Paul's Boutique

The Beastie Boys are celebrating the 20th anniversary of their sophomore LP, Paul's Boutique, by offering various physical and downloadable remastered forms of the album on their website (for money, of course, but DRM free).

Paul's Boutique was the epitome of critical success but commercial failure when it was first released in 1989. It marked the boys' quick departure from the fast paced rap they became infamous for in their debut album Licence to Ill, a departure they desperately wanted to make. Where their previous (Rick Rubin produced) work succeeded due largely to their whiteness and outrageous rhymes, Paul's Boutique aimed to be showcase of creative beats and sampling. This was before Gilbert O'Sullivan sued Biz Markie, forever changing the procedures an artist had to go through to "sample" an artists work. This album includes an incredible 105 sampled songs. Perhaps you've heard some of them. To name just a few:

"When the Levee Breaks" by Led Zeppelin
"Good Times Bad Times" by Led Zeppelin
"One of These Days" by Pink Floyd
"Momma Miss America" by Paul McCartney
"Pump it Up" by Elvis Costello
"Dance to the Music" by Sly & the Family Stone
"Suzy Is a Headbanger" by The Ramones
"Back in the USSR", "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band", "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)", "The End", & "When I'm Sixty-Four" by The Beatles
"Breathe" by Pink Floyd
"Folsom Prison Blues" by Johnny Cash
"Are You Experienced?" by Jimi Hendrix

And on the subject of sampling, but from a different record, I found this quote on Mike D's wikipedia page amusing:

Regarding the cost to sample Bob Dylan's Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues for the Beastie Boys song Finger Lickin' Good:

"Seven hundred bucks, but he asked for two thousand dollars. I thought it was kind of fly that he asked for $2000.00, and I bartered Bob Dylan down. That's my proudest sampling deal."

Happy Anniversary to the Beastie Boys

Paul's Boutique - Wikipedia