Album Reviews

Beastie Boys -
To The Five Boroughs
(Capitol)

www.beastieboys.com

Released 15/06/04

No.6 in the Best Of 2004 Top 20

Ch-Ch-Ch Check it out. The Beastie Geriatrics returned from picking fluff off their bums since Hello Nasty with a quality exercise in old-school hip-hop. Mixmaster Mike has rarely sounded so fresh, and as ever the ‘Boys’ infuse the music with energetic, articulate and catchy rhymes. In a day and age where most hip-hop cluttering the airwaves is depressingly insipid and back-slappingly cringe-worthy, its nice that you can count on MCA, Ad-Rock and Mike D to restore some balance. It’s just a crying shame that they’re such a lazy bunch of marmots and it’ll be ages until they release another album.

Johnny Dexter