Beatie Boys - Hot Sauce Committee Part Two

With a background story leading up to the release of Hot Sauce Committee Part Two almost as eclectic & as muddled as the sound of the album itself (Adam Yauch having a bout with cancer, the working title linked to a gift from Elvis to a bus driver & the mislead ideas on the distribution), the Beastie Boys are setting us up for one hell of a ride.

But that convoluted mess is nothing new to longtime Beastie Boy fans- and that's what you need to be to enjoy this album. For the Ipod crowd or commercial-radio listeners who will list Intergalactic, No Sleep Till, Fight For Your Right To Party (and maybe Shake Your Rump & Sabotage) as the only tracks the Beastie's ever released, they are going to be seriously disappointed by this album. And I like that.
Using some of the most random & obscure records to sample (believe me, I did some research on them), plus their proficient skills on live instruments, the trio have put together a collection of tracks rich in sound & depth that they could have easily survived without the vocals. And it's this talent that has continued to impress fans & critics alike. You could call this a crazy score to a week inside the lives of the Beasties- as multi-layered as the Boys themselves.

But the other talent for which the Beasties are recognised for is the mic-sharing, metaphor-soaked B-Boy lines. Lyrics which can offer the listener a quick summary of the MC's intelligence, awareness of surroundings plus their grasp on current cultural news. It's lyrics like these which are sadly missing in music since the turn of the century, as most artists see 'Ringtone Rap' as their focus. Hot Sauce (Pt 2) excels at recapturing the bravado of the 80's whilst balancing their current maturity, an album to showcase their skills. But I'll be honest, we were expecting that from the trio.

The added vocals of Nas (on the 'official' lead single 'Too Many Rappers'- revisited for the album, which attacks the skills displayed in the current saturation of hip hop artists) & Santigold (on 'Don't Play No Games That I Can't Win' that will have speakers busy all summer) only concretes the albums' energy. After the 2nd & 3rd album singles ('Make Some Noise' and 'Lee Majors Come Again' respectively), and present titles included, the album plays out like a well-constructed mixtape, with some songs changing tempo at the oddest of places as if to confuse the tracklisted times. But as you know, that is just the Beastie Boys letting their creativity run over the conformed structure that most albums adhere to.

I won't lie, on initial spins, Hot Sauce Committee Part Two is hard to listen to. It took me several listens just to absorb the album, and to earn an opinion worth sharing. But the longer I listened to it, the more my appreciation of the group grew. In a world of continual structure and rules, it's refreshing to see an album not fit so comfortably in 'those square holes'.

And (with a 4 outta 5 rating) that is why we need the Beastie Boys to release albums like this..

And that is why, in your own time, you will enjoy this album.

Bunk 01.05.11

Hot Sauce Committee Part Two
Scheduled release 01.05.11 (Europe & Japan), 03.05.11 (USA & Australia)
Capitol Records