Hot-a Sowuss

For most bands a gap of seven years between (non-instrumental) albums would probably be regarded as lazy. With the Beastie Boys, though, it usually seems to be worth the wait; and considering they've released seven strong albums since their 1979 punk début - along with founding member MCA thankfully taming cancer over the last 18 months - it seems fine to cut them a little bit of slack. However as with any extended wait, the anticipation for the release has grown disproportionately – can Hot Sauce Committee Part 2 live up to the expectations placed upon it by anxious fans?

Opening with the single “Make Some Noise”, there's immediate signs that this is a Beastie Boys record. The track is loaded with synthesizers and scratches, setting the tone for a lot of the album, but is thankfully not overly saturated with them. Instead the synths complement the vocals and head-tapping backbeat and it's a positive opener to welcome the Boys back.

Collaborations are relatively rare for the Beastie Boys (reissues and remixes aside) but there are two on HSCP2. The first, featuring Nas, is “Too Many Rappers [new reactionaries version]”. This mix is slightly different to the versions that have appeared on various demos over the last few years, with a more bombastic drumline that wouldn't be out of place in the era of Licensed To Ill. As to be expected from the Beasties and Nas the rapping is tight and though there are flangers and wah-wah effects everywhere the vocals stay strong enough to make this track a decent enough collaboration. 3 MCs and One More MC, if you will.

The second, however - “Don't Play No Game That I Can't Win” with Santigold – is one of the higher peaks of the album and already feels like it could be a huge summer song this year. Santigold and the Boys toast over the chilled snare-and-hi-hat backbeat and reggae horns, and the typically laid-back lilt of the ex-Stiffed singer for the chorus adds up to a beach-friendly, barbecue-scoring feet tapper of a song. It might not quite make you skank but don't be surprised if this emerges as a big crossover hit.

With such a varied back catalogue it's easy to recognise aspects of their previous records in this one; there are several moments, such as “Non-Stop Disco Powerpack” and “Say It”, that could slot right in on Check Your Head while “Long Burn The Fire” is reminiscent of the darker mood from To The 5 Boroughs, albeit crossed with Deltron3030 and the Dr. Who theme tune. More recently, The Mix-Up's instrumental groove influence is clearly felt on “Multilateral Nuclear Disarmament”, another song that showcases the talents of the Beastie Boys when they pick up their instruments.

In that vein, one of the highlights of the album is the Descendents-meets-filthy-synths track “Lee Majors Come Again”. Previously released as a remix versus Daft Punk's “Da Funk”, the album version is a punk-rock song driven by a gloriously simple bassline that suggests that despite what the Beastie Boys have given as such eclectic musicians over the years, they can still do punk-rock as well as anyone and it's a shame we're not treated to it more often.

Hot Sauce Committee Part 2 isn't as littered with samples as you may expect from a Beastie Boys album. There are a few noted ones, such as dropping Bob Dylan and U2 loops here and there (and I'm almost certain there's a sample of the Batman soundtrack from the Nintendo GameBoy game, but that's possibly because that's been stuck in my head since about 1989) but for the most part the album sticks to multi-instrumental sounds and songs; and from steel drums to cowbells to clavinovas galore there should certainly be enough for musos to muse over.

One thing that stands out is the consistently high level of vocals throughout the record. Rap-centric songs such as “Long Burn The Fire” and “Here's A Little Something For Ya” show that each member remains a great MC in their own right, alternately toasting themselves in the time-honoured tradition of rap and delivering couplets with a sense of fun that the Beastie Boys are so renowned for. There are few rappers apart from the King Ad-Rock that could get away with “The proof is in the pudding and the pudding's in my pants/Now watch me rap and watch me dance”, but he does it with aplomb.

Admittedly on first listen the album can seem a tad over-produced – a lot of the songs initially present you with a wall of noise and can seem overwhelming and tracks can blend together in a bit of a sonic mess. However with each subsequent listen the tracks, as heavily-layered as they are (and some are very heavily layered indeed), stand out better. Hot Sauce Committee Part 2 is certainly an album that deserves to be listened to with good speakers – tinny laptop speakers will be about as useful as Michigan J. Frog when faced with the multiple, finely-tuned levels of each song.

It's unlikely to win a great deal of new fans in the way that Hello Nasty did, but lest we forget that was 13 years ago – and this is an album that is littered with new, diverse influences and innovations that most groups wouldn't dare to try. For existing Beastie Boys fans, though, it's good to have them back and the more you listen to the album, the better it becomes – a worthy addition to the already great canon of the group. And thankfully we only have to wait a year for another album; the chronologically-challenged Hot Sauce Committee Part 1 should be out in 2012.