The Dandy Warhols -Thirteen Tales From UrbanBohemia

Wed 23rd Mar, 2005 in Music Reviews

The Dandy Warhols meandered their way through their first two albums, making self indulgent, drug-addled rock music which also happened to be good. (It takes a certain kind of band to make a song that goes for 16 minutes, it takes another kind of band altogether to call it A Fast Driving Rave-Up With The Dandy Warhols 16 Minutes). So news of a new Dandy’s album didn’t exactly set the world on fire, especially with it’s ever so slightly pretentious title. However, from the moments the country-laden twang of the Get Off, the first single, hit the radio, it became clear the Dandys had delivered a set of songs that would stick in the minds of listeners for years to come.

The album opens with the epic, magnificent Godless, which combines a variety of instruments in a way indicative of what is to come; a soft yet piercing acoustic melody, trumpet laid over the top of it, and Courtney Taylor Taylor’s snide lyrics pared down to a soft murmur, while the drone of electric guitars sit in the background. Mohammed continues in a similar soft vein, but Nietzsche cranks it up a notch; the first song dominated by the electric guitars. Country Leaver is, as suggested by the name, a country song, twin slide guitars dominating a song about traveling, leaving the one you love, and returning home.

Solid is next, a dance-y, happy tune with a chant-along chorus, then the cowbell introduces Horse Pills, a sneering criticism of valium popping, which would seem pretentious if it wasn’t for the massive driving guitars behind it. The albums second country song (albeit without the slide of Country Leaver) and first single, Get Off, is next. When quizzed about the deeper meaning of the song, Taylor-Taylor answered that sometimes people look for a deeper meaning that doesn’t exist; the song is about sex.

After the run of upbeat songs, Sleeper brings the pace right down almost to the level of a lullaby. Cool Scene drifts by without being memorable nor boring. Then the thundering drums of Bohemian Like You kick in. One of the singles of the year, a dancing, flirting guitar rhythm plays over an organ melody, while Taylor Taylor sings clear, open lyrics about the indie rock mindframe. The chorus kicks in with a “WOO-oo-oo”, a singalong chant the likes of which had not been heard since Blur’s Song 2, and it became an instant favourite with casual music listeners and diehard fans alike. With such a big single, everything after it could have seemed like an afterthought, but Shakin’ is excellent (and features one of the more memorable scratch-breaks in recent memory), Big Indian is an acoustic thought-provoker, before The Gospel closes out a truly memorable album with a slow, plodding, almost angelic chorus line.

The albums true strength lies in it’s production. Every instrument comes through crisp and clean, Taylor-Taylor’s voice dominates without being overbearing, and some of the more obscure moments of the previous albums are left behind. This is an easy album to get into, a modern masterpiece which deviates from heavier rock to country soul to gentle acoustic without ever sounding misdirected or out of place, and from the first listen it will have you hooked.