(Capitol/EMI)

“I’m a newly-wed, I’m not a divorcee, and everything I do is funky like Lee Dorcey…” Okay, so there are one of two ways one must view this release. Firstly is of course from that of an old school fan who own absolutely everything there is to own of the said back catalogue and the other is of course from that of the pimply recently Beasties converted teenager, in which a release like this is marketed for.

Growing up almost solely on the raucous trio’s movements, be it in music with their extensive ground-breaking back catalogue or their recently defunct record label and magazine of the same name Grand Royal, to their directions in fashion with their X-Large label and stores, through to their hilarious bit-parts and main character roles in 80s cult films like The Road Home or Roadside Prophets (Adrock). I of course come from the former view. It’s great to see all of the classics here in one attainable package, available to the public cheaply, but I must say, it’s a big old record company money-driven monster I’m surprised the Beastie Boys allowed to go ahead, even under the pretences of ‘celebrating the trio’s 24th anniversary’.

See, it was only back in 1999 that we saw them release their definitive greatest hits package in the form of The Beastie Boys ‘Anthology’, which brought together all of the bands well-known singles with controversial unreleased tracks and rare and out of press B-sides. So why do we have another ‘watered-down’ version following so close in it’s wake? I mean the Anthology came after only 20 strong years together of going hard and pioneering the scene in every way they found imaginable and post release have settled down worked on families and worked on one recently released longplayer (04’s To The 5 Boroughs). So why is it we’re in desperate need of a greatest hits update so soon? I think it’s just hammering another nail in the coffin of disrespect to the band, showing that they no longer have any control over their record companies plans to sell them out and make as much money from them while they still can.

But anyway, you want a run down of what this compilation of hits is like right? Okay, so I’ll take a step back for a moment and look from an outsider or new-convert’s view. The compilation seems to glide nicely through some mighty memory-evoking gems from their back catalogue, with a slight touch on beer-swilling classics (of the not so controversial lyric form) from License To Ill like ‘Brass Monkey’, ‘No Sleep Till Brooklyn’ (which sang with the same lyrics today, would make the band shudder in embarrassment with their new Buddhist/Feminist enlightenment) and of course, who could forget the sell-out classic ‘Fight For Your Right To Party’.The next cab of the ranks was of course one of the greatest and ‘before it’s time’ releases we’d seen in a long time ‘Paul’s Boutique’ which is the album that every ‘with-it’ scenester and wannabe indie kid name-checked for the last decade in a quest to prove their worth, so why is it we only get the inclusion of two of it’s gems on here? Ah, now I’m trying really hard to keep positive…

The comp also touches briefly on the Beasties’ Check Your Head and Ill Communication eras, but as I said just touching on, not showing any form of the boys growth with any of their instrumental sojourns, they began to excel with…but then again, that wouldn’t be a ‘solid gold hit’ would it? The failure to recognise the band’s instrumental stoner-soundtrack The In Sound From Way Out is also annoying, but hey that’s not likely to keep the kids interested these days.

All in all, this comp is great to help with the preaching to younger siblings about the trio’s work in the changing of music as we know it, or to put on for the first half hour of a party to get things swinging nicely. But if you have the catalogue, I’d suggest just sticking a few discs in and switching to random play, it’s likely to do a better job than this.