Celebrating the 30th Anniversary of Beastie Boys’ multi-platinum Ill Communication album, this limited-edition 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, it features lenticular cover art and includes a bonus LP with 12 bonus tracks (remixes, B-sides and rarities), all housed in a rigid slipcase and pressed on 180g vinyl.

TRACK LISTING

Disc 1
Sure Shot (Side A)
Tough Guy (Side A)
B-Boys Makin' With The Freak Freak (Side A)
Bobo On The Corner (Side A)
Root Down (Side A)
Sabotage (Side B)
Get It Together (Side B)
Sabrosa (Side B)
The Update (Side B)
Futterman's Rule (Side B)
Disc 2
Alright Hear This (Side C)
Eugene's Lament (Side C)
Flute Loop (Side C)
Do It (Side C)
Ricky's Theme (Side C)
Heart Attack Man (Side D)
The Scoop (Side D)
Shambala (Side D)
Bodhisattva Vow (Side D)
Transitions (Side D)
Disc 3
Root Down (Free Zone Mix) (Side E)
Resolution Time (Side E)
Get It Together (Buck-Wild Remix) (Side E)
Dope Little Song (Side E)
Sure Shot (European B-Boy Mix) (Side E)
Heart Attack Man (Unplugged) (Side E)
The Vibes (Side F)
Atwater Basketball Association File No. 172-C (Side F)
Heart Attack Man (Live) (Side F)
The Maestro (Live) (Side F)
Mullet Head (Side F)
Sure Shot (European B-Boy Instrumental) (Side F)

The joke of Licensed to Ill's cover - that the Beasties could crash their jet into the side of a mountain and keep on tickin' - serves as a good metaphor for a career that even some of their 1986 admirers thought might be over after the one-time-only shock of this full-length debut. That thousands of funk-junkie wannabes have since failed at re-creating its groove, breaking-the-law vibe, and ear-splitting mix of rock and rap is an even better joke. And funniest of all is the record itself, which packs dexterous boasts, aural puns, and lots and lots of yelling into a disc that can still be listened to with as much pleasure as it gave in '86.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Rhymin’ & Stealin'
A2. The New Style
A3. She’s Crafty
A4. Posse In Effect
A5. Slow Ride
A6. Girls
A7. Fight For Your Right
B1. No Sleep Till Brooklyn
B2. Paul Revere
B3. Hold It Now, Hit It
B4. Brass Monkey
B5. Slow And Low
B6. Time To Get Ill

NOT FOR SALE ONLINE - PRICE IS £117.99 - See Instore for ordering details...

To celebrate the 30th anniversary of Beastie Boys’ multi-platinum album Check Your Head, UMC release a limited-edition reissue of the rare 4LP deluxe version of the album, originally released in 2009 as an artist store exclusive. The long out-of-print and much sought-after box set features the 2009 remaster of the original double album, plus two extra LPs of bonus content including remixes, live versions, and B-sides. All four LPs are pressed on 180-gram vinyl and housed in a fabric wrapped, stamped, hardcover case.

Originally released in April 1992, Check Your Head was a milestone for Beastie Boys on multiple levels: It was their first album to be produced, in its entirety, by Beastie Boys with Mario Caldato Jr. and to feature keyboard player Keyboard Money Mark, as well as the first to be recorded at the band’s own G-Son studios in Atwater Village, CA. Most significantly, however, Check Your Head marked the return of live instrumentation to the forefront and backbone of the Beastie Boys sound, with the bulk of the album featuring Mike D on drums, Adrock on guitar and MCA on bass for the first time since the band’s early 1980s hardcore punk recordings.

Vinyl reissue with two newly added bonus tracks, “Soba Violence,” and a rare cover of “Light My Fire.” Previously released on clear vinyl for Record Store Day 2021, this is the standard black 180g vinyl format.

Aimed in tandem with Spike Jonze's critically acclaimed documentary 'Beastie Boys Story' (5 Emmy nominations yo!) and the group’s best seller Beastie Boys Book (available here folks!) comes "Beastie Boys Music", a 20 track collection of their very finest moments. 

Just check that tracklist!!! All killer, no filler - all hitter, no shitter brilliance spanning the band’s 30+ year career. Sequenced chronologically, the LP works from the in-yer-face excellence of “Fight For Your Right,” “Brass Monkey,” “Paul Revere” and “No Sleep Till Brooklyn” from their Diamond-certified 1986 No. 1 debut Licensed To Ill, through a couple of killers from their 1989 reinvention Paul’s Boutique and “So What’Cha Want” and “Pass The Mic” from 1992’s multi-platinum Check Your Head, which hit Top Ten on the Billboard 200 chart.

If it finished there, I'd be fully buzzed; but the hits keep on coming as we work our way through the 90s, feeling the force of “Sure Shot” and “Sabotage” from 1994’s Ill Communication, and “Body Movin’” and the universal smash hit “Intergalactic” from their GRAMMY®-winning 1998 No. 1 album Hello Nasty. The New York trio kept things bumping in the new millenium and the set says sayonara with “Ch-Check It Out” from 2004’s To The 5 Boroughs, which marked the band’s third consecutive Billboard No. 1 debut, as well as “Make Some Noise” and “Don’t Play No Game That I Can’t Win” from 2011’s critically acclaimed Hot Sauce Committee Part Two. Frankly, it's as good a greatest hits as you're gonna get.

TRACK LISTING

CD
1. So What’cha Want
2. Paul Revere
3. Shake Your Rump
4. Make Some Noise
5. Sure Shot
6. Intergalactic
7. Ch-Check It Out
8. FFYR
9. Pass The Mic
10. Don’t Play No Game
11. Body Movin
12. Sabotage
13. Hold It Now, Hit It
14. Shadrach
15. Root Down
16. Brass Monkey
17. Get It Together
18. Jimmy James
19. Hey Ladies
20. No Sleep

Vinyl LP
1. Fight For Your Right
2. Brass Monkey
3. No Sleep Till Brooklyn
4. Paul Revere
5. Hold It Now, Hit It
6. Shake Your Rump
7. Shadrach
8. Hey Ladies
9. Pass The Mic
10. So What’Cha Want
11. Jimmy James
12. Sure Shot
13. Root Down
14. Sabotage
15. Get It Together
16. Body Movin’
17. Intergalactic
18. Ch-Check It Out
19. Make Some Noise
20. Don’t Play No Game That I Can’t Win

Root Down is an EP by legendary hip hop group Beastie Boys, released in 1995. The first three tracks are variations of the track “Root Down,” from the Beastie Boys’ 1994 album Ill Communication. The remaining seven tracks were recorded “live in Europe, winter 1995.” This bad boy has been out of press for, like, forever, so now you can get all kinds of Beastie realness.

TRACK LISTING

CD:
Root Down (Free Zone Mix)
Root Down (LP Version)
Root Down (PP Balloon Mix)
Time To Get Ill
Heart Attack Man
The Maestro
Sabrosa
Flute Loop
Time For Livin'
Something's Got To Give

LP:
SIDE A
Root Down (Free Zone Mix)
Time To Get Ill
Heart Attack Man
The Maestro
Sabrosa
Root Down (PP Balloon Mix)

SIDE B
Root Down (LP Version)
Flute Loop
Time For Livin'
Something's Got To Give

Double LP gold here, The Beastie Boys finest fifteen tracks throughout their incredible career. This record features some of the best tunes such as ‘Fight For Your Right’ and ‘An Open Letter to NYC’ but is filled to the brim with all the best of beasties. The Beasties consistent 'triple trouble' MC style is the thread that runs through each track here, creating cohesion to this whole LP, which presents us with a great overview of their career so far.

TRACK LISTING

A1. So What'Cha Want
A2. Brass Monkey
A3. Ch-Check It Out
A4. No Sleep Till Brooklyn
B1. Hey Ladies
B2. Pass The Mic
B3. An Open Letter To NYC
C1. Root DowN
C2. Shake Your Rump
C3. Intergalactic
C4. Sure Shot
D1. Body Movin' (Fatboy Slim Remix)
D2. Triple Trouble
D3. Sabotage
D4. Fight For Your Right

"Hot Sauce Committee Part Two" is the eighth and final studio album by the the one and only Beastie Boys, originally released on April 27, 2011. Where 2004's "To The 5 Boroughs" utilised stripped back production and powerful lyricism in a post 9/11 love letter to NYC, Hot Sauce Committee mixes live instrumentation and samples into the kind of soupy production first unleashed on the world with "Pass the Mic" and furthered with songs like "So What'cha Want" and "Sure Shot". These songs are dense with sound effects and heavy on the bottom end, and the vocals are processed with a mixture of distortion and EQ that obscures the details of their rapping and the content of their lyrics but also gives the music a bit of snarl.The release was supported by four singles – "Lee Majors Come Again", "Too Many Rappers" featuring Nas, "Make Some Noise", and "Don't Play No Game That I Can't Win" featuring Santigold.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Make Some Noise
A2. Nonstop Disco Powerpack
A3. Ok
B1. Too Many Rappers (feat Nas - New Reactionaries Version)
B2. Say It
B3. The Bill Harper Collection
B4. Don't Play No Game That I Can't Win (feat Santigold)
C1. Long Burn The Fire
C2. Funky Donkey
C3. The Larry Routine
C4. Tadlock's Glasses
C5. Lee Majors Come Again
D1. Multilateral Nuclear Disarmament
D2. Here's A Little Something For Ya
D3. Crazy A** S**T
D4. The Lisa Lisa/Full Force Routine

The joke of Licensed to Ill's cover - that the Beasties could crash their jet into the side of a mountain and keep on tickin' - serves as a good metaphor for a career that even some of their 1986 admirers thought might be over after the one-time-only shock of this full-length debut. That thousands of funk-junkie wannabes have since failed at re-creating its groove, breaking-the-law vibe, and ear-splitting mix of rock and rap is an even better joke. And funniest of all is the record itself, which packs dexterous boasts, aural puns, and lots and lots of yelling into a disc that can still be listened to with as much pleasure as it gave in '86.

TRACK LISTING

1 Rhymin & Stealin 4:08
2 The New Style 4:36
3 She’s Crafty 3:35
4 Posse In Effect 2:26
5 Slow Ride 2:57
6 Girls 2:14
7 Fight For Your Right 3:27
8 No Sleep Till Brooklyn 4:07
9 Paul Revere 3:41
10 Hold It Now, Hit It 3:26
11 Brass Monkey 2:37
12 Slow And Low 3:38
13 Time To Get Ill 3:40

"Ill Communication" follows the blueprint of "Check Your Head", accentuating it at some points, deepening it in others, but never expanding it beyond the boundaries of that record. It was the first Beastie Boys album not to delve into new territory, but it's not fair to say that the band were coasting, since much of the album finds the group turning in muscular, vigorous music that fills out the black-and-white sketches that comprised "Check Your Head". Much of the credit has to go to the group's renewed emphasis on their rhyming; there are still instrumentals, but the Beasties do push their words to the forefront, even on dense rockers like the album's signature tune, "Sabotage". But even those rhymes illustrate that the group is in the process of a great settling, relying more on old-school-styled rhyme schemes and word battles than the narratives and surreal fantasies that marked the high points on their first two albums. With this record, the Beasties confirm that there is indeed a signature Beastie Boys aesthetic, with the group sticking to a blend of old school rap, pop culture, lo-fi funk, soulful jazz instrumentals, Latin rhythms, and punk, often seamlessly integrated into a rolling, pan-cultural, multi-cultural groove.

TRACK LISTING

Sure Shot
Tough Guy
B - Boys Makin' With The Freak Freak
Bobo On The Corner
Root Down
Sabotage
Get It Together
Sabrosa
The Update
Futterman's Rule
Alright Hear This
Eugene's Lament
Flute Loop
Do It
Ricky's Theme
Heart Attack Man
The Scoop
Shambala
Bodhisattva Vow
Transitions

Derided as one-hit wonders, estranged from their original producer and record label, and in self-imposed exile in Los Angeles, the Beastie Boys were written off by most observers before even beginning to record their second album - an embarrassing commercial flop that should have ruined the group's career. But not only did 'Paul's Boutique' eventually transform the Beasties from a fratboy novelty to hip hop giants, its sample-happy, retro aesthetic changed popular culture forever.

With the considerable help of Los Angeles-based production duo the Dust Brothers, the Beastie Boys helped redefine what sampling could be with this record. Snatches of familiar music are scattered throughout the record - anything from Curtis Mayfield's "Superfly" and Sly Stone's "Loose Booty" to Loggins & Messina's "Your Mama Don't Dance" and the Ramones' "Suzy Is a Headbanger" - but never once are they presented in lazy, predictable ways. the Dust Brothers and Beasties weave a crazy-quilt of samples, beats, loops, and tricks, which creates a hyper-surreal alternate reality, evolving into a wholly unique record, unlike anything that came before or after. It very well could be that its density is what alienated listeners and critics at the time; there is so much information in the music and words that it can seem impenetrable at first, but upon repeated spins it opens up slowly, assuredly, revealing more every listen. Musically, few hip-hop records have ever been so rich; it's not just the recontextulations of familiar music via samples, it's the flow of each song and the album as a whole, culminating in the widescreen suite that closes the record.

STAFF COMMENTS

David says: I don't want to come across all 'hip hop isn't what it used to be' BUT you can't listen to this without.
A: Dancing like a drunk uncle at a very funky wedding.
B: Smiling like you've got a winning lottery ticket in your pocket.

TRACK LISTING

To All The Girls 1:29
Shake Your Rump 3:19
Johnny Ryall 3:00
Egg Man 2:57
High Plains Drifter 4:13
The Sounds Of Science 3:11
3-Minute Rule 3:39
Hey Ladies 3:47
5-Piece Chicken Dinner 0:23
Looking Down The Barrel Of A Gun 3:28
Car Thief 3:39
What Comes Around 3:07
Shadrach 4:07
Ask For Janice 0:11
B-Boy Bouillabaisse 12:34
59 Chrystie Street
Get On The Mic
Stop That Train
A Year And A Day
Hello Brooklyn
Dropping Names
Lay It On Me
Mike On The Mic
A.W.O.L.

"Check Your Head" brought the Beastie Boys crashing back into the charts and into public consciousness on its original 1992 release. Following "Paul's Boutique", the Beasties had repositioned themselves as a lo-fi, alt-rock groove band. They had not abandoned rap, but it was no longer the foundation of their music, it was simply the most prominent in a thick pop-culture gumbo where old school rap sat comfortably with soul-jazz, hardcore punk, white-trash metal, arena rock, bossa nova, spacey pop, and hard, dirty funk. On "Check Your Head" turned toward primitive grooves they played themselves, augmented by keyboardist Money Mark and co-producer Mario Caldato Jr. Music was the message, and the rhymes, which had been pushed toward the forefront on both "Licensed To Ill" and "Paul's Boutique", have been considerably de-emphasized (only four songs - "Jimmy James," "Pass the Mic," "Finger Lickin' Good," and "So What'cha Want" - could hold their own lyrically among their previous work). The focus is on the music, mood, and even the newfound neo-hippie political consciousness. As much as "Paul's Boutique", this is a whirlwind tour through the Beasties' pop-culture obsessions, but instead of spinning into Technicolor fantasies, it's earth-bound DIY that makes it all seem equally accessible - which is a big reason why it turned out to be an alt-rock touchstone of the 90s, something that both set trends and predicted them.

TRACK LISTING

Jimmy James 3:14
Funky Boss 1:35
Pass The Mic 4:17
Gratitude 2:45
Lighten Up 2:41
Finger Lickin' Good 3:39
So What'cha Want 3:37
The Biz Vs. The Nuge 0:33
Time For Livin' 1:48
Something's Gotta Give 3:28
The Blue Nun 0:32
Stand Together 2:47
Pow 2:13
The Maestro 2:52
Groove Holmes 2:33
Live At P.J.'s 3:18
Mark On The Bus 1:05
Professor Booty 4:13
In 3's 2:23
Namasté 4:01

"Hello Nasty", the Beastie Boys' fifth album, is a head-spinning listen loaded with analogue synthesizers, old drum machines, call-and-response vocals, freestyle rhyming, futuristic sound effects, and virtuoso turntable scratching. The Beasties had long been notorious for their dense, multi-layered explosions, but "Hello Nasty" was their first record to build on the multi-ethnic junk-culture breakthrough of "Check Your Head", instead of merely replicating it. Hiring DJ Mix Master Mike (one of the Invisibl Skratch Piklz) turned out to be a masterstroke; he and the Beasties created a sound that strongly recalls the spare electronic funk of the early 80s, but spiked with the samples and postmodern absurdist wit that have become their trademarks.