Before this, I’d already gone to Musicmaker.com and customized my own two-CD set of Beastie Boys stuff. The labels played it too safe, but they always do.
All of the gruff, none of the annoying snarl. Plus, they’re more melodic and willing to use different styles to get that country-music-desperation across.
For a slow disc full of tracks that take over two minutes to drag their experimental asses out of strummy auto-auroticism, To the Teeth is one gutsy album.
American Heartbreak is straight-forward rock’n’roll – kinda raunchy in a sleek, calculated’n’catchy way – mixing in those punky beats the kids like so much.