladies video and being jealous of a classmate who had a cassette copy, but wasn't able to locate a copy of my own until 2 years later, at which point I was blown away. And then Check Your Head came out shortly afterwards.
― Roger Barfing (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 9 May 2012 16:37 (twelve years ago) link
I'm not sure reappraisal is the right word when the album got awesome reviews in '89. We discovered it many years later.
― Exile in lolville (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 9 May 2012 16:41 (twelve years ago) link
Pazz and Jop '89:
11. Tom Petty: Full Moon Fever (MCA) 381 (35)12. Beastie Boys: Paul's Boutique (Capitol) 347 (32)13. Fine Young Cannibals: The Raw and The Cooked (I.R.S.)
interesting sandwich!
― Exile in lolville (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 9 May 2012 16:42 (twelve years ago) link
would gladly consume such a sandwich tbh
― fishermen are coveted by whores & stoners (Pillbox), Wednesday, 9 May 2012 16:45 (twelve years ago) link
Really wish I had bought Paul's Boutique instead of Raw and the Cooked : (
― how's life, Wednesday, 9 May 2012 16:46 (twelve years ago) link
Owning either (or both) makes life better, so don't beat yourself up.
― Johnny Fever, Wednesday, 9 May 2012 16:47 (twelve years ago) link
I'm not sure reappraisal is the right word
sure - it's an album that had trouble finding it's audience, I guess. I'm not sure why. It's not like my tastes changed radically between '89 and '91, I just literally could not get my hands on the album.
― Roger Barfing (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 9 May 2012 16:47 (twelve years ago) link
I heard about it for a few years before I actually heard it. I remember reading excited reviews about it in various places, but unlike LTI -- which was much in evidence everywhere throughout my college years -- I don't remember knowing anyone who had a copy of Paul's Boutique. It went on my "I should check that out" list, and eventually I did.
― something of an astrological coup (tipsy mothra), Wednesday, 9 May 2012 16:57 (twelve years ago) link
just wanna vote for the second half of Ill Communication except that it's such a groove in itself that it's hard to separate things. probably perverse to vote "Transitions" #1 but I'm thinking about it
― Euler, Wednesday, 9 May 2012 17:01 (twelve years ago) link
yeah i mean...a much higher percentage of Appetite For Destruction fans bought GNR Lies than Licensed To Ill fans bought Paul's Boutique. it was really kind of a huge initial dropoff in sales.
― some dude, Wednesday, 9 May 2012 17:01 (twelve years ago) link
yeah and I don't get why that was, exactly? was there some kind of backlash to LTI that I'm forgetting? I guess Tougher Than Leather had a similar drop-off
― Roger Barfing (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 9 May 2012 17:03 (twelve years ago) link
Mr Veg remembers a lot people complaining that PB was 'too noisy', ie bc of so much sampling. And I think a lot of people took them literally with the tuff leather jackets partyboy stuff and got mad when they didn't do LTI Part II
― Peppermint Patty Hearst (VegemiteGrrl), Wednesday, 9 May 2012 17:05 (twelve years ago) link
The differences between Tougher Than Leather and Raising Hell are WAY less substantial than the differences between Paul's Boutique and Licensed to Ill. I think a ton of people who thought No Sleep Til Brooklyn and Fight for Your Right were like, "what? This is actual rap. I want some rock with rapping on it."
― Johnny Fever, Wednesday, 9 May 2012 17:06 (twelve years ago) link
Lies had an enormous hit ballad.
― how's life, Wednesday, 9 May 2012 17:06 (twelve years ago) link
but see that would require that people actually heard PB and didn't like it. which to my mind was not the case, people just didn't buy it or hear it (or even know about it)
xp
― Roger Barfing (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 9 May 2012 17:07 (twelve years ago) link
actually not as hard as i thought
my breakdown
LTI - two songs, quite lowPB - nine songs, def dominating the top 10CYH - only four songs, even though i really like it as an album it's hard to pick individual songs off of it, everything seems to work better in contextIC - only two songs?!? i thought i liked this album!HN - three songs, but two of them are quite high
― the late great, Wednesday, 9 May 2012 17:07 (twelve years ago) link
didn't pick any instrumental tracks because it didn't seem to make sense but if i picked one it would probably be "butterfly"
― the late great, Wednesday, 9 May 2012 17:08 (twelve years ago) link
The differences between Tougher Than Leather and Raising Hell are WAY less substantial than the differences between Paul's Boutique and Licensed to Ill.
right, I was just bringing it up because they were both on Def Jam and both previous records sounded similar - a sound which was (maybe? I don't remember) considered passe by '88.
― Roger Barfing (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 9 May 2012 17:08 (twelve years ago) link
relistening to Ill Communication and DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMN!
― Thoughts? You must have loads. (a hoy hoy), Wednesday, 9 May 2012 17:08 (twelve years ago) link
not that PB sounded like LTI obviously, just that maybe people assumed it did and so didn't bother...?
RUN DMC was never on Def Jam, though...right? Profile all the way!
― Johnny Fever, Wednesday, 9 May 2012 17:09 (twelve years ago) link
i somehow forgot how FUNKY this album is. Crazy, especially considering the hardcore thrown in doesn't throw it off at all.
― Thoughts? You must have loads. (a hoy hoy), Wednesday, 9 May 2012 17:09 (twelve years ago) link