Exactly what you were hoping for, give or take.

Doesn’t it always work out this way? The Beastie Boys could have released a new album at almost any time in the last four years, and we would have been completely prepared for it. Craig’s sister Jenn, this town’s foremost authority on Mike D, Ad-Rock and MCA, would have been at home – lyrics already transcribed and memorized, major themes and influences outlined, Adam Yauch’s most current medical charts in hand – waiting patiently for our call. It would have been so simple.

But Jenn’s on vacation, leaving me to make sense of this crazy-ass video all by myself…

…while simultaneously evaluating Paste Magazine’s list of the best 20 Beasties’ songs of all time, when let’s face it, I’m an old man who lacks the wherewithal to get that deeply involved anymore. So then, what we might at one time have shrugged off/chalked up to a crying shame of unfortunate timing, becomes a source of suspicion. Why release Hot Sauce Committee Part 2 now, when Jenn is out of town on vacation and unavailable? What are the Beastie Boys trying to hide?