Beastie Boys
To The 5 Boroughs
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For $13.48

The problem with the new Beastie Boys record has nothing to do with being washed-up or sounding dated, at least vocally because they rhyme on the mic like few can. Their love and sincerity towards the great big beautiful New York City is apparent throughout, and worthy of commendation. But the record flies by aimlessly, at barely a forty minute running time with some of the most tame, lifeless production I’ve ever heard on a rap album. To The Five Boroughs comes alive with the rapping cadence masterfully conceived from all three MCs we’ve all come to know and love, but it sounds as if they were vehemently determined to recapture their trademark old school sound from Licensed To Ill in a way that truly sounds rehashed even with the mature lyrical content. The minimalism subtracts a lot of their charm. Granted, one can proclaim Paul’s Boutique as being overkill and overstuffed with samples, bleeps, and chaotic outbursts of computer interludes. But To The Five Boroughs completely divests them of any actual panache or substance when it comes to the exposition of each song.

Each beat sits there, allowing the words to take over, which only works on occasion, particularly when the Boys strive to place their political views front and center. Gone is the element of surprise as when the Boys played their own instruments throughout Check Your Head. The beats bounce along blissfully, predominantly on the rub-dubby “Crawlspace” and “An Open Letter to NYC.” The understuffed sound focuses concentration on the anti-Bush theme, which proves to be the album’s strength. However, one of the main attractions of the majority of past Beastie Boys records is the incredible engineering and innovative production techniques that progressively drop surprises from out of nowhere. If The Dust Brothers were back on the soundboard, then maybe this record would’ve been stronger. I think of The Beatles being sampled on the same record as the score from Psycho for example on Paul’s Boutique.

Not even the most avid Beastie Boys fan would claim them as incredibly impressive wordsmiths, but their forcefully opinionated political stance is distracting instead of involving at times. Give them credit for keeping it real, but then take that away from not evolving much. To The Five Boroughs sounds like a step back in the right direction but it doesn’t always make for a compelling listen. And yet, the record has some brave moments in terms of their rap subject matter. "It Takes Time to Build" goes after gas guzzling automobile corporations ("Stop building SUVs") as well as the ubiquitous easy target: "We got a President we didn't elect / The Kyoto Treaty he decided to neglect / And still the U.S. just wants to flex." Michael Moore probably would like to throw in "That's It That's All" for the soundtrack to his latest film, a song that strives to take the supremacy away from the burning Bush (presumably when the November elections roll around). The record is a piñata that has no candy, but at least they strive to flex the right muscle: the human brain. It’s too bad they couldn’t do more for the ears as well. To The Five Boroughs is far from their worst record, but it’s one of their more mediocre efforts.

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