I was one of the PR people for this LP, and I was fortunate to get to hang out with the Beasties a lot during this peroid. I also got to know Easy Mike of the Dust Brothers who was kind enough to hit me off with an instrumental version of the album on cassette, it blew my mind. Really just an amazing LP and will never be equaled in terms of samples (cause it would be to damn expensive).
I like that story about Hank Shocklee liking sampling off of it telling other people "this record is full of beats and no one knows it" around when it came out i mean.
I was one of the PR people for this LP, and I was fortunate to get to hang out with the Beasties a lot during this peroid. I also got to know Easy Mike of the Dust Brothers who was kind enough to hit me off with an instrumental version of the album on cassette, it blew my mind. Really just an amazing LP and will never be equaled in terms of samples (cause it would be to damn expensive).
Did all the beats on on the instrumental tape have additional samples add to them like the instros on the Dis yourself in 89" Instros of Shake and hey ladies?
I was one of the PR people for this LP, and I was fortunate to get to hang out with the Beasties a lot during this peroid. I also got to know Easy Mike of the Dust Brothers who was kind enough to hit me off with an instrumental version of the album on cassette, it blew my mind. Really just an amazing LP and will never be equaled in terms of samples (cause it would be to damn expensive).
Did all the beats on on the instrumental tape have additional samples add to them like the instros on the Dis yourself in 89" Instros of Shake and hey ladies?
I'm gonna have to dig out the cassette...and also my tape deck...and get back to you on that one. i haven't listened to it in a decade.
Also -- discovering samples from this record in my digging infancy was so bad ass.
Truth! And of course, the first time listening to the entire Car Wash soundtrack was a sample-spotting smorgasbord.
But yeah, this one, 3 Feet High and Rising, and Nation of Millions are the holy trinity when it comes to the densely-layered-samples sound.
Also, I feel like this was the Beasties' best vocal outing. Not that they're lyrical lyricists with mad complex 'phors and whatnot, but the tag-team style worked really well here, and they did a good job of establishing a particular vibe with their rhymes. This is one album I really don't get tired of.
This album is one of those albums that mad me want to dig HARD... I didn't understand the whole 'BB fell off' vibe this album had for a while, how some ppl didn't rate it because it didnt shift the units License to Ill did and the style was different.
This was always THE BB album for me... the sounds are still strong. And lyrically they were at their peak here IMO... This is the complete package... lots of fun was had to this and it was an album everyone I knew could dig, males and females, hip hop heads or not... in my circles this one always got plenty of spins and no complaints.
And that 33 1/3 book is awesome with all the nuggets of info and insights to where their heads were when doing the album...the tricks they pulled off etc.
Anyone remember the other PB mega mix that did the rounds a few years ago? Not the two posted so far, another one that mixes the OG songs with the samples they used. I got it on my old laptop, cant recall who did it atm, but its a brilliant tribute.
I was one of the PR people for this LP, and I was fortunate to get to hang out with the Beasties a lot during this peroid. I also got to know Easy Mike of the Dust Brothers who was kind enough to hit me off with an instrumental version of the album on cassette, it blew my mind. Really just an amazing LP and will never be equaled in terms of samples (cause it would be to damn expensive).
hey snap, can you offer any insight into why it was a commercial flop?
I was one of the PR people for this LP, and I was fortunate to get to hang out with the Beasties a lot during this peroid. I also got to know Easy Mike of the Dust Brothers who was kind enough to hit me off with an instrumental version of the album on cassette, it blew my mind. Really just an amazing LP and will never be equaled in terms of samples (cause it would be to damn expensive).
hey snap, can you offer any insight into why it was a commercial flop?
Hmm, well, at the time it wasn't really embraced by a lot of hip hop fans, and it probably alienated much of their "Fight For Your Right To Party" fan base, so all that left was alternative rap/rock fans who "got" the record and that might have accounted for the lackluster sales. It was also a challenging record, with a non-stop barrage of samples and somewhat obscure lyrics, many of which were totally inside jokes for them and their friend. This is just my opinion, but I think they had this bitter break-up with Def Jam, and they were seen by some as a joke, or that Rick Rubin was the genius behind them, and this record was their chance to be themselves and make their own musical statement (with a lot of help from the Dust Brothers obviously). I think they were also high most of the time when they made the record. I guess all these elements together might account for it to some degree.
yeah,ive heard those things. as a PR person for the album, would you have marketed it differently or was it pretty much doomed to a chilly reception?
as far as you know, did dust brothers have 100% responsibility for the music or were the bboys involved in any capacity? they were musicians, record collectors, and appreciators of some obscure sounds, so im wondering to what degreet hey collaborated with the production
yeah,ive heard those things. as a PR person for the album, would you have marketed it differently or was it pretty much doomed to a chilly reception?
as far as you know, did dust brothers have 100% responsibility for the music or were the bboys involved in any capacity? they were musicians, record collectors, and appreciators of some obscure sounds, so im wondering to what degreet hey collaborated with the production
thanks for answering!
I'm not sure how much was Dust Brothers, how much was Beasties, but the Dust Bros. had strong record knowledge and a good vinyl collection. It's my opinion (I wasn't there for the making of the record), that the Dust Brothers were responsible for the majority of the music. I think the experience with the Dust Brothers expanded the Boys musical knowledge and moving forward they took over the lions share of their sound. Mike D, and Ad-Rock both had nice vinyl collections, I never saw Yauch's. They still outsourced for samples; I myself gave them a bunch of records they sampled for Check Your Head, Ill Communication and Hello Nasty. They also began, with Check Your Head, playing live in the studio, jamming, while recording themselves. They would go back and listen to the sessions and sometimes "sample" themselves playing, if they hit upon something dope.
I was one of the PR people for this LP, and I was fortunate to get to hang out with the Beasties a lot during this peroid. I also got to know Easy Mike of the Dust Brothers who was kind enough to hit me off with an instrumental version of the album on cassette, it blew my mind. Really just an amazing LP and will never be equaled in terms of samples (cause it would be to damn expensive).
Did all the beats on on the instrumental tape have additional samples add to them like the instros on the Dis yourself in 89" Instros of Shake and hey ladies?
I'm gonna have to dig out the cassette...and also my tape deck...and get back to you on that one. i haven't listened to it in a decade.
snaps please dump the cass to digital and POST THAT SHIT PLEEZ
I was one of the PR people for this LP, and I was fortunate to get to hang out with the Beasties a lot during this peroid. I also got to know Easy Mike of the Dust Brothers who was kind enough to hit me off with an instrumental version of the album on cassette, it blew my mind. Really just an amazing LP and will never be equaled in terms of samples (cause it would be to damn expensive).
Did all the beats on on the instrumental tape have additional samples add to them like the instros on the Dis yourself in 89" Instros of Shake and hey ladies?
I'm gonna have to dig out the cassette...and also my tape deck...and get back to you on that one. i haven't listened to it in a decade.
snaps please dump the cass to digital and POST THAT SHIT PLEEZ
Were there never instrumentals of Paul's Boutique released? I'll have to look for the tape and then go from there.
I was one of the PR people for this LP, and I was fortunate to get to hang out with the Beasties a lot during this peroid. I also got to know Easy Mike of the Dust Brothers who was kind enough to hit me off with an instrumental version of the album on cassette, it blew my mind. Really just an amazing LP and will never be equaled in terms of samples (cause it would be to damn expensive).
Did all the beats on on the instrumental tape have additional samples add to them like the instros on the Dis yourself in 89" Instros of Shake and hey ladies?
I'm gonna have to dig out the cassette...and also my tape deck...and get back to you on that one. i haven't listened to it in a decade.
snaps please dump the cass to digital and POST THAT SHIT PLEEZ
Were there never instrumentals of Paul's Boutique released? I'll have to look for the tape and then go from there.
The only instrumentals I know of is from their show vinyl which has been floating around online for years. Quality isn't the best though.
Thanks for posting some of the backstory behind this.
From what I remember reading a while ago, the Dust Bros. already had the majority of PB made when they met the Beastie Boys. They were DJ's and made those beats to play in the clurb. They asked the BB if they wanted to strip down the songs to rap on and they said hell no. Hence why that record was so dense. Most of the scratches ("Car Thief", etc.) were done by Matt Dike too.
Yeah, the 33 1/3 book makes it sound like most of te tracks were done already in the form of party breaks. And some of them were destined to be Tone Loc tracks or Tone already had vocal versions on some of them.
I like that story about Hank Shocklee liking sampling off of it telling other people "this record is full of beats and no one knows it" around when it came out i mean.
Reminds me of Janet Jackson in the same era starting one of her award show performances with 10 secs of "Shake Your Rump"
Is it wrong I would love to hear the proposed Tone Loc/Dust Bros. project?
It's called Loc'ed After Dark.
haha! only 3 Loc'ed tracks were Dust Brothers' prod:
"Cutting Rhythms" (with the slow Paul McCartney & Wings cuttin', apparently edited from later issues - how cool it must have been to not get sample approval from a former Beatle..)
In the 90s I was backpacking around with a gang of cassette tapes and my trusty walkman. I ended up on a kibbutz with this album being the only tape left. I fuckin loved it to death, after multiple breaks and multiple tape splices it finally gave up the ghost bu I can never hear this album without thinking of picking avocados, washing dishes and digging drainage trenches in the hot sun.
And yes, like the majority of us I can recite the album start-to-finish.
They still outsourced for samples; I myself gave them a bunch of records they sampled for Check Your Head, Ill Communication and Hello Nasty.
I've really been enjoying reading your perspective on PB since you were involved in marketing the record. This comment has piqued my curiosity though. Which records? I'm intrigued.
I will be so bold as to say they are the kings of multiple breaks in a song. There's generally like 3 minimum and they all float in and out as it were meant to be.
They still outsourced for samples; I myself gave them a bunch of records they sampled for Check Your Head, Ill Communication and Hello Nasty.
I've really been enjoying reading your perspective on PB since you were involved in marketing the record. This comment has piqued my curiosity though. Which records? I'm intrigued.
They must have sampled dozens records from me, and to be honest, I don't even remember what most of them were any more. For sure they sampled a Bo Diddley beat, I think it was "Go For Broke", from me, and Los Angeles Negros, "El Rey Y Yo", which they ended up using some of the singing from on Hello Nasty. I used to just show up when they were recording in NY and bring a gang of records from my collection with breaks and let them sample whatever they wanted. My reward was being name checked by Yauch in the song "Flute Loop", something that is bittersweet now that he passed away.
Don't have much else to add to this thread that hasn't already been echoed by many others. One of my favorite albums of all-time, opening up my mind to so much soul and funk music via the samples. I picked this up on tape soon after it came out at the ripe old age of 13, along with Are You Experienced? that day. My mind was blown after listening to those two albums consecutively for the first time, and those two tapes were all I listened to for months on end that year.
I will be so bold as to say they are the kings of multiple breaks in a song. There's generally like 3 minimum and they all float in and out as it were meant to be.
That's a great point. I first took notice of that on "Johnny Ryall," where they had "Magnificent Sanctuary Band," the "Wild Style" drums, and the drums from "Sharon" constantly coming in and out over the course of the song, and it all sounds perfectly natural, like it was just a band with a drummer who would switch up his style to keep the song interesting. Great stuff.
Speaking of great stuff, thanks for the in this thread, skullsnaps. This is one album I always want to learn more about.
They must have sampled dozens records from me, and to be honest, I don't even remember what most of them were any more. For sure they sampled a Bo Diddley beat, I think it was "Go For Broke", from me, and Los Angeles Negros, "El Rey Y Yo", which they ended up using some of the singing from on Hello Nasty. I used to just show up when they were recording in NY and bring a gang of records from my collection with breaks and let them sample whatever they wanted. My reward was being name checked by Yauch in the song "Flute Loop", something that is bittersweet now that he passed away.
What an honor! That's amazing. The "Go for Broke" break is classic, and that Los Angeles Negros interlude from 'Hello Nasty' is one of my favorite moments from the entire record. Thanks for sharing with us and, especially, with them. (I guess you're Perlman??)
Comments
Did all the beats on on the instrumental tape have additional samples add to them like the instros on the Dis yourself in 89" Instros of Shake and hey ladies?
I'm gonna have to dig out the cassette...and also my tape deck...and get back to you on that one. i haven't listened to it in a decade.
This album is one of those albums that mad me want to dig HARD... I didn't understand the whole 'BB fell off' vibe this album had for a while, how some ppl didn't rate it because it didnt shift the units License to Ill did and the style was different.
This was always THE BB album for me... the sounds are still strong. And lyrically they were at their peak here IMO... This is the complete package... lots of fun was had to this and it was an album everyone I knew could dig, males and females, hip hop heads or not... in my circles this one always got plenty of spins and no complaints.
And that 33 1/3 book is awesome with all the nuggets of info and insights to where their heads were when doing the album...the tricks they pulled off etc.
Anyone remember the other PB mega mix that did the rounds a few years ago? Not the two posted so far, another one that mixes the OG songs with the samples they used. I got it on my old laptop, cant recall who did it atm, but its a brilliant tribute.
hey snap, can you offer any insight into why it was a commercial flop?
Hmm, well, at the time it wasn't really embraced by a lot of hip hop fans, and it probably alienated much of their "Fight For Your Right To Party" fan base, so all that left was alternative rap/rock fans who "got" the record and that might have accounted for the lackluster sales. It was also a challenging record, with a non-stop barrage of samples and somewhat obscure lyrics, many of which were totally inside jokes for them and their friend. This is just my opinion, but I think they had this bitter break-up with Def Jam, and they were seen by some as a joke, or that Rick Rubin was the genius behind them, and this record was their chance to be themselves and make their own musical statement (with a lot of help from the Dust Brothers obviously). I think they were also high most of the time when they made the record. I guess all these elements together might account for it to some degree.
as far as you know, did dust brothers have 100% responsibility for the music or were the bboys involved in any capacity? they were musicians, record collectors, and appreciators of some obscure sounds, so im wondering to what degreet hey collaborated with the production
thanks for answering!
I'm not sure how much was Dust Brothers, how much was Beasties, but the Dust Bros. had strong record knowledge and a good vinyl collection. It's my opinion (I wasn't there for the making of the record), that the Dust Brothers were responsible for the majority of the music. I think the experience with the Dust Brothers expanded the Boys musical knowledge and moving forward they took over the lions share of their sound. Mike D, and Ad-Rock both had nice vinyl collections, I never saw Yauch's. They still outsourced for samples; I myself gave them a bunch of records they sampled for Check Your Head, Ill Communication and Hello Nasty. They also began, with Check Your Head, playing live in the studio, jamming, while recording themselves. They would go back and listen to the sessions and sometimes "sample" themselves playing, if they hit upon something dope.
snaps please dump the cass to digital and POST THAT SHIT PLEEZ
Were there never instrumentals of Paul's Boutique released? I'll have to look for the tape and then go from there.
http://www.mediafire.com/?as3b340z0yw0z72
btw just found out Paul's Boutique is also some douchy namebrand clothes brand
The only instrumentals I know of is from their show vinyl which has been floating around online for years. Quality isn't the best though.
Thanks for posting some of the backstory behind this.
From what I remember reading a while ago, the Dust Bros. already had the majority of PB made when they met the Beastie Boys. They were DJ's and made those beats to play in the clurb. They asked the BB if they wanted to strip down the songs to rap on and they said hell no. Hence why that record was so dense. Most of the scratches ("Car Thief", etc.) were done by Matt Dike too.
It's called Loc'ed After Dark.
Reminds me of Janet Jackson in the same era starting one of her award show performances with 10 secs of "Shake Your Rump"
haha! only 3 Loc'ed tracks were Dust Brothers' prod:
"Cutting Rhythms" (with the slow Paul McCartney & Wings cuttin', apparently edited from later issues - how cool it must have been to not get sample approval from a former Beatle..)
"Next Episode"
"Don't Get Close"
And yes, like the majority of us I can recite the album start-to-finish.
They must have sampled dozens records from me, and to be honest, I don't even remember what most of them were any more. For sure they sampled a Bo Diddley beat, I think it was "Go For Broke", from me, and Los Angeles Negros, "El Rey Y Yo", which they ended up using some of the singing from on Hello Nasty. I used to just show up when they were recording in NY and bring a gang of records from my collection with breaks and let them sample whatever they wanted. My reward was being name checked by Yauch in the song "Flute Loop", something that is bittersweet now that he passed away.
That's a great point. I first took notice of that on "Johnny Ryall," where they had "Magnificent Sanctuary Band," the "Wild Style" drums, and the drums from "Sharon" constantly coming in and out over the course of the song, and it all sounds perfectly natural, like it was just a band with a drummer who would switch up his style to keep the song interesting. Great stuff.
Speaking of great stuff, thanks for the
thanks
What an honor! That's amazing. The "Go for Broke" break is classic, and that Los Angeles Negros interlude from 'Hello Nasty' is one of my favorite moments from the entire record. Thanks for sharing with us and, especially, with them. (I guess you're Perlman??)