13 Most Beautiful: Songs for Andy Warhol's Screen

Dean & Britta (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 27, 2010)
• Original Release Date: 2010
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: DOUBLE FEATURE
• ASIN: B003P5AJLW
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Music
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #130,219 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Dean & Britta (ex-Luna, Galaxie 500) were commissioned by the Andy Warhol Museum to compose and perform songs for 13 Screen Tests - short, silent portrait films made by Warhol in the mid-'60s. This live show has been touring the world for 18 months, with 50 performances to date, playing everywhere from the Sydney Opera House to NYC's Lincoln Center, to a 15th-century cathedral in Paris.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Call it a fav of mine... September 19, 2010

By lawgiver4feh

Format:Audio CD

I must admit I had some prejudices towards this release. After purchasing the 13 Most Beautiful... Songs for Andy Warhol Screen Tests DVD (and seeing the live show) I didn't like the idea of a release independent of the visuals.

For those not in the know it was a project curated by the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh: come up with music to accompany 13 of Warhol's legendary screen tests. The results are pretty remarkable. The live show, that they frequently still perform, is mesmerizing and the DVD is a real labor of love with an outstanding hard cover booklet with essays from Dean and the museum curators outlining the process in great detail.

So why did I have some bias towards this CD release? The visuals and music work so well together; I disliked the idea of them being separated. Also, some obscure Luna (the band Dean & Britta previously played in) tunes are recycled - I just tend to dislike the practice of this.

Having said all that, this release is a favorite of mine; it's outstanding. The music really stands on its own and I have to say releasing this batch of songs separately was a good idea. Channeling a more mellow Velvet Underground with some modern overtones? If I must describe the music with what came before (most musicians hate this, but it's hard not to do) I think this description is well suited.

It's a 2 disc set with a handful of songs remixed. My favorites being It Don't Rain in Beverly Hills and International Velvet Theme; such beautiful songs! A whole release that equals the sum of its parts. Forgive me as I fail the clever writing exam here......

Goes without saying if you are a fan of The Velvet Underground, Dean & Britta, Luna, thoughtful guitar music with some melodic glitch, etc. you are going to dig this. Check it out. Read more ›

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Andy Warhol Lives September 2, 2010

By Jerry Dunham

Format:Audio CD

This compliments Drella. Get It. The cd stands alone. The Dvd is great, too. But if you want to be intimately surrounded by Andy and the Velvets in the dark or while reading a book get this cd. The production is perfect. The choice of songs,
perfect. The Dylan song, I'll Keep It with Mine,VU's Not a Young Man Anymore,
the instrumentals, perfect... I'm not over doing it with the perfects either. Ultra-hip is another word to discribe. Just how perfect is it? 210 Coke bottles perfect! 32 Campbell's Soup Cans perfect! 47 turquois and gold Marilyn's perfect! 80 $2.00 bills perfect. 23 Dennis Hoppers perfect! Too much? Na!
The packaging is a tour d'force. Pictures, names, explanations, tidbits of info
hitherto unknown. Musically its like Death in Vegas meets Coney Island Baby. 60's and 70's atmosphere with a 2010 bent. Put it on and you are there, in the factory, at the photo shoot, in the recording studio. I can't give this high enough praise. Dean and Britta....fantastic job!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars a dreamy, warm, Luna-ish piece September 30, 2010

By Charlie Quaker

Format:Audio CD

Former members of iconic indie bands Luna & Galaxie 500
release their 4th album; made to accompany some short black & white Andy Warhol films from the
60s. The album stands alone as a dreamy, minimalist work with no filler, no weak tracks.
Poignant & compelling, reverb-laden Luna-ish guitars co-exist with hauntingly warm vocals and a
bullseye aim for the soft place where hearts exchange darts; where everyone rings strange and
true by virtue of existence. Includes covers of Bob Dylan, Velvet Underground...from New York.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Dean & Britta - 13 Most Beautiful: Songs for Andy Warhol's Screen Tests November 18, 2012

By R. Kesler

Format:Audio CD

The Andy Warhol Museum commissioned music's legendary indy pop sensations Dean & Britta, who's attitude, music and sensibilities are taken straight from the 1960s, with visionary eyes that Mr. Warhol himself would have taken a liking to, to score thirteen of his now infamous screen tests. From 1964 through 1966, in approximately 450 films, Warhol had the famous, near famous, and folks just off the street [never to be known], sit in front of a operator-less camera for three to four minutes. The idea was so radically conceptual and psychologically demanding that it was impossible for the true self of the person not to come out after a mere sixty seconds, and from there, it was just a matter of watching the persona, which folks tried to hold onto, crumble like so much dust, until at times there's nothing but an uncomfortableness left ... this is all due to the fact that people suddenly come to terms with who they actually are in this context. Finding they're just like anyone else, struggling to keep up the illusion, with no quarter given, and non taken.

Dean Wareham and Britta Phillips sat down and selected the thirteen films to be presented, having viewed nearly all, and succeed in this daunting task, creating a magical, effortless score that runs in time to each sitting, songs that not only support the visual, but enhance it like one hallucination morphing into another, impossible to separate, with each existing within the construct of the other. Most of those selected where the individuals who would have been found at the Factory on a daily basis, with the exception being Dennis Hooper, who was one of the first people to purchase a now iconic Warhol soup-can silkscreen at the L.A. exhibition.... The title "13 Most Beautiful" was taken from Warhol's parties of sorts, where he'd show off recent work, and a new batch of these sittings [though always 13], which must have been a hoot to those amphetamine fueled kids of mid 60's, with those shows originally being called "13 Most Beautiful Boys & Women." The Warhol museum has taken this event around the world, and I've seen many of them, never tiring of the ability they have to transport me back in time. But it was here in our nation's capitol on the 12th of November, at the National Gallery, and one of the most widely attended presentations, that I was given the opportunity to meet and talk with the curators and those who were responsible for bringing this show to life [thanks to Dean and Britta's gracious friendship], where I was given access to the people who study, live and breathe all things Warhol, asking any questions I wished, and given honest off the cuff concerned answers.

Presented here is that stunning soundtrack, re-sequenced to track in order of film presentation, a grouping of dreamy pop songs so righteously presented that Andy himself would have appreciated and embraced the concept. Released on October 11th by Double Feature, this is a single disc, and limited to 1000 copies, with a fluorescent pink jacket.

Review by Jenell Kesler Read more ›