Customer Reviews

Check Your Head

5 star:		(51)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I had purchased the Licensed To ILL album and I was so impressed that I decided to buy this album as well. The music in this album is not the best. I think that the music in Licensed To ILL is better than the music in this album.

As good as the one you can get downtown for ten dollars!

"Check Your Head" by the Beastie Boys is their 3rd full length LP, released in '92. Songs like "Jimmy James" "Pass the Mic" "Gratitude" and "So What'cha Want" really make this album stand out. The rhyming is good, the beats are catchy, and when they play their own instruments, King Ad Rock, Mike D and MCA play them well. The song "Gratitude" is possibly the best song lyrically on this album as well as a funky bassline and powerful guitar chords and words from Ad Rock. A very good song, a very good album. Pick this one up, you won't be let down.

I love this CD. Seriously, it has it all: some great funk, heavy bass, a little bit of hardcore, mixin' it up with distorted vocals, great instrumentals, well I could just go on for forever really. Paul's Boutique showcased the boys range in the field of hip hop (Said range being off the charts and unparalleled.), while Check Your Head is a great (if scaled down) blend of that amazing range, their own prowess with instruments and some pulsating funk. LOVE. IT. Also, there is an emergence of a social conscience via MCA that becomes more prevalent as time goes by.

The first three Beastie Boys CDs were solid masterpieces. I can't decide which of the three is the best--LICENSED TO ILL, PAUL'S BOUTIQUE or, this, CHECK YOUR HEAD. Does it really matter? They're all marvels of funk, rock, and hiphop. What set this CD apart were the jazzy sections, played by the boys themselves (with some critical help on keyboards). For more than a decade, this CD has earned a permanent spot on my tray, and has quite easily held its place on my "What ten albums would I want if I were stuck on an island (preferrably Manhattan island)?" list.

My personal favorites are "So What'chu Want?", "Pass the Mic" and "Something's Got to Give". One of the shining moments to me, as for several other reviewers, is hearing Dylan's voice singing "I'm going back to New York City, I do believe I've had enough" on "Finger-Licking Good". Which brings me to one other observation: The Beastie Boys are to New York as The Beach Boys were to California. CHECK YOUR HEAD, like all other Beastie CDs, is a tribute to their hometown, and they projected an image of it that is uniquely theirs.

Am I a defector if I like "Ill Communication" better?! But I know that "Check Your Head" is still essential to the BB oeuvre!

I would like to continue my defector ways and recommend a couple of other furious rap-rock bands that culture-clash as well as the BB's-asiandubfoundation and Ozomatli!

Ozomatli's best is their self-titled debut, and asiandubfoundation's is "Community Music." Open your mind, expand your geographical exercursions, be a culture vulture and make the Boys proud!

Though I hate to make this official (because I am no masochist) I may have to proclaim this my favourite Beastie Boys album. Don't get me wrong; Paul's Boutique was good, but a little too profane, you know? I mean, I'm not really into screwing women so that might have something to do with it. Check Your Head, however, is just... Oh man. It is amazing. I'm not into the activist, "oh, man, peace is great and I'm sure one day it will happen because it isn't impossible or anything so let's write 23 songs about it" tracks but in judging the whole album...
I would be lying if I said I wasn't blown away. The Beastie Boys stunned me with just the right amount of sampling, droll verses, and innovative, addictive beats. I got the album over a month ago and it has not yet come out of CD rotation. It is incredible. I love it. Did I mention it's amazing?
"Pass The Mic"? Great. A perfect equilibrium of Beastie goodness.
"Gratitude" (oh man, "Gratitude"!) and "Finger Lickin' Good" are songs that just don't leave your head.
Who couldn't eventually find himself mumbling the lyrics to "What'cha Want"?
And only someone without a soul would be opposed to "The Maestro" or "Live At P.J.'s".
"Mark On The Bus" should please everyone who doesn't like rap, as should "Namasté".
Might I add that "Professor Booty" is really cool?
I didn't even mention everything.
The Beastie Boys had then created a beautiful, flawlessly balanced, and melodious way to coalesce their tastes into one album.
It makes me want to eat yogurt and hop on two or more feet while reading Douglas Adams books and murdering geometric equations.
I love this album.
It will make you a cooler person.
Listen to it.

Now that the Beastie Boys are a trio of aging activists, it's time to look back at their career in a retrospective manner. Check Your Head is easily their most diverse and accessible album. One song that stands out as an example to their multiple talents is Gratitude. It's a catchy, funky little rock song with a punk attitude, and it has about as much to do with rap as my grandmother. The first time I heard this album in completion, I was trying to guess what kind of music the next song would be. I was wrong half of the time. There's even some old school hardcore punk from the Boys' earlier days. It took a long for something to replace this album in my stereo. I was addicted to the bumping guitar chunk of "So Watcha' Want?", the mixed bag of bass lines on "Pass The Mic", and Adrock's rhymes on "The Maestro". Sad to say, we may never see these days again. The Beastie's are out there playing the political game now, forgetting that there are lots of fans over here that remember the days when they could make you "Shake Your Rump". I heard about their new album coming out, and honestly, I don't even want to hear it. I'd rather have them be remembered for this masterpiece instead of some anti-Bush soapbox album. Check Your Head will never be regarded as one of the top Hip Hop albums of all time, but it should definitely be known as one of the top albums of all time period.

A decidedly Lo-fi approach to production on this album with a retreat to the '3 MC's & one DJ' ethos of yesteryear (To be later again resurrected on the "Three MC's and One DJ" track on their 'Hello Nasty' album). The Beastie Boys third album is a muti-tentacled beast, sampling & influenced by...Trash metal, Rock, Jazz, Funk & Old School Rap augmented with progressive rap, that built a strong framework around the vocal talents of each MC......although that's not to say there's not innovation of this album as the funk ridden "Jimmy Jones" is as thoroughly engaging as anything in your Jazz collection. "Gratitude" introduces the electric guitar over some subversive rap to joyous effect.....but the most startling cross-referencing must be "Finger Lickin' Good" taking its cue from old school sensibilities & turntablisim and quickly shifting into sample experimentation before sample scratching into a chorus from a "Bob Dylan" song!!!!???, that's so expertly handled, that you'll not notice unless you're paying attention.....easily a album that retains the Beastie's strong album track record

what an album! I have never heard anything so experimental sound so good. Funky beats, weird samples, funny lyrics. This album will NEVER fail to get you in the mood..