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After being underwhelmed with their last effort, Hello Nasty and the subsequent 4 years of fresh gray hairs added to their heads, I was not expecting great things from the new Beastie Boys album. At most, I had hoped that there would be one last tour in support of the new album, and I would finally be able to see them before they announced their retirement.

I could not have been more wrong.

To The 5 Boroughs has been a very pleasant surprise. The MixMaster Mike beats and scratches are probably the tightest of any Beastie Boys album ever. It is clearly hip-hop through and through this time around as well. No jazzy interludes from the Check Your Head days. You can roll down the windows and crank it up. This will be a great summer album for embarassing your wives and girlfriends as you roll around town.

The rhymes themselves, are, well, the Beastie Boys. They sound better on the album than they would if I were to type some out here for you. But it’s the Beastie Boys. We’ll leave it at that. The lyrics do have a sharp political edge this time around (besides the obligatory 3 MCs and 1 DJ look-a-like “Triple Trouble”). Since no one else in mainstream music seemed to be carrying the anti-Bush torch, they have happily grabbed it and are proudly displaying for all to see. At this point, they really have nothing to lose, but it would be nice to see some others in the mainstream music arena really start to step it up.

Overall, fans of the Beastie Boys, pick up this album.