Beastie Boys: Ill Communication (3LP/30th Anniversary) LP

OUT FRIDAY!

Celebrating the 30th anniversary of Beastie Boys’ multiplatinum album, Ill Communication, this deluxe reissue is a rare version of the album that was originally released as a limited run in 2009. Long out-of-print and sought after by fans and collectors, this 3 LP set is pressed on 180g vinyl, features lenticular cover art and includes a bonus LP with 12 tracks of remixes, B-sides and rarities, all housed in a rigid slipcase.

By 1994 the Beastie Boys had settled into their cultural role as the grand arbiters of cool, and Ill Communication is pretty much a catalog of coolness: live funk, a bit of hardcore, ingenious samples of obscure records, keyboards by analogue master Money Mark, guest shots by Q-Tip and Biz Markie, MCA's cop-show metal number 'Sabotage', and the inevitable cascade of witty old-school rhymes. But it's also a surprisingly mature record from a band that had, after all, been at it for 12 years already. The original jazz-funk instrumentals hold their own with the group's favourite sample sources. Their voices are modestly buried in the mix, and they've tempered their old snottiness with lyrical compassion: Check out 'Bodhisattva Vow', a salute to buddhist spirituality.