My favourite Beasties cut, “Sabotage,” is a feral yell-a-thon highlighted by filthy guitar and rumbling, twisted bass.
Other cuts like “Root Down” and the piano-looped “Get It Together” underline this audacious record with solid rap gold, but it’s the experimental stuff that really sets it apart from the standard. The uncanny punk explosion of “Heart Attack Man” demonstrates that the Boys still know how to break a few guitars and “The Update” and “Bodhisattva Vow” showcase MCA’s growth as the social conscience of the group.
The second disc of the Remastered Edition uncorks a set of rarities and unreleased cuts that add a new dynamic to the recording. The remixes, like the slow and funky “Free Zone Mix” of “Root Down,” offer new consistency to old classics. “Mullet Head” and the two versions of “Heart Attack Man” continue the Boys’ punk lineage in distorted-as-hell fashion.
The Ill Communication Remastered Edition does a nice job bringing the beats and rhymes that defined growth for the Beastie Boys into a new context. The recording is clean, the beats are ferocious and the bass rumbles intensely through the speakers. These CDs might lack the texture of wax, but they still offer a whole lot of bounce for your ounce.
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