Beastie Boys – Check Your Head (Remastered and Expanded Edition)
[Capitol; 1992/2009]
Back in late January, Paul’s Boutique was re-released in a 20th anniversary package featuring 24-bit remaster audio. Now Check Your Head has been given the same treatment despite it only being the album’s 17th anniversary. Although Paul’s Boutique needed a remastering job more direly, Check Your Head offers something that Paul’s Boutique lacked; bonus tracks (although I believe that bonus tracks were removed from the Paul’s Boutique remaster due to copyright and sampling laws, and that we may see those tracks in some other iteration). The 16 bonus tracks range from flat-out b-side cuts, to remixes and altered versions of tracks on the original album.
Yes the remastering, bonus tracks, and commentary are great, but even without them, Check Your Head is one of the Beastie Boys’ best efforts, and stands strongly on its own terms. After the commercial failure known as Paul’s Boutique, the Beastie Boys felt they had nothing to lose and returned to their instrument based roots. Hence, on Check Your Head, the Beastie Boys covered a wide variety of genres, ranging from funk, soul-jazz, hip-hop and their genre of origin, punk. However crazy the move may have seemed at the time, the result is indisputable; a highly-energetic, free-wheeling, and accessible album that every music fan should hear. From what we hear, their upcoming album, Tadlock’s Glasses (I know it’s only a working title, but I think it’ll stick), will have a similar range in genres, and I could not be happier.
PS. The audio commentary to the album is really insightful and funny. You can download it without purchasing the album here.
-Evan Kaloudis
Official Site | Purchase on BeastieBoys.com | Stream on Lala
Green Day – American Idiot
[Reprise; 2004]
The right place the, the right time. That is what comes to mind when I think back about American Idiot. The United Sates was in an unpopular war, the people were unhappy with their current administration – and Green Day was there to sing protest songs that were catchy as hell. But for me, the album was much more then that. I hadn’t listened to Green Day for 4 years or so, and I bought American Idiot just out of curiosity. While the opener “American Idiot” was pretty straightforward for the band (musically speaking) – I was shocked by the nine-minute epic “Jesus of Suburbia”. Divided into five parts, each section was pop bliss – and I couldn’t believe this was the same band that wrote songs about masturbation and cross-dressing.
The album had a much more mature sound to it. And – as usual, it also had the 4 singles that were destined to blow up. Herein lies the problem. American Idiot gets an unfair shake, because of saturation. Everyone had to be subdued to two years of non-stop play from the singles (whether that was radio or TV). Green Day was everywhere. Where Dookie succeeded in blowing them up, this album made sure Green Day was going to start selling out stadiums. But for me, it has always been about the concept of the album. The concept is far from brilliant or profound. But it tells the story of a kid that comes from a broken home (suburbia), who decides to leave for a city that is politically charged and filled with scum. With a little twist, the protagonist also has a multiple personality disorder, and eventually takes on the life of protesting and drugs. At the end of the day, he realizes that most only protested for rebellion sake (not really wanting change) – and he is left with the mess he has created of his life. Now grown up, everyone has left him (including his love) – and he reflects back on what went wrong. Most mistakenly only heard “American Idiot” (the single) and wrote it off as a pop punk band trying to get political and preachy. But in all truth, the album really isn’t that preachy (lyrically) – or at least as the lead single would leave you to believe. That is where it succeeds. They get their political points across by chronicling the life of a troubled youth. Instead of preaching, it’s more of a commentary and a look at our modern society – told through their story. It’s not so much a rally against the administration, as it was a rally at looking at how we live.
With that said, the album isn’t complex (plot wise) – and musically it’s just a great rock/pop album. While Billie Joe Armstrong isn’t the best lyricist, the simplicity of the concept serves the album well as most Concepts are overblown and too complex. If the story doesn’t appeal you (which it most certainly won’t for everyone) – it still is a fine album with many hooks and riffs. Singles aside, this is actually a really good pop record. However, for some the fact that a pop punk group is trying to be “serious” is a deterrent in itself from listening. I for one am glad they took this route, much better they are talking about current issues then Billie Joe singing about whacking one off in his room. But I suppose we still have Blink 182 for that kind of music. Even if you don’t like the more serious Green Day, at least consider how much better they sound as a band on this record. Musically speaking it’s their most adventurous, and I think we can expect better from these guys as they continue to expand their sound.
– Brent Koepp
Pretty Girls Make Graves – Good Health
[Lookout! Records; 2002]
This debut album from short-lived Seattle indie-punk band may only be nine tracks but within that short space of time they manage seem to manage to release twice as much youthful excitement as most albums released these days. Each track seems to be built around the same basic formula; pounding drums overlayed with intertwining guitars and cathartic boy-girl vocals. Even though the formula is simple it is such a great one that just the slightest variation between tracks makes each one an extremely enjoyable short and sharp burst of energy. This is the album that Be Your Own Pet aspired to make but never quite reached; short, loud and full of pop-punk hooks.
-Rob Hakimian
Official Website | Stream on Lala
The Dave Brubeck Quartet – Time Out
[Columbia/Legacy; 1959]
Sure, this is possibly one of the most overplayed jazz albums of all time, but regardless, it’s also one of my favorites. I think it would be hard to find a person who hasn’t heard “Take Five” at least once. The track is one of the most frequently recorded jazz songs, even being recorded by Pavement as the slightly altered “5-4=Unity” (off of Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain). The whole album is pretty much based on odd time signatures, at least for jazz such as 5/4 (“Take Five”) and 9/8 (“Blue Rondo a la Turk”). Additionally, some of the subdivisions are somewhat untraditional. For example, “Blue Rondo a la Turk” uses a 2+2+2+3 subdivision rather than the standard 3+3+3. When listening to this album, listen to the rhythmic content from time to time. However, watch out because from time to time the solos feel more like they are in standard 4/4 time than in whatever meter the piece started in. Finally, if you are frightened about a possibly lack of swing, fear not for there is plenty of swinging right there. Enjoy.
-Chris Woodall
of Montreal – The Sunlandic Twins
[Polyvinyl; 2005]
I started listening to this album obsessively again this past week. It all started when, on a particular warm (albeit rainy) April day, my friends and I thought this album would be the perfect soundtrack for that day’s session of Mario Kart. As it turns out, even spinning Sunlandic doesn’t remove the sting of finishing 5th behind 3 friends and a computer character…but onto my favorite part of this record:
Everyone knows that the bass is going to be good on any given of Montreal CD. But on Sunlandic, Barnes gets out of control. For me, there’s nothing better than the opening bass swirls in “So Begins Our Alabee” or the hypnotic opener to “Oslo in the Summertime.”
It’s also nice to come back to “Wraith Pinned” after hearing the Outback remake ad-naseum and still have it seem as fresh and relevant as when I first heard the album. Many complained about Barnes supposedly “selling out,” which is ludicrous. My only question(s) for those people: Would Barnes be able to put on the same live show, or include elaborate album packaging? Probably not.
-Larry Weaver
