Your Reaction to Beastie Boys' "Paul's Boutique" in 1989

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by RageRomano, Jan 14, 2022.

  1. SmallDarkCloud

    SmallDarkCloud Forum Resident

    Location:
    NYC
    One of the many great things about Paul’s Boutique is discovering new music (new to the listener, I mean) thanks to The Dust Brothers’ samples. That electric piano on “To All the Girls?”

    That comes from “Loran’s Dance” by Idris Muhammad (1974). I used to believe the cliche that jazz was dead in the 1970s, until I learned it was very much alive, and The Beastie Boys helped me figure that out. David Bromberg’s “Sharon” is another great discovery I made from that record.
     
  2. vince

    vince Stan Ricker's son-in-law

    I thought..."Well, they spent all their "You Gotta Fight For Your Right To Party" money on all these samples!....Good for them!"
    Also, a nice 'return-to-form', since some of us actually heard "Cooky Puss" before "Licence To Ill"!
    My local new-wave station (WLIR) played it often!
     
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  3. Instant Dharma

    Instant Dharma Dude/man

    Location:
    CoCoCo, Ca
    Which is why they went back into band mode for the next couple.
     
  4. Nogoodnik

    Nogoodnik Celebrity Jeopardy and Mini Crossword smart

    Location:
    Saint Paul, MN
    Well, none of the samples were credited (as was the common practice at the time), so I’m not certain that really any of their budget went towards that. Can anyone speak to how that got resolved later on in terms of the legality of it all?
     
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  5. vince

    vince Stan Ricker's son-in-law

    I just assumed since the record was released by CEMA, all samples were cleared....
     
  6. Berlin SO 36

    Berlin SO 36 Forum Resident

    Location:
    South Orange NJ
    It's fascinating to see how deep the rabbit hole goes: Paul's Boutique Samples & References
     
  7. SmallDarkCloud

    SmallDarkCloud Forum Resident

    Location:
    NYC
    I don’t know the specifics regarding Paul’s Boutique, but clearing samples with the rights owner wasn’t a cut-and-dried issue until Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan sued De La Soul for sampling The Turtles’ “You Showed Me” in 1991, two years later (they also made some comments on sampling that haven’t aged well).

    Gilbert O’Sullivan sued Biz Markie the same year, for using “Alone Again (Naturally).” They won those suits, so samples had to be legally cleared from that point on. I don’t know if anything applied to older records retroactively, or if the samples on Paul’s Boutique have ever been cleared. Check Your Head does have some samples, which I’ll guess were cleared.
     
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  8. rubberhead

    rubberhead I've never made a bad record

    Location:
    NYS
    "Contrary to popular belief, most of the sampling for Paul's Boutique was eventually cleared, but at dramatically lower costs compared to today's rates. According to Sound on Sound, most of the samples were authorized "easily and affordably, something that [...] would be 'unthinkable' in today's litigious music industry." Mario "Mario C" Caldato, Jr., engineer on the album, said that "we realized we had spent a lot of money in the studio. We had spent about a $1/4 million in rights and licensing for samples." This type of sampling 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 hip hop artists' approach to sampling."
     
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  9. TurtleIsland

    TurtleIsland Forum Resident

    Location:
    Back West
    It was seen as a complete reinvention, as they sounded like a totally different band. It was also when they started getting legitimate respect in the hip-hop world.
     
  10. daveidmarx

    daveidmarx Forem Residunt

    Location:
    Astoria, NY USA
    Was in high school for Licensed, so it obviously hit home big time with me and I loved it. Then a few long years passed with no word on any new release until one day I catch the world premiere of the Hey Ladies video on MTV. I'm about to turn 19 and had spent the year at that point listening to De La Soul's debut, Milli Vanilli's album (which I STILL enjoy, no matter who's actually singing on it), Bobby Brown's Don't Be Cruel (which came out the previous year, but was still big) and McCartney's Flowers In The Dirt (cuz I'm still a big ol' Beatles nerd). I absolutely loved the 1970s disco/funk vibe of Hey Ladies and bought the cassingle as soon as it came out. I loved Shake Your Rump (the B-side) even more and eventually I picked up the album. I was blown away by how good it was and how mature it sounded next to Licensed. I remember talking about it with some guy at college and he hadn't heard it yet. He asked how it compared with Licensed. I said it was just as good if not better, but it was a whole different sound altogether. Another guy who overheard our conversation and apparently also had Paul's Boutique chimed in and was raving about it as well. I know that the album has the reputation for being slammed when it came out, but I personally didn't know ANYONE who heard the album and didn't love it. 30 years later, I still love it. Definitely in my top 20 list of favorite albums.
     
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  11. Sear

    Sear Dad rocker

    Location:
    Tarragona (Spain)
    It's one of the very few rap albums I like
     
  12. ModernDayWarrior

    ModernDayWarrior Senior Member

    I think that’s the reason they can’t issue a deluxe version of Paul’s Boutique . I don’t think you can alter the track listing now because of all the samples. That’s why they just did a straight reissue of the album, unlike Check Your Head and Ill Communication which came with bonus discs. There are some great b sides of PB material is you track down the singles from the album.
     
  13. rlj1010

    rlj1010 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Coral Springs, FL
    Now I'm craving some Carvel.

     
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  14. AlienRendel

    AlienRendel Senior Member

    Location:
    Chicago, il
    "License to Ill" was big when I was in high school, and I thought it was fun, but inconsequential. I figured they'd be quickly forgotten.

    I was at college when "Paul's Botique" came out and the immediate reaction was, "Woah, these guys are for real!" I still didn't realize at the time they'd become so huge, but I liked it.
     
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  15. Walter Sobchak

    Walter Sobchak Forum Resident

    It showed a level of artistic growth I truthfully didn’t think they were capable of at the time. It’s a shockingly good record.
     
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  16. ModernDayWarrior

    ModernDayWarrior Senior Member

    That’s probably why a lot of people didn’t get it at first. Although it was considered a failure when it was released, if they had released something like License To Ill 2, they would have committed career suicide and definitely be considered a novelty act. They purged all those frat boy fans and moved forward.
     
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  17. SmallDarkCloud

    SmallDarkCloud Forum Resident

    Location:
    NYC
    People who didn’t live in the NY/NJ area in the 70s and 80s may not know how ubiquitous the “Cookie Puss” television commercial was around here at the time. Just one more example why the Beastie Boys were such a product of New York City in all sorts of great ways.
     
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  18. UnknownEric

    UnknownEric did not put the ram in the rama-lama-ding-dong

    Location:
    Baltimore
    At the time it came out, I remember a kid who lived down the street from me kept telling me how good it was, but I wasn't sure I trusted his judgment on such matters and didn't give it a listen until a few years later. I shoulda listened to that kid.
     
  19. rlj1010

    rlj1010 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Coral Springs, FL
    For what it's worth, I grew up in South Florida, and we have Carvel here, and we had the same 70's/80's commercials with Tom Carvel's gravelly voice. Not strictly an NYC thing...
     
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  20. Kevin j

    Kevin j The 5th 99

    Location:
    Seattle Area
    do you have 12 hours to spare?

    2015: Beastie Boys
     
  21. SmallDarkCloud

    SmallDarkCloud Forum Resident

    Location:
    NYC
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  22. rmath84

    rmath84 Forum Resident

    Loved it then. Still do. Beatles at 5:10. Johnny Cash at 12:25.

     
    Last edited: Jan 15, 2022
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  23. poe_man

    poe_man Senior Member

    Location:
    Basom
    I didn't buy the proper album until '92, but did grab the cassette single for "Shadrach" in '89. I thought it was cool, but for whatever reason didn't get the full album until later. Naturally I was blown away!
     
  24. 420JJJazz666

    420JJJazz666 Hasta Siempre, Comandante

    I think I remember reading they spent a good amount of that money on angel dust.

    May have been a characteristically Beasties prank comment but I am not sure. Haven't read their book yet but I plan on getting a copy one of these days. In the early 2010s I was a bit of a Beastie Boys obsessive.
     
  25. poe_man

    poe_man Senior Member

    Location:
    Basom

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