Beastie Boys: Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz (rap vocals, guitar); Adam "MCA" Yauch (rap vocals, bass); Mike "Mike D." Diamond (rap vocals, drums).

Additional personnel includes: Q-Tip, Biz Markie (rap vocals); Mark "Money Mark" Nishita (keyboards); Kate Schellebach (drums); Eric Bobo (percussion); Mix Master Mike (turntables); Amery Smith, Bucky Baxter, Brooke Williams, Nelson Keane Carse, Paul Vercesi.

Producers: Beastie Boys, Rick Rubin, Scott Jarvis, Fatboy Slim.

Engineers: Mario Caldato, Jr., Simon Thornton.

Includes liner notes and song annotations by The Beastie Boys.

"Alive" was nominated for the 2001 Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group.

At the close of the '90s, the Beastie Boys had only released five albums, which may not seem like enough music to provide the foundation for a double-disc retrospective. But between 1981 and 1999, they released countless B-sides, non-LP singles, and EPs, resulting in a sprawling discography ripe for a compilation. So, in 1999, the Beasties released the two-disc compilation The Sounds of Science, which covers every incarnation of the band from Pollywog Stew to Hello Nasty. Inevitably, some well-known songs are missing -- only three cuts from Licensed to Ill are here, and their breakthrough single "Rock Hard" had to be pulled when AC/DC refused permission for a sample. Ultimately, that doesn't matter, since the set captures the spirit of the Beasties so well. Usually, compilations that don't follow chronological order are a little muddled, but The Sounds of Science benefits from its jumbled sequencing, since it emphasizes the band's astonishing musical reach and consistency. After all, every album since Paul's Boutique has followed a similarly unpredictable pattern, as the group moved from hip-hop to punk to funk to jazz. What's remarkable about The Sounds of Science is that it has all the obvious suspects, but since they're rubbing singles with album tracks and B-sides like "Skills to Pay the Bills," two outtakes from the abandoned country album, alternate versions of "Jimmy James" and "Three MC's and One DJ," Fatboy Slim's brilliant remix of "Body Movin'," goofs like the Biz Markie-sung cover of "Benny and the Jets," and the excellent new single "Alive," it all sounds fresh. There's much more than hits here, but The Sounds of Science achieves something most anthologies don't: it summarizes the attitude and spirit of the band, while offering some new revelations even for dedicated fans. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Since emerging as a hard-core group from New York City's Lower East Side in 1980, the Beastie Boys have explored the worlds of rap, funk, and punk while simultaneously managing to influence music and society on a grander scale. SOUNDS OF SCIENCE documents all of the band's innovative turns on a beautifully packaged 2-CD set complete with a 77-page booklet brimming over with track-by-track commentary.

The care taken in documenting the band's activity up through 1999 is impressive. It's all here, including early punk sides ("Beastie Boys" and "Egg Raid on Mojo," featuring then-member Kate Schellenbach, later of Luscious Jackson), early marriages of rock riffs and hip-hop ("She's on It"), and the frat-goon success of LICENSED TO ILL ("Fight For Your Right," "Brass Monkey"). Also included is the unpredictable trio's groundbreaking work with the Dust Brothers on such mind-blowing sound collages as "Shake Your Rump" and "Shadrach" (presaging Beck by seven years). Even after the boys returned to playing instruments, the results bounced between fat-back instrumentals ("Sabrosa") and hard-rocking masterpieces ("Sabotage"). Throughout the '90s, hip-hop was never far away, whether it was with sci-fi bombs ("Intergalactic") or collaborations with like-minded rap visionaries like Q-Tip ("Get It Together").