Ill Communication is the fourth studio album by American hip-hop group Beastie Boys. It was released on May 31, 1994 by Grand Royal Records. Co-produced by Beastie Boys and Mario C., the album is among the band's most varied releases, drawing from hip hop, punk rock, jazz and funk. As with their prior release Check Your Head, this album continues the band's trend away from sampling and towards live instruments.
It features musical contributions from Money Mark, Eric Bobo and Amery "AWOL" Smith and vocal contributions from Q-Tip and Biz Markie. Beastie Boys were influenced by Miles Davis' jazz rock albums Agharta and On the Corner while recording Ill Communication.[1]
Ill Communication became the band's second number-one album on the US Billboard 200 albums chart and their second triple platinum album. The album was supported by the single "Sabotage", which was accompanied by a music video directed by Spike Jonze that parodied 1970s cop shows.
The album's first single "Sabotage" was first laid down by the band members playing instrumental parts at Tin Pan Alley Studios in New York, the whole driven by Adam Yauch's fuzzed and twangy bass. With the working title of "Chris Rock", the track sat unused for a year, lacking a vocal part. According to Ad-Rock in the 2020 Beastie Boys Story documentary, the lyrics are a fictitious rant about how their producer "was the worst person ever and how he was always sabotaging us and holding us back."
"Sabotage" was released on January 28, 1994.[2] The album's second single "Get It Together", which samples The Moog Machine's cover of "Aquarius/Let The Sunshine In", was released on March 17, 1994.[3] The album's third single "Sure Shot" was released on May 31, 1994[4] and features a sample from jazz flautist Jeremy Steig's "Howlin' For Judy", thereby providing the main instrumental part of the song. The album's fourth single "Root Down" was released in 1995.[5]
Artwork[]
Beastie Boys' Michael Diamond and Adam Yauch collaborated with Gibran Evans, son of the artist and designer Jim Evans of T.A.Z., to create the album packaging. The cover photo they chose was taken by photographer Bruce Davidson in 1964 at a Los Angelesdrive-in diner called Tiny Naylor's.[6] Davidson had been on assignment for Esquire, though the magazine ultimately did not publish the photos.[7] Although Davidson had not heard Beastie Boys and did not understand their music – he recalled thinking it sounded like a "secret language" when they sent him a demo tape – he agreed they could use his photo.[8]
Jim Evans also designed the hand-drawn typeface specifically for Ill Communication,[9] and it was used throughout the promotion of the album. The album booklet features the artwork "Gaia" by Alex Grey.
Rolling Stone included Ill Communication in its list of "Essential Recordings of the 90s".[20]Spin ranked it number 19 on its list of the "20 Best Albums of '94".[21]Q included it in its list of the "90 Best Albums of the 1990s".[22] The album placed at number 15 on The Village Voice's 1994 Pazz & Jop critics' poll.[23]Mojo ranked it number 54 on its list of "100 Modern Classics".[24]NME ranked it number three in its list of the "Top 50 Albums of 1994"[25] and it placed 13th in The Wire's annual critics' poll.[26]Guitar World included Ill Communication in the "Superunknown: 50 Iconic Albums That Defined 1994" list.[27] The album was also included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.[28]
Track listing[]
All tracks are written by Beastie Boys except where noted.
^"Hand lettering for Ill Communication". Instagram.com. Archived from the original on May 5, 2017. Retrieved March 28, 2017. @jimevanstaz: Yeah, it was a special hand-drawn alphabet just for this album – it is used throughout the booklet.
^Robert Dimery; Michael Lydon (March 23, 2010). 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die: Revised and Updated Edition. Universe. ISBN978-0-7893-2074-2.
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