Paul's Boutique

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Paul's Boutique
Studio album by Beastie Boys
Released July 25, 1989
Recorded 1988–1989
Mario G's
(Los Angeles, California)
The Opium Den
The Record Plant
(New York, New York)
Genre Golden age hip hop
Alternative hip hop
Rap rock
Length 53:03
Producer Beastie Boys, Dust Brothers, Mario Caldato Jr.
Professional reviews
Beastie Boys chronology
Licensed to Ill
(1986)		 Paul's Boutique
(1989)		 Check Your Head
(1992)

Paul's Boutique is the second studio album by American hip hop group Beastie Boys, released July 25, 1989 on Capitol Records. Featuring production by the Dust Brothers, the recording sessions for the album took place at Mario G's Studio in Los Angeles and The Opium Den in Brooklyn, New York from 1988 to 1989, after which the recordings underwent mixing at the Manhattan-based Record Plant Studios.

Paul's Boutique was initially considered a commercial failure by the executives at Capitol Records, as its sales did not match that of the group's previous record, and the label eventually decided to stop promoting the album. The album's popularity continued to grow, however, and it has even been touted as a breakthrough achievement for the Beastie Boys. Highly varied lyrically and sonically, Paul's Boutique secured the Beastie Boys' place as critical favorites in the nascent field of popular hip hop and has been recognized by many as the group's magnum opus.[1] The album's rankings near the top of many publications' "best albums" lists in disparate genres has given Paul's Boutique critical recognition as a landmark album in hip hop.[2]

On January 27, 1999, Paul's Boutique was certified double platinum in sales by the Recording Industry Association of America.[3] In 2003, the album was ranked number 156 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.[4] The album was re-released in a 20th anniversary package featuring 24-bit remaster audio and a commentary track on January 27, 2009.[5]

Contents

[edit] Conception

Fuck that!! This is the record, with no fucking single!... Fuck "Brass Monkey"! None of that fast-rapping commercial shit!
—MCA, 1988[6]

Derided as one-hit wonders and estranged from their original producer, Rick Rubin, and record label, Def Jam, the Beastie Boys were in self-imposed exile in Los Angeles during early 1988 and were written off by most music critics before even beginning to record its second studio album, Paul's Boutique.[6] Following the commercial success of Licensed to Ill, the Beastie Boys were focusing on making an album with more creative depth and less commercial material. The group's previous album had been enormously popular and received critical acclaim among both mainstream and hip hop music critics, although its simple, heavy beats and comically juvenile lyrics led it to be labeled as frat hip hop. The group signed with Capitol/EMI Records, and Paul's Boutique was co-produced with the Dust Brothers, whose extensive, innovative use of sampling helped establish the practice of multi-layered sampling as an art in itself. While the Dust Brothers were set on making a hit record, the duo agreed with the group on producing a more experimental and sonically different record.[6] In total, 105 songs were sampled on the album, including 24 individual samples on the last track alone. The backing tracks were allegedly produced with the intention of being released as a Dust Brothers instrumental album, but the Beastie Boys convinced the duo to use the tracks as the basis of its follow up to Licensed to Ill.[6] The sampling for Paul's Boutique was uncleared, which was only possible before Grand Upright Music, Ltd. v. Warner Bros. Records Inc., the landmark lawsuit against Biz Markie by Gilbert O'Sullivan, which changed the process and future of hip hop sampling.

Speaking about the album 20 years on, Adam Yauch told Clash Magazine: “The Dust Brothers had a bunch of music together, before we arrived to work with them. As a result, a lot of the tracks come from songs they’d planned to release to clubs as instrumentals – ‘Shake Your Rump’, for example. They’d put together some beats, basslines and guitar lines, all these loops together, and they were quite surprised when we said we wanted to rhyme on it, because they thought it was too dense. They offered to strip it down to just beats, but we wanted all of that stuff on there. I think half of the tracks were written when we got there, and the other half we wrote together.” [7]

All of the songs for Paul's Boutique were recorded at Mario G's Studio in Los Angeles,[8] with the exception of "Hello Brooklyn". The fifth part of the album's finale suite "B-Boy Bouillabaisse" was recorded at the apartment building of Beastie Boy-member Adam Yauch, aka MCA, in Brooklyn, New York. The location of recording was credited in the album liner notes as the Opium Den.[9] The recordings for Paul's Boutique were later mixed by Mario Caldato Jr. at Record Plant Studios in New York City.[6]

The album cover folds out to show an (almost) 360-degree panoramic view as seen from the corner of the Ludlow and Rivington streets. As can be seen by the keen eye in the cover and album sleeve art, the address that is supposed to be Paul's Boutique (but can clearly be identified as Lee's Sportswear by the top sign) is on 99 Rivington Street, where Rivington intersects Ludlow Street in Manhattan's Lower East Side (see street view of intersection). The Paul's Boutique awning sign was hung on the building specifically for the cover photo shoot. Until early 2007, the building contained an eatery inside named Paul's Boutique in honor of the album. It was renamed Three Monkeys, and a new bar was opened across the street called Spitzer's Corner.

[edit] Reception

[edit] Critical response

Sure, Paul's Boutique is littered with bullshit tough-guy bravado, but it's clever and hilarious bullshit: Who can be put off by claims like "I got more hits than Sadaharu Oh" and "I got more suits than Jacoby and Meyers"?

—Rolling Stone, August 10, 1989

Upon initial release, Paul's Boutique was alienated commercially for its experimental and dense sampling and lyricism, in contrast to the Beastie Boys's previous album, Licensed to Ill.[10] Music critic David Handelman called the record a "rap opera."[9] While major music publications such as Rolling Stone favored the album's unique name-dropping lyrics and the album peaked at #14 on the Pop Albums chart, Paul's Boutique did not equal its predecessor's commercial success with hip hop fans, as it only peaked at #24 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart.[11] The album received a gold certification by the Recording Industry Association of America on September 22 of its release year.[3] Paul's Boutique would go on to sell over 2 million copies by 1999.[3] In retrospect, the album has also gone on to receive much critical acclaim and has been recognized as a landmark album in hip-hop. In a review of the album for Allmusic.com, contributor Stephen Thomas Erlewine summed the initial reaction to Paul's Boutique and praised the density that the album contains:

Musically, few hip-hop records have ever been so rich; it's not just the recontextulations of familiar music via samples, it's the flow of each song and the album as a whole, culminating in the widescreen suite that closes the record. Lyrically, the Beasties have never been better — not just because their jokes are razor-sharp, but because they construct full-bodied narratives and evocative portraits of characters and places. Few pop records offer this much to savor, and if Paul's Boutique only made a modest impact upon its initial release, over time its influence could be heard through pop and rap, yet no matter how its influence was felt, it stands alone as a record of stunning vision, maturity, and accomplishment.[10]

—Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Later in a VIBE interview of all three Beastie Boys, Chuck D of Public Enemy was quoted as saying that the "dirty secret" among the black hip-hop community at the time of release was that "Paul's Boutique had the best beats."[12] During the same VIBE interview, Mike D was asked about any possible hesitation he or the band might have had regarding their overt "sampling" of several minutes of well-known Beatles background tracks, including the song "The End" on "The Sounds of Science". He claimed that the Beatles filed preliminary legal papers, and that his response was "What's cooler than getting sued by the Beatles?"[13]

[edit] Awards and accolades

The panoramic photograph of Ludlow Street by Jeremy Shatan.
The panoramic photograph of Ludlow Street by Jeremy Shatan.

List of the album's rankings and listings on selected publications and top album lists:[2][14][15][16] (Full list)

  • Ranked #37 on Blender's "The 100 Greatest American Albums of All Time"
  • Ranked #2 on Ego Trip's "Hip Hop's 25 Greatest Albums by Year (1980-1998)"
  • Ranked #156 on "Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time"
  • Ranked #12 on Spin's "100 Greatest Albums, 1985-2005"
  • Ranked #74 on VH1's "Top 100 Albums"
  • Ranked #98 on Q's "Q Magazine Readers' 100 Greatest Albums Ever"
  • Ranked #3 on Pitchfork Media's "Top 100 Albums of the 1980s"
  • Ranked #8 on Chris Rock's list of the "Top 25 Hip-Hop Albums"
  • Selected as one of Rolling Stone magazine's "The Essential 200 Rock Records"
  • Selected as one of The Source's "100 Best Rap Albums"
  • Selected as one of TIME magazine's "100 Greatest Albums of All TIME"

[edit] Track listing

All songs written by the Beastie Boys and the Dust Brothers.[17]

  1. "To All the Girls" – 1:29
  2. "Shake Your Rump" – 3:19
  3. "Johnny Ryall" – 3:00
  4. "Egg Man" – 2:57
  5. "High Plains Drifter" – 4:13
  6. "The Sounds of Science" – 3:11
  7. "3-Minute Rule" – 3:39
  8. "Hey Ladies" – 3:47
  9. "5-Piece Chicken Dinner" – 0:23
  10. "Looking Down the Barrel of a Gun" – 3:28
  11. "Car Thief" – 3:39
  12. "What Comes Around" – 3:07
  13. "Shadrach" – 4:07
  14. "Ask for Janice" – 0:11
  15. "B-Boy Bouillabaisse" – 12:33 (separated into individual tracks on 20th Anniversary Edition[18])

[edit] Bonus tracks

Japanese CD release bonus cuts.[19]

  1. "33% God"—(3:53)
  2. "Dis Yourself In ’89 (Just Do It)—(3:29)

[edit] Chart history

[edit] Album

Year Chart Position
1989 The Billboard 200 14
1989 Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums 24

[edit] Singles

Year Single Chart Position
1989 Hey Ladies The Billboard Hot 100 36
1989 Hey Ladies Hot Rap Singles 10
1989 Hey Ladies Modern Rock Tracks 18

[edit] Personnel

  • Beastie Boys - Producer
  • Allen Abrahamson - Assistant Engineer
  • Mario Caldato Jr. - Producer, Engineer
  • Mike Simpson - Ensemble
  • The Dust Brothers - Producer
  • Matt Dike - Ensemble
  • Ricky Powel - Photography
  • Jeremy Shatan - Photography
  • Nathaniel Hörnblowér - Photography
  • Dominick Watkins - Photography

[edit] Samples list

The following lists all 105 songs and sounds sampled for Paul's Boutique.[20]

To All the Girls
Shake Your Rump
Johnny Ryall
Egg Man
High Plains Drifter
The Sounds of Science
3-Minute Rule
  • "Feel Good" by Fancy
  • "Brave and Strong", & "Poet" by Sly & the Family Stone
Hey Ladies
5-Piece Chicken Dinner
Looking Down the Barrel of a Gun
  • "Time" by Pink Floyd
  • "Mississippi Queen" by Mountain
  • "Last Bongo in Belgium" by the Incredible Bongo Band
  • This track is the only track on the album to feature live instrumentation in the form of electric guitar played by Adam Horovitz, and bass played by Adam Yauch, as seen in the music video for this track.
Car Thief
What Comes Around
Shadrach
  • "Say What" by Trouble Funk
  • "Catch a Groove" by Juice
  • "That's the Joint" by Funky 4+1
  • "Do Your Dance" by Rose Royce
  • "Never Let 'Em Say" by Ballin' Jack
  • "Funky Drummer" by James Brown
  • "Hot and Nasty" by Black Oak Arkansas
  • "Sugarhill Groove" by the Sugarhill Gang
  • "Loose Booty" by Sly & the Family Stone
Ask for Janice
  • Ad from a Jamaican music show on a New York radio station

B-Boy Bouillabaisse

59 Chrystie Street
Get on the Mic
Stop That Train
A Year and a Day
Hello Brooklyn
Dropping Names
Lay It on Me
  • "Let the Music Take Your Mind" by Kool & the Gang
Mike on the Mic
A.W.O.L.
  • "Good Times" by Chic
  • "Good to Go" by Trouble Funk
  • "Loran's Dance" by Idris Muhammad

[edit] References

  1. ^ Paul's Boutique opus - Google Search
  2. ^ a b Acclaimed Music - Paul's Boutique
  3. ^ a b c RIAA Searchable Database - Beastie Boys. Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved on 2008-08-26.
  4. ^ "156) Paul's Boutique : Rolling Stone". Rolling Stone. http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/6599020/156_pauls_boutique. Retrieved on 2008-08-25. 
  5. ^ InSound.com: Re-release
  6. ^ a b c d e Google Book Search: Paul's Boutique By Dan LeRoy - pp. 54-59. Continuum International Publishing Group. Retrieved on 2008-08-26.
  7. ^ http://www.clashmusic.com/feature/the-beastie-boys-interview-preview
  8. ^ Discogs.com - Paul's Boutique (1989 LP)
  9. ^ a b Google Book Search: Paul's Boutique.... - pp. 100-106
  10. ^ a b allmusic - Album Overview
  11. ^ allmusic - Album & singles charts
  12. ^ Twelve Bar - A Story To Tell: Shake, Shake, Shake. Shake your Boutique
  13. ^ BeastieMania.com - Song Spotlight
  14. ^ The list at Pitchfork Media
  15. ^ Chris Rock's 25 Hip Hop Albums
  16. ^ TIME.com - The All-TIME 100 Albums
  17. ^ Billboard.com - Discography - Beastie Boys - Paul's Boutique
  18. ^ Paul's Banquet
  19. ^ Info about the Japanese release on Amazon Japan
  20. ^ www.the-breaks.com, AKA The (Rap) Sample FAQ - Search: Beastie Boys

[edit] External links


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