Seattle Radio Station Plans All-Day ‘Paul’s Boutique’ Celebration
Beastie Boys‘ sample-fueled masterpiece Paul’s Boutique was released on July 25th, 1989, and to honor the album’s anniversary, Seattle radio station KEXP is dedicating a full day of programming to the innovative LP on Friday, July 24th, from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. PST.
The station will play the full track list and over 115 songs sampled across the record, the station’s blog reports. DJs John Richards, Cheryl Waters and Kevin Cole will “meticulously dissect” the 15-track LP, playing rare bonus tracks and demos, an archival chat with the Beasties and new interviews with Boutique co-producers the Dust Brothers (John King and Mike Simpson).
“I always aspired to make timeless music and Paul’s Boutique is one if my proudest works,” Simpson tells Rolling Stone. “I am thrilled that people are still moved by this album and that KEXP had dedicated a day to its making, 26 years after its release.”
“Paul’s Boutique was joyous to create and the fact that people continue to enjoy and talk about it is mind-blowing!” adds King. “When we finished it, we felt like it was an amazing work of art to listen to, and it was made that way. It is wonderful to have, over the years, people continue to appreciate it. It gets me almost back to the place I was right when we finished it and I thought it was the greatest thing ever.”
Paul’s Boutique – which ranks at Number 156 on Rolling Stone‘s list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time – established sampling as an art form in itself. Working with the Dust Brothers and Mario Caldato Jr., the Beasties spliced together riffs, beats and grooves from a myriad of eclectic sources. (“Hey Ladies,” for example, samples everything from Deep Purple’s hard-rock anthem “Hush” to Kool & the Gang’s funk classic “Jungle Boogie” to rapper Kurtis Blow’s “Party Time.”)
KEXP promises to play cuts from “spoken word artist Lightnin’ Rod, the R&B horn band Tower of Power, Bernard Herrmann’s iconic score from Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho and the Eagles in close proximity.”
At least one DJ is excited for the day of Beasties. “In my 20-plus years as a DJ, I never thought I’d be this excited to play Loggins and Messina outside of the privacy of my own car,” says John Richards, host of KEXP’s “The Morning Show.”