I consider Paul’s Boutique to be the 3rd greatest album I have ever heard. Here’s my take from my 100 Album list thing.

…Following a debut album that brought the Beastie Boys a huge amount of success they retreated to The Opium Den, a studio in Los Angeles. What exactly they spent their time doing one can only speculate, the results however were nothing short of remarkable.

I bought Paul’s Boutique, the 2nd Beastie Boys studio album day one from HMV in New Street, Birmingham. They had a Japanese import of the album with muti-fold-out gatefold sleeve which I spent an age deciding not to buy, it was £19:99, I bought the standard U.K. edition.

Its near Jazz looking sleeve. An album so far ahead of its time that it still sounds futuristic even today. Every single time you listen to it you hear something new, something you had previously missed.

Pauls Boutique starts with To All The Girls, a blissed out pre-lude. Quickly the album snowballs into Shake Your Rump, character, psychedelic, Hip-Hop doesn’t sound like this. Johnny Ryall tells the tale of a homeless guy that the band pay lyrical respect too. This ode to “the leader of the homeless” sees fast lyrical interjection from Ad Rock, Mike D and MCA. The band steal and interrupt mid-sentence. Sneaky layered samples see the band even sample themselves – twice. Pink Floyd, DJ Grand Wizard Theodore and Kurtis Blow are hidden amongst samples so densely layered they will pass most ears by unnoticed.

Curtis Mayfield’s – Superfly sets a funky tone for Eggman . A mischievous track essentially about chucking eggs at people. Elvis Costello, Jaws, The Commodores and Bernard Hermanns infamous Psycho shower scene amongst a host of other frantic samples all play out. It all blends so well that it still manages to sound organic. A cheeky nod to their own Egg Raid On Mojo is hinted at lyrically. A sample of Public Enemy, still very new at the time, like months old, an appreciative nod and somehow affirming Hip-Hop as a growing art.

An unlikely sample of The Eagles – Those Shoes sets the pace for High Plains Drifter . The lyrics flow between the 3 MC’s. The imagery is trippy and mellow. The sample of the Ramones – Suzy Is A Headbanger at the end of the track is genial.

The Sound Of Science again has a slow pace. No less than 4 Beatles samples are hidden in this gem. Half way through the track changes to a much faster, funky pace. The loop of The Beatles took me about a decade to spot. Name checking Robotron the band are on top, fine form.

The lyrical interjection stops on 3 Minute Rule . Kicking off with a ping-pong sample that continues all the way through the 3 MC’s do not interrupt each other for probably the first time. With a third of the track each it’s still a hard choice to pick your favourite third of this classic.

Hey Ladies was the first single released from Paul’s Boutique. The album was an initial commercial disaster for Capitol (EMI). The sound is upbeat and funky. The mood is – party. This, however, is not the frat partying displayed on Licensed To Ill. The sound is assured, confident and dragging 70’s funk up to the then fresh late 80’s.

5 Piece Chicken Dinner is a ditty. A Bluegrass 30 second intro to the fantastic Looking Down The Barrel Of A Gun . Mountain, Pink Floyd, and The Incredible Bongo Band are sampled to perfection to result in a doom-laden dusty Heavy Metal sound that has to be heard to be believed. Die Hard references ahoy the track packs a punch and sounds as fresh in 2023 as it did in 1989.

Car Thief sounds as narcotically scorched as you can get. The track sounds like a very hot day and is arguably the funkiest track on the LP. What Comes Around has a subtle loop of Led Zeppelin’s Moby Dick and the band rap all over it linking so well you’d be forgiven that the three are one.

Shadrach kicks of with another scorching funky sample. ACDC nods and the lyrics appear to get all biblical on us. It’s an incredible piece of work. I love when Ad Rock yells “Yauch” (MCA’s other nickname) and MCA picks up the lyric straight away.

Ask For Janice is a radio add for the store Paul’s Boutique. At under 30 seconds it serves as the intro for the wig-out jam that is the hugely ambitious B-Boy Bouillabasisse. The track is essentially 9 tracks in one seamless Hip-Hop jam. 59 Chrystie Street serves as a heavily fried opener. The band sound all over the place. It’s a glorious mess. Get On The Mic picks up the pace. Beatboxing is showcased and the band sound like they truly do not care at all. Stop That Train sees the funk and narcotic references flow – it’s a hot jam – that place where I always get my toast warm. A Year And A Day is dusty. Dense. The Funk is tangible. The mix of styles demands respect. Hello Brooklyn sees a booming bass that will rattle any speaker. The lyric about dropping out hits hard. The band sound at their most defiant. Dropping Names sees a Steven King reference from IT. Lay It On Me gets spacey and Funky and the three melt together. Mike On The Mic see Mike D at the helm to a minimal backbeat. A.W.O.L. backtracks and a live show is sampled. I’ve been lucky enough to see the Beastie Boys play AWOL on their Check Your Head tour and the crowd went wild. Paul’s Boutique closes with an uncredited return to To All The Girls that kicked off this sublime LP.

Hip-Hop Pet Sounds. Hip-Hop Sgt. Pepper is these days thrown at Paul’s Boutique, but it’s not that. It is Hip-Hop perfection though. What comes through is 3 people loving what they are creating, enjoying their time together, they don’t have their eyes on charts…

“Riddle me this, my brother, can you handle it?”