Beastie Boys, The In Sound From Way Out! (1996)

I bought so many copies of this on CD – I gave it away, I lost it, I loaned it (that awkward cross between giving it away and losing it – a little of column A, a little of column B) and I ruined them – booze and scratches and ham-fisted flatmates. It was the soundtrack to so many classless cocktail parties and drinking games-styled events. We used to go to our favourite bar at 4pm to play pool – we’d stay and order pizza to the bar (we were allowed, so long as we used bar-plates/cutlery) and we’d stumble home after midnight. The whole evening would be soundtracked – or huge portions of it, anyway – by this album. My copy. I left it at the bar, so we could listen to it there; donated it. I got plenty in return (and continued to give plenty back). But it wasn’t all bad, silly, foolish drunken-fun, there were actual happy memories too – this album turned a lot of people onto the music of Beastie Boys – or even people who claimed to not like them (or any of “that rap-crap”) found themselves digging this album. So that was cool. And this album is still cool. I might not want to ever listen to it in the amounts I once did – but I had to have it on vinyl: special 2LP version with a couple of extra tracks. I priced it up – checked it out over a series of weeks. No one else had bought it. Then the thought that it might go was too much; on hold it went. And then I bought it. Only played it once so far. But it’s lovely. And I’m pleased I have it. And in the wake of the passing of MCA it probably takes on some other kind of meaning too.

Sample Track: Ricky’s Theme

The Vinyl Countdown is a document of every LP I listen to, brand new discoveries and old-old favourites; extremely pre-loved, previously abandoned or with the shrink-wrap having just been removed it’s all here at The Vinyl Countdown