FILTER REISSUES
Three in the key
High-water mark of the Beasties’ imperial phase, with bonus album of alternate mixes and a field recording of the band playing basketball in the studio.
By Ben Thompson.
Off the wall: Beastie Boys (from left) Adam ‘Ad-Rock’ Horovitz, Adam ‘MCA’ Yauch and Michael ‘Mike D’ Diamond get it together in 1994.
Getty
Beastie Boys ★★★★
Ill Communication
GRAND ROYAL/CAPITOL. LP/MC
IF SOMEONE tries to make you feel old by pointing out that the original release of Ill Communication is now as far off as A Hard Day’s Night was when the fourth Beastie Boys album came out, the correct response is to point out that such a rigid conception of chronology overlooks the capacity of pop’s eternal now to slow life down as well as speed it up. In this context, the difference between the 30 years before Ill Communication and the 30 years since is largely a question of percentages – the first three decades constituting as they unfolded the vast majority of Common Era pop time (if you think of Elvis as Jesus, which it’s fair to say most people do), the next three adding up to less than half of it.