:: The Beastie Boys - To the 5 Burroughs

The Beastie Boys

The hiatus is back off, again. It has been a long time since the Beasties last release, Hello Nasty in 1998. Having been into them for some time, I was eagerly awaiting their latest effort. Enough has been written about their history and evolution already, so I won’t harp on for too long. Suffice to say they have evolved substantially over the years, from punk to their frat-boy rap crossover antics, to breaking out the instruments again, before abandoning them once more in favour of a more electronic sound. They’ve also become more politically and ethically inclined over the years as well, becoming influenced by Buddhism, performing at concerts for Tibet, maturing somewhat from their earlier attitudes to women, and so on. Last year they released their peace song ‘In a World Gone Mad’ in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq. Although the style of TT5B is different to this track, politically it gives a very good idea where they are – at an anti-Bush rally. To the 5 Burroughs is a decent, listenable album, but it isn’t stand out-great. If I had been by another group, it probably wouldn’t have been remarkable enough for me to pick up. BB albums are not consistently excellent, but all so far have had at the very least a couple of great songs for any given point in their evolution. TT5B doesn’t really have a ‘Super Disco Breakin”, “Sure Shot”, “Pass the Mic”, “Hey Ladies”, or “Fight for your Right”. TT5B’s first track, “Ch-Check it out”, has been released as a single, and as the first video clip, (the video clip is not included on TT5B) but although kind of fun, neither the music video nor the song itself are up to the boys past standards. The sci-fi references seem to be a bit of a throwback to ‘Intergalactic’, the B-Boy wacky dress-up hark back to “Sabotage” or “Body Movin”, but I would have hoped they would go into newer and more interesting ground for their first single in six years. A few tracks are a cut above the others. “All Lifestyles” seems to be a nod to Ice-T’s Original Gangster album from 1991, and the final track, “We Got The” is great. It has a really good energy, a positive message – it is a great track to end the album on, its just a shame the rest of the tracks are not of equal quality. Overall TT5B contains the expected elements – MC posturing, pop-culture references, Bush-bashing, hopes for peace, etc. Although their more overtly political stand has cost them some support, it doesn’t particularly bother me – many great bands have had similar left wing, somewhat utopian views that don’t entirely reflect the real world – The Clash, Rage Against the Machine, Spearhead, the Cat Empire, etc. Mike D, MCA, and Adrock would have been far less interesting as a band if they had simply churched out endless rehashes of ‘Licenced to Ill’. The problem isn’t the Beasties' activism, it is mainly that they have had such high standards, and TT5B just doesn’t reach these. TT5B is fun, but it is not great – and usually the Beasties are both.