Customer Reviews

Dandy's Rule OK? (The Dandy Warhols)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A major re-issue of this album would be nice. Quite simply, it's one of the greatest pop-rock albums ever made. The Dandy Warhols are led by enigmatic singer, songwriter and guitarist Courtney Taylor, a man with a sardonic wit and big ego that many critics found hard to tolerate in the beginning. Nonetheless, the Dandy's came along at a time in rock 'n' roll when the culture needed their fuzzed-out tunes and psychadelic outlook.

This CD begins with that mysterious beep that opened all those early 1980s Duran Duran albums. Following that bit of history, "Young Thomas Pancake" quietly introduces the band, surrounded by hesitant, light clapping, as if no one is quite sure who he or she is clapping for. "The Dandy Warhols' T.V. Theme Song" is pure candy rock, nearly an updated Monkees sound that is upbeat and peppy; the band is clearly full of itself, and it's hard not to get sucked in to the sound immediately. "Ride" and "Best Friend" are slower paced, fuzzy tunes with soft vocals, a trippy vibe and dreamy lyrics. Taylor seems to thrive on these breezy, catchy tunes. "Not Your Bottle" captures the typical Dandy Warhols outlook, with hazy lyrics like "Phil wants to be a rock star, but he's a bit uptight." Never hiding their relish for rock 'n' roll fame, decadence and an elegantly wasted mentality, the Warhols make this stuff look easy. On "Grunge Betty," Taylor's voice is nearly a mock of Kurt Cobain's, full of pseudo rage and repetative choruses. "Genius" seems to question the legitimacy of artists that take their own lives, only to be worshipped later. Taylor seems to want the world to realize that he too can write catchy grunge tunes, while loving life in the process.

The last three ultra-long "rave-ups" provide major bang for the buck, not that the first 13 gems weren't awesome enough. This is an outstanding non-major-label debut record, created by a band who spared nothing to enhance its sound via a multitude of instruments such as mandolins and sitars. The drums are usually snappy, and the lyrics are sung with a lazy, detached feel. While the Warhols may have had a sense of their own greatness early on, it remains to be seen if the rock 'n' roll mainstream will buy into their slacker attitude and wasted experiences and perceptions. Like their contemporaries such as Hum, the Warhols have had a little difficulty climbing the hump to the land of superstardom (see Smashing Pumpkins for that). Here's hoping the band does it soon. By the way, that puzzling Duran Duran beep from the '80s also ends this awesome album.

Few bands start off sounding as polished as the Dandy Warhols do in "Dandy's Rule, OK?" While this Portland debut isn't the best that they've done, and they clearly lack musical direction, the final third of the album is a sonic masterpiece... and the rest of it ain't bad either.

The opener of "Dandy's Rule, OK?" just barely avoids being pretentious, with the here-we-are "Introduction by Young Tom" and the catchy but painfully simplistic "Dandy Warhol's T.V. Theme Song Lyrics" (sample lyric: "Hey La, See Saw/Hey Ra, Hee Ha"). But with the growling guitar kicking off "Ride," it's clear that they've gotten their footing with some slow, ponderous rock.

It shifts into peppy pot rock ("(Tony, This Song Is Called) Lou Weed") and mid-tempo psychedelic pop ("Nothin' To Do," "Dick"). The album climaxes in a big way with: a three-track, twenty-two minute sonic sweep that starts with the eerie "Prelude: It's A Fast Driving Rave Up With The Dandy Warhols Sixteen Minutes," before speeding up into the experimental-rock "It's A Fast Driving Rave Up With The Dandy Warhols Sixteen Minutes" and finishing with the increasingly ominous "Finale: It's A Fast Driving Rave Up With The Dandy Warhols Sixteen Minutes."

At their worst, the Dandy Warhols resemble basic imitators of seventies rock. At their best (the grand finale), they resemble the Flaming Lips, with their shimmering alt-rock and unusual instrumentation (is that an alarm clock I hear?). They come across as a "fun" band -- the sort of music that is nice to listen to, without trying to be deep.

This is the psychedelica that dates back to classic 60s and 70s alt-rock: Drugs, bohemian ponderings and a healthy ability to flip between the gritty and the ethereal. And it's a bit more exploratory than the band's later albums, poking around musically to see where it belongs. Your basic guitars, bass and synthesizers form a shimmery, slightly gritty wall of sound (sufficiently that you won't notice weak lyrics like "I'm gonna know everything/know everything that was true/seen everything I could see/been everything I could be...").

Urban and tinged with the bohemian, "Dandy's Rule OK?" is a nice debut from a moderately talented band. Certainly worth checking out for fans of psychedelic rock-pop.

If you're not familiar with this band yet, it's probably best to start out with this, their debut CD. It's a good recording (and to be fair, some sounds on successive CD's were borrowed so cleanly that they might as well have been sampled from this one), and it's easy to see why Capitol snatched them up after this was originally released independently. They only bettered themselves as songwriters on their next CD ("The Dandy Warhols Come Down") on their way to putting out one of the best releases from anyone in the last 20 years ("Thirteen Tales From Urban Bohemia"). If you start out with either of the other two, you might feel that this CD is a disappointment in comparison. That's not entirely fair, but as Dennis Hopper said in "Waterworld", "Growth is progress". It's a good CD, worth owning, and it would be REALLY good for anyone else to have released...but it's not the Dandys' best effort.

Oh, yeah...there are a few good nudie shots of the band in the liner notes booklet, too.

The Dandy Warhols' debut album rocks! It has peppy, infectious songs like The Dandy Warhols TV Theme Song or The Coffee and Tea Wrecks, it has really well written, rockin' songs like (Tony, this song is called) Lou Weed, slower songs like Genius and Not Your Bottle. I think its coolest part is the three-part It's A Fast Driving Rave Up With the Dandy Warhols Sixteen Minutes. It gets into a loopig groove that's almost hypnotic. In fact, most of the album has a cool, stoner sound. It comes across with a looping, subtle sound that you can just get completely cought up in and immerse yourself for however long you want to loop the CD. When I gt more money, I'm certainly buying their other releases.

On a lark I grabbed this disc about three years ago from a stack of used cd's at a radio station's used record sale. Am I glad I did! Right from the start this cd held my interest. I am a long time fan of so called "psychedelic" music, music that tends to be loud and distorted one minute, ethereal and dreamy at others and always very melodic. Think Jesus and Mary Chain, STP, (early) Pink Floyd, distorted Neil Young, Pearl Jam and more recently The Brian Jonestown Massacre, The Warlocks and The Major Stars. This disc is my favorite of the three The Warhols have released. Maybe because it's the first that I discovered, but then again maybe because this is more a disc for the band than for a major record label. Not that "Come Down" or "Bohemian" are bad discs, they're great, but this one is in my mind more adventurous. I mean come on at nearly twenty minutes, "Rave Up" is some of the greatest music of the 90's! My suggestion, buy all three Dandy Warhol cd's right now, but listen to "Dandy's Rule, OK" first!

Lou Weed and Fast Driving alone are worth the price of admission. I rated this 4 stars on the Amazon.co.uk site, but this album has grown on me, so I'm giving it 5 stars here. It definitely points the way to where Taylor's songwriting is now - hooky, layered, rhythmic. This album is not as catchy/accessible as 13 Tales, but that's a good thing. 13 Tales is technically well produced, but I don't think it necessarily suits the music. Come Down is my favorite Dandy's album with Rule Ok? a close second. Ride, Best Friend and Bottle are all great!

I bought this CD today, and it's the third time in a row i listened to it. THe sound is more raw and less polished than 'DW's come down' or '13 tales...', which BTW,is too much radio-friendly for my taste (even though i think it's a great record as well). IMHO, I believe the strength of this band is the acoustic set. In the best song of this album (Just try) guitars play the prominent part with a touch of sitar in the end. Just like 13 tales, it features a 3-killer song-combo: Dick, Just try and nothing. They totally blew me away. If you are into psychedelic-pop, shoegazing stuff( actually, I've read Peter Holmstron is a great My bloody valentine fan) you should definitely buy this one. It's hard to believe these guys are actually American. After all the hip-hop, teenie-bopper, rap-metal trash, there's some hope left...

My Dandy experience has been an unusual one. I picked-up this CD in a store without ever hearing it. The name sounded familliar, but I wasn't sure. Taking a chance on this recording was one of the best things I ever did! They are now one of the only bands that I'll buy without listening to the CD, first.

There is an inherent honesty in Dandy Warhols' music. They drive a multi-layered wall-of-sound that mainlines into your emotions. While songs like "Not Your Bottle" and "Nothing" are expansive meloncholics songs that lack self-sympathy, other songs like "The Dandy Warhols' T.V. Theme Song" and "Lou Weed" are pop romps that are fun, but still keep grounded instrumentation.

My favorite songs on the album are "Genius" which is an incredible blend of unusually honest self-examination: "Darlin, Give me a rope and I'll hang myself, it doesn't take a genius to figure it out, don't have to be f**king brilliant to see I'm not as smart as I seem to be, I'm not as bright as I used to be, I'm not as sharp as I think I am, I'm not as smart as I seem..." and "Just Try" which is painful and beautiful. While these 2 songs don't have the most commercial appeal, I think they show how the Dandy's can combine thoughtful and impacting lyrics with music that connects.

I highly recommend this album to anyone that wants a fleshed-out garage-like sound combined with some well-crafted lyrics.

Other's have already gone into detail of why this is such a great album, and I only want to reiterate that. I actually bought this album after I having bought the second and third albums. This is my favorite to date. The record has a live sound, and is less produced than there newer two records. If you hear this record you will want to see them live. I know I do.

This was my second Dandy's album (after Come Down)- although it doesn't have anything as insanely catchy as Last Junkie, i prefer it overall. its much more shoegazer than their next effort, and you can just lose yourself in the guitars in song after song. theres some tongue-in-cheek humour (eg: Lou Weed, where the singer sounds a bit like Transformer-era or even Velvets Reed at times, which is great, but the one place i strongly suggest it DOESN'T work is when Young Tom intrudes over the early part of the 16 min rave-up. this was such a brilliant piece of music, and it should have been treated with more respect. if not for this i think i would have given the album 5 stars...