The Beastie Boys
The Mix-Up
Capitol (2007)
There are many ways to make an average album; you might have a couple of blinding tracks, a couple of shockers, and a bunch that hover around the mean. Or, you might do what the Beastie Boys have done on The Mix-Up, and scatter tracks in close proximity to the center of the bell curve, never risking disaster - or brilliance.

This album sees the Boys abandoning sample driven hip-hop for a fully instrumental, no-samples-allowed collection of 3m:30s songs. Electric guitar, organ, drums (with cowbells, natch) and synths are funkily combined in one funkyish track after another. It's a funky recipe that at times becomes mildly irritating, like an overused adjective.

There were a couple of tracks I did rather like: 'Off the Grid' is a bit rockier - reminding me of The Beta Band - while 'The Rat Cage' has a very nice organ line. On the whole though, it's an album that plays equally well straight through, or on shuffle, or by selecting half the songs at random and playing them each twice.

Reviewed by Craig