So I listen to “An Open Letter to NYC” from the new Beastie Boys CD, and I find myself incredibly – I mean INCREDIBLY– homesick. The BQE was the road to the airport, I’ve traveled on the 1-9 lines, I know the Battery to the top of Manhattan. New York does make it happen, and I wanna be back there doing what I do.
I miss my friends from NYC something terrible. I need to get back, I really do.
Have you listened to the rest of the album? I’d be interested to hear your thoughts on it.
It’s quite a bit different than past albums. A lot more sampling, and the lyrics are packing a message. The album is definitely a statement on a couple of fronts, and I’m kinda wondering if they haven’t been hanging with Zak (formerly of Rage) in the last little while. “We Got The” is basically a call-out to get people to vote anything but republican, and “It Takes Time To Build” is a commentary on how the current administration has seriously damaged the US’s rep.
It’s a mixed bag, but overall I like it. Ch-ch-check it out is good, and other tracks on the CD I really like are Right Right No Now, 3 The Hard Way, Hey F*?# You. There’s only a couple I’m not crazy about. The biggest surprise has been the heavy use of sampling and sequencing, which is a departure from what they’ve done before.
That said, they’re the boys, and I’ve always liked their schtuff. They focused a little more on lyrics, and a little less on music. It works.
To be honest, I don’t want a social commentary from the Beastie Boys. I want the fun party boys of yester year, but they seem to keep moving away from that. I remember on their first or second album there was a lyric about someone having AIDS so they had to shoot them in the head. Quite a departure from their current fare. I do really like 3-4 songs on the album and overall it’s not bad. Like you I’m a big Beasties fan so it’s hard to not like their stuff.