shut up and listen

OK, to do this track as a listening diary entry properly we need to ignore where all the samples are from, and just focus on what we can hear. After all, many others have already made comprehensive lists of the samples and references in Beastie Boys tracks, like this one…

The song is essentially structured as three verses of Beastie Boys rap, each followed with choruses that consist predominantly of sampled vocals. The rapping is a mix of the three vocalists, switching line by line, doubling and tripling each other at times. It is treated pretty dry and neatly centred and compressed to sit on top of everything.

Quite a bizarre beginning – the initial funk groove of drums, percussion, bass and guitar trundles along for four bars before suddenly switching to a wide stereo image at the start of the 5th bar, revealing it to consist of 3 looping elements; bongo dominant loop on the left, funky guitar riff on the right and a sharp snare in the centre. Then the rap vocals featuring the three different voices starts the verse. An extra snare doubles the back beat at this point. The backing goes back to mono centre for a few bars then switches to wide stereo again. The instruments drop out for the final line of the verse.

The first chorus consists of various vocal samples stitched together, a cow bell rhythm, new percussion and drum loops, a new funky guitar line and synth warbling.

The new drums continue with the second verse before the funky groove of the first verse returns to join the new handclap percussion. A quick vinyl scratch and then it does that widescreen switch again. Then back to mono, then back to stereo again. Another drop for the final verse line.

Second chorus features the cow bell again with some more stitched together vocal samples. And then a new bass guitar riff and drums enter, with the Beasties shouting ‘Hey, hey, hey, hey ladies!’ finished with a new vocal sample then chorus shout is repeated  then another vocal sample and a third chorus shout. Final part of this chorus is a sample ‘Ain’t it funky now’ with each word edited so that it cuts to silence suddenly, emphasising that last line of the chorus.

The third verse returns us to the backing of the first, stereo switching and all. Some additional vocal samples under the rapping.

Final chorus is preceeded by an ‘instrumental’ break featuring ‘Good God!’ samples amongst others, a new funky guitar riff, a vocoder sample ‘Baby, baby, baby, baby’, two bars of very thin EQed drums, and a final ‘Hey, hey, hey ladies!’ which this time is a sample.

The final gesture is a scratch before a sudden halt (sounds like it will segue into the next track on the album).

Overall a dense track full of samples whilst still holding a steady pattern centred around a funky groove. The switching to stereo and back again under the verse is a great way to maintain interest and variation without distracting from the rapping in the verses. Odd way to end the track, perhaps it is meant to be a change up before the next album track rather than a bona fide part of this track – but it reminds me of the instrumental ending to Get Ur Freak On.

Almost all elements start together and continue until the end (which is a fade out – suggesting the song goes on forever). As well as all the usual rock anthem ingredients (drums, bass, guitars, piano, vocals) there are some special, unique sounds – chugging synthesiser ‘train’ sound effect, wailing ‘train whistle’ guitar feedback, big room reverb on the latter part of the lead vocal.

The lead vocal moves from the low first verse with an intimate close mic sound to the shouted final chorus an octave higher (over group backing vocals) being pushed back in the mix by the room reverb. It’s this change in lead vocal over the course of the song that gives it dramatic movement. The build up in the mix is much more subtle and only really noticeable by doing A/B comparative listening between the start and end of the track.

Here are the elements that change: The intro features a swell of guitar fuzz just before the first vocal enters. In the bridges there’s a synth/guitar/horn line sitting under the vocal. There’s a sweet lead guitar line that appears between the chorus and the next verse. Extra metallic percussion enters after the second chorus. Then a tambourine joins in for the third verse. The group backing vocals only appear in this final verse, doing an echo of the last few words of each lead vocal line. The final vocals repeat ‘We can be heroes’ with group backing vocals thickening it before one more bridge that leads into the fade out. It’s a quick fade out and features the only wordless vocal as Bowie sings ‘oh oh oh’.

Overall the production is very reminiscent of Spector’s ‘Wall of Sound’ – see Be My Baby post. It has a dense multi-layered sound and while there is still a verse/bridge/chorus structure there are no real dramatic entrances or exits of parts or switches in mix settings.

Notes: Producer Tony Visconti set up a vocal recording session for this track with two microphones. One mic was used in the traditional close miking technique, thus cancelling out the sound of the room Bowie was in. The second was positioned several metres from the singer thus capturing the natural reverb of the room. Visconti set up a gate on the distant mic, thus giving Bowie control over when the microphone ‘opened’ by increasing the level of his singing. Initially the verse begins with low level singing being captured by the close mic. In the second verse his voice increases in volume and the gate on the distant mic opens and the sound of the room is revealed.

BIG production for a three piece band. The band is guitar, bass, drums and a single vocalist, but this track sounds an awful lot bigger than that. It features a thick layered guitar riff supported by a horn section and layers of vocal harmonies that all sound like they were overdubbed by the one singer.

The song starts immediately with the signature riff that sounds like a distorted guitar fused with horns but has a droning distorted guitar underneath that suggest layers of guitars.

The verse features a cleaner more jangly (12 string?) electric guitar and a drum pattern played predominantly on toms, giving room for the lead vocal. The vocal is often supported by harmonised backing and or doubling. For example, the first lines of the song ‘You’re the analyst, The fungus in my milk‘ are sung solo but then the next lines ‘When you want no one, And you’ve got someone’ are supported by a falsetto harmony.

The chorus also features what sounds predominantly like a solo voice but there is a subtle harmony on the final ‘the greatest view from here’ line. The chorus vocal sounds a bit further back in the mix than the verses (reverb maybe) or maybe it is just sung a bit more off mic. The chorus continues with a cleaner guitar sound so that the return of the intro riff, with full distortion makes greatest impact.

The chorus is the only obvious use of stereo with a jangly guitar off to the left and the harmony vocals off to the right. It creates a sense of the chorus opening up to ‘widescreen’ in contrast to the centred verses.

The instrumental section is a return to the opening riff but with no noticeable difference in sound to the intro.

The ending is the chorus chord sequence but with ‘na na na na’ vocals.

Overall a very dense sounding production with very little use of hard panning stereo to spread things out. The guitars and the horns are melded together to operate a one big riff machine. The bass guitar also plays the riff in the intro and middle section but during the verses and choruses it becomes indistinct as a bass guitar. There are very few noticeable plucks. Instead it sounds continuous and smooth, often getting swallowed by the dense upper layers, perhaps one of those occasions when the bass plays a supporting role that would only be noticeable if it wasn’t there. Similarly the kick drum and low floor tom don’t seem particularly full of low end and seem to struggle to punch through the dense guitar/horn riffing. They seem to have been EQed so that the attack of the drums punches through but the body of the drum resonance is either swallowed by the mix or has been EQed out. The kick and toms therefore really thud rather than boom. The playing of the drums therefore seems to focus a lot on cymbals, tambourine and snare – the absence of hats in the verses, the addition of tambourine in the choruses and the splashing cymbals during the riff.

Intro – A chiming electric guitar line which occurs 3 times in the song (but is not part of the verses, choruses or instrumental break). It is doubled and panned wide but with the left side more prominent. On the right is a wailing organ/synth back in the mix.

Intro Riff 2 – A big cymbal splash/kick/chord strum features the guitars with whammy bars rocking the pitch. Then the instrumental intro feature a new electric guitar riff with all the main elements; bass, drums, electric guitars and acoustic. The acoustic guitar is panned left, clean riffing electric guitars centre, ride cymbal panned right, bass and drums centred.

Verse 1 – When the lead vocal enters the elc gtr riff ends and the drums drop back to a tom pattern, the rhythm electric guitar plays subtle strums while the acoustic guitar strumming provides rhythm. There is some distant organ sound (could be strings) eerily droning in the background during the singing, a long way back in the mix.

Chorus – instrumentation stays pretty much the same. The clean electric guitar strums become more prominent. The lead vocal is doubled (maybe tripled with a harmony?). The backing strings/organ swells and becomes more prominent. It is actually the same chord structure as the first half of the verse but with a different vocal melody line.

intro again – Everything else drops out, and it returns to the first riff – almost like a restart. This time the eerie organ/synth line comes in late on the right and an acoustic guitar and rattle hard left strum sits on top of the mix.

Intro Riff 2 again – The big cymbal splash/kick/chord strum is added to with a little vocal ‘ooh’. Then the instrumental intro feature a new electric guitar riff with all the main elements; bass, drums, electric guitars and acoustic. The acoustic guitar is panned left, clean riffing electric guitars centre, ride cymbal panned right, bass and drums centred.

Verse 2 – as before but with more prominent strings, especially in the second half, with plucked violins as well as long swells in the background.

Chorus 2 – as before but with more strident playing. Everything seems just that little bit louder than the first chorus.

Instrumental break: big climax with lots of splashing cymbals, electric guitar strums, and wordless vocal. Second part of the instrumental break is the third verse but instead of lyrics there are thick vocal harmonies doing ‘oohs’ matching the strings and a falsetto over the top. (With a nice little lyric line, hard EQed to sound like a megaphone, doubled and panned hard left and right).

Intro again – Everything else drops out, and it returns to the first riff AGAIN – almost like a second restart. This time there is some strange percussion panned left doing double time and back in the mix, with some more percussion panned right doing half time. The big cymbal splash/kick/chord strum is augmented with what sounds like random knocking on wood (acoustic guitar?) plus cymbal crescendo.

Intro Riff 2 again – The big cymbal splash/kick/chord strum is added to with a little vocal ‘ooh’. Then the instrumental intro feature a new electric guitar riff with all the main elements; bass, drums, electric guitars and acoustic. The acoustic guitar is panned left, clean riffing electric guitars centre, ride cymbal panned right, bass and drums centred.

Climax – same chord structure as verse/chorus but with screaming vocals, swirling phaser/flanger on the guitar, orchestral swells, backing vocal layers coming in as the climax builds, and drum fills with lots of splashing cymbals. The song ends kind of suddenly but augmented with a gorgeous doubled falsetto vocal matching the orchestral string movement as a little coda.

Overall quite a dense production that is supremely mixed to allow for a lot of clarity and cleanliness. Despite all the ingredients and vocals that must have been overdubbed (because they are all clearly Jeff Buckley’s singing) it still retains a live band feel and sound.

Intro – Male spoken Japanese intro with echo. Drums and main riff kick in. Occasional lead vocal ‘Hit me’ and other interjections scattered around the stereo field and sometimes back in the mix. The main riff is a little six note Eastern/Asian sounding plucked string riff. The bass drum is tuned to resonate and in effect it becomes the bass line, and it has a warping African ‘talking drum’ echo to it. It is augmented with a rim shot snare beat and a tabla flourish panned hard right.

First verse – lead vocal rap is actually quite musical with every second line doubled, doubled falsetto words in pauses in the backing (for example ‘Nigger!’) and a layered ‘Holler!’ in a big pause in the music. Doubled backing vox whispering ‘Yes!’ spread wide in stereo, repeats in between lead lines.

First chorus – Vox: Doubled ‘Get ur freak on’ hard panned apart is repeated and interjected with a centred ‘Go!’, as the drums/bass continue with the riff. The chorus is distinguished by the addition of an eerie, slow, low string backing. It is joined half way through by a lead synth line doing a buzzing impression of a theremin. Ends with all the music dropping out and the lead vocal shouting ‘Who’s that bitch?!’. ‘Bitch’ is doubled and effected with a pitch shift that shimmers off with reverb.

Second verse – much like the first. Some minor differences; the ‘Holler!’ doesn’t get a pause in the music to let it come through, instead there is a pause filled with a male sung Hindi?

Second chorus – exactly the same as the first except it ends with a drop and ‘Quiet!’

Third verse – this is where it breaks the pattern. The lead vocal raps as it did in the first two verses but the backing changes quite a bit. The main difference is the main riff is missing for the first half. The drums/bass drop in and out, and a new melodic/harmonic element appears; an orchestral/bass synth stabbing, low chord sequence punctuating the flow and staggering the groove. When the main riff reappears in the second half of the verse it is not the plucked string instrument but a casiotone keyboard sound in a higher octave.

Third chorus – this is different to the first two choruses. The main riff returns to double with the casio higher version. Instead of the eerie string and synth ‘theremin’ of the first two choruses, there is the orchestral/bass synth stabbing, low chord sequence of the previous verse playing under the vocal.

Instrumental ending – strangely the song finishes with more than a minute of instrumental break down. Firstly it seems like a simple breakdown with just the drums and high keyboard riff playing for a few bars, underpinned by a howling wind sound effect, but instead of the expected final chorus climax it continues with a spoken Japanese interlude and the complete drop out of the riff. The drums/bass continue as the orchestral/bass synth stabbing, low chord sequence returns for a few bars, then it leaves to be replaced by the eerie low string backing before it and the wind is replaced by the return of the main plucked string riff for the final fade out. Very odd.

Overall a highly unique sounding track. The production is as involved as most hip hop but with very idiosyncratic elements and a strange structure that ends anticlimactically with almost some sort of demo of each part of the production one at a time. Obviously it is the riff and the ‘Get ur freak on’ vocal hook that makes the track work but in some ways it is anti-Western with little resemblance to conventional harmonic or melodic devices and even an inversion of the conventional song structure (with the instrumental intro at the end).