Beastie Boys
The Sounds of Science
(Grand Royal/Capitol)
How can the Beastie Boys produce a hits-and-misses anthology of almost entirely previously available songs? By creating a two-CD set emblazoned with the covers of dozens of releases and including a nearly 80-page booklet with song-by-song reminiscences. Sounds of Science is the album you buy for your teenage nephew and niece as a cornerstone of future coolness and cultural literacy. Be forewarned, the Beasties don’t make reminiscence easy; aside from an opening hardcore track (“Beastie Boys”) and a closing hit (“Intergalactic”) off their last album, Science ditches chronological order in favor of manic time-travel. And, no, they don’t bother to note which cut comes from which album, or who’s who in all the booklet snapshots. Leave annotation to the trainspotter collective better known as the Internet. Spike Jonze’s album-cover photo pictures the boys some 40 years hence: grayed, natty, and cruising for widows. Assuming copies of Science survive the passage of time, retirement-village life will be anything but sedate. “Boomin’ Granny,” indeed.
This originally appeared in the February 2000 issue of Tower Records’ Pulse! magazine.