Overview
“Paul’s Boutique” is the second studio album by Beastie Boys, an American hip-hop group formed in New York City in 1981.
Commentary
The album was recorded in 1988–1989, and was released in 1989 by Capitol Records. It reached number 14 on the US Billboard 200.
It is a masterpiece of funky alternative rap/psychedelic hip-hop, which used large amounts of samples.
It was a collaboration with the Dust Brothers, a Los Angeles-based production duo known for their sample-based music.
Almost all except the vocals (rap) is composed of multilayered samples from 105 songs of funk, hip-hop, rock, and others, including Afrika Bambaataa, The Sugarhill Gang, James Brown, Boogie Down Productions, Kurtis Blow, Sly & the Family Stone, Kool & the Gang, Curtis Mayfield, The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Trouble Funk, Led Zeppelin, Tower of Power, Ramones, Bernard Herrmann’s “The Murder” (shower scene theme from the film “Psycho”), and John Williams’s “Main Title (Theme From Jaws)”.
The engineer of the album, Mario Caldato Jr. said in 2003, “Ninety-five percent of the record was sampled”.
It includes singles, “Hey Ladies” (number 36 on the US Billboard Hot 100) and “Shadrach”.
The Japanese edition includes two bonus tracks.
The 20th anniversary remastered edition was released in 2009.
