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Editorial Reviews

Loaded with analog synthesizers, old drum machines, call-and-response vocals, freestyle rhyming, futuristic sound effects and virtuoso turntable scratching, Hello Nasty, the Beastie Boys' fifth album, is a head-spinning listen and one that doesn't entirely reveal its secrets upon its first play. Since the success of Check Your Head, the Beasties have been notorious for their dense, multi-layered explosions, but Hello Nasty is their first record since to build on the multi-ethnic junk culture breakthrough of Check Your Head instead of merely replicating it, as Ill Communication did. Moving from electro-funk breakdowns to Latin-soul jams to spacy pop, Hello Nasty covers as much ground as Check Your Head or Ill Communication, but the flow is natural, like Paul's Boutique, even if the finish is retro-stylized. Hiring DJ Mixmaster Mike (one of the Invisibl Skratch Piklz) as their new man behind the turntable turns out to be a masterstroke. Mixmaster Mike and the Beasties created a sound that strongly recalls the spare electronic funk of the early '80s, but they've spiked it with the samples and post-modern absurdist wit that have become their trademarks. On the surface, Hello Nasty doesn't appear as dense as Paul's Boutique, their first venture into sonic collages, nor does it have a single as grabbing as "Sabotage," but given time, little details emerge and each song forms its own identity. A few stray from the course and the ending is a little anticlimactic, but that doesn't erase the riches of Hello Nasty -- the old-school kick of "Super Disco Breakin'" and "The Move," Adam Yauch's crooning on "I Don't Know," Brooke Williams' guest vocal on "Dedication," Lee "Scratch" Perry's cameo, the righteous "Putting Shame in Your Game" and the recurring video game samples, to name just a few. Sonic adventures are rarely this exciting. That alone makes Hello Nasty noteworthy, but what makes it remarkable is how it proves that it's possible to look to the future by looking to the past. There's no question that Hello Nasty is saturated in old-school sounds and styles, but by reviving the future-shock rock of the early '80s, the Beasties have shrewdly set themselves up for the new millenium. [Hello Nasty is also available in an import release.] Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide

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