Beastie Boys: The In Sound from Way Out! [CAPITOL]

Why you'll love it

This edition comes on Grand Royal labels, the band's own imprint, just as it first appeared. It collects the funk and soul-jazz workouts from Check Your Head and Ill Communication in one place, no rapping required.

This edition

• 12-track instrumental compilation
• Grand Royal labels

About the album

Borrowing a title is one thing; borrowing the whole look is commitment. The Beastie Boys took both the name and the cover concept from Perrey and Kingsley's 1966 electronic oddity, then filled the record with something entirely their own: the instrumentals they'd been cutting as a real, playing band.

Most of it comes from Check Your Head and Ill Communication. "Groove Holmes" and "Sabrosa" are loose, organ-heavy grooves, "Pow" and "Futterman's Rule" swing, and "Transitions" floats somewhere near a 70s cop show. "Son of Neckbone" came from the "Sure Shot" single, "Drinkin' Wine" from the "Jimmy James" single, and a few tracks appear in alternate mixes without the vocals. With the trio on their own instruments, it shows off just how tight a live band they had become by the mid-90s.

It plays like a great lost soul-jazz record that happens to have three famous rappers in the rhythm section. It's the one to put on when you want the Beastie Boys at the party but would also like to hear yourself think.

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Tracklist

Listen

On Grand Royal / Capitol (cat# B0026991-01), a reissue of the 1996 compilation.