So that day in the late ’80s, I clearly remember walking into the ‘Opus 1’ record store in Antwerp. A store that sadly, like many others, doesn’t exist anymore. I headed over to the tape section as that was the place to be and the search began…
You need to know that my mother has always been into classical music so my whole musical knowledge has been a quest, let me rephrase that, an amazing quest.
Back to the store though, the Licenced To Ill album by the Beastie Boys directly caught my eye due to the amazing cover art of which I later learned it was created by Stephen Byram and World B. Omes.
Later that day when arriving home and putting the cassette in the tape deck I was directly hooked to the “Rhymin & Stealin” track due to the use of the “When The Levee Breaks” by Led Zeppelin. I re-winded that tape for sure a dozen times after hearing the first few seconds of the album.
My favorite track on the album has always been “Paul Revere”, that reversed beat that Yauch created is simply crazy. Creativity to the fullest!
Until this day I put on this album on a weekly basis, this always brings back awesome memories. And let’s be honest, this album has no tracks that need to be skipped, classic from beginning till the end.