Customer Reviews

Dresden Dolls

5 star:		(81)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Old porcelain toys are what come to mind when you hear the name of the "Dresden Dolls." But their faces and their music sure won't make you think of toys. It's very different from what I had expected, with its raw lyrics and complex piano'n'drums music, and left me expecting future great things from the most original new group in eons.

The sound of a piano builds up to a crescendo in the pummelling, jerky "Good Day," a barbed, sarcastic little ditty. It's not a funny song, but has a dark humor that shines through in the deceptively simple, searing "Bad Habit," the jazzy, self-examining "Perfect Fit," and the quirky, funny "Coin Operated Boy." Some songs are a little more downbeat, like the chillingly creepy "Slide," with its bogeyman line "the orange man got you." Perhaps the best song on the album is "Girl Anachronism," a fast'n'furious, punkish song about a psychiatric patient.

The Dresden Dolls can catch your eye as no other band can, with their face paint and striking black-and-white clothing. And they can back up their unusual look by being just as musically interesting, with a strange mix of piano and drums that somehow weave together seamlessly. The piano at the start sounds like a dusty music box, coming form the corners of a dark, neglected attic. But that illusion is shattered as the album progresses to songs where the piano is as percussive as the hard drums.

Amanda Palmer's neurotic whirl of ex-boyfriends, razors, wind-up boy toys (literally!), black jeeps and not-cured psychiatric patients set the tone of the album. "Sappy songs about sex and cheating/bland accounts of two lovers meeting/make me want to give mankind a beating," she snaps. Her versatile voice can be high and girlish, or boom through the room.

Cabaret punk-rock sounds like some kind of novelty act, but the Dresden Dolls are the real thing: punk piano rock that is sexy, dark, twisted, and deliciously original. A must have.

Hello all. This review is to help you decide whether or not you want this album, right? Well. i have to tell you, you're stupid if you don't buy it. but apparently. you need more than just an insult to convince you. so....On with the show. I'll rate the songs by tracks.But First, what you have to realize about the Dresden Dolls, is that their is only 2 members. Amanda is piano/keyboard/toy piano/Vox, and Brian is percussion/drums/guitar/vox. Their sound is VERY UNIQUE, there is no other sound like them. It's a mix of Punk/Cabaret/Rock. Now, you may think that if it's only got a keyboard and drums, then it can't be rock. it can't be viscious, it can't be head-bangingly beautiful. You're wrong.

1. Good Day-4.5/5-Starts slow, but gets into it halfway through.Catchy chorus. Great opener track to ease you in to what they call "Punk Cabaret"!

2. Girl Anachronism-5/5-My favorite track on this album, hands down. The lyrics alone are incredible. but the dueling piano and drums gets to be too much to handle, it's that good. I find myself singing it at work, and i head-bang during the first minute while driving. Kinda hard to do, but...

3.Missed Me-4.0/5-A Great song about pedophilism. It plays like a musical song. Reminds you of cabaret, but viscious. A Truly great song.Catchy tune.

4.Half Jack-5/5-This is another favorite on the album. It starts out kinda slow like "Good Day" but then gets powerful later on. Lyrics are beautifully connected to one another.

5. 672-3/5-Its a 1 1/2 minute intermission. It has few lyrics, but good piano. I'd listen to it just to get to Coin-Operated Boy.

6. Coin-Operated Boy-4.5/5-The song is about a girl who wants a coin-operated boy, to "play" with. So she won't be alone. it's romantic really. It was the first song i heard by the Dolls. It gets sorta old after you hear it a zillion times.

7. Gravity-5/5-Another great track. Great lyrics. AWESOME CHORUS! I see myself cruisin on the countryside, hand out the window. just chillin' with this song. A+

8. Bad Habit-4.5/5-Fast paced and great. One of the better songs on this album.

9. Perfect Fit-4.5/5-This is the one of those songs you skip because it's slow, but later realize, it's truly an important part of the album. You want to scream the lyrics at the end. Very catchy.

10. Jeep Song-4.5/5-This song is hilarious. It's a nearly 5-minute song about how all she sees are Jeep Cherokees in town. How she'll "skip Town till the cars go out of style". It's very funny, and great instrumental accompanyment.

11. Slide-5/5-This song is the CREEPIEST thing i've ever heard. It's about this orange man,(maybe an escaped convict?or...*correct me if i'm wrong) who's going to kidnap a "red little girl" from a slide. At the very end when she's screams "The Orange Man's Got You!" I freaked out (i'm driving by the way), and got a little disoriented, because it sent chills all over my body. Pedophilism. Only Dresden can do a song, and make it stick.

12. Truce-3.5/5-This is the 9-minute epic on the album, and the last track. It's tune you can't get into for very long as it changes constantly. But the Violin solo at the end is mind-blowing. "You can fake it for the papers, but i'm on to you, i'm on to you!"
And then when you thought it was over you hear Amanda's mother or grandmother i'm guessing. "Amanda...You're telling me a fairytale."

Then that's it. A Great Album! Listen to the samples on Amazon. They really do help. Rate MY REVIEW! It's mY FIRST!

The Dresden Dolls self-titled debut is a refreshing album that should please most people who are looking for something new and original. The Dresden Dolls consist of the very talented duo, songwriter Amanda Palmer (piano, vocals), and Brian Viglione (drums). They play cabaret music with a modern twist.

Even if you're generally not a fan of cabaret and/or avant-garde music, you may find yourself captivated with this album. Amanda Palmer has written a collection of very dark songs that create a haunting atmosphere that stay with you long after the CD has ended.

After one listen, I was drawn to this album, but this CD defiantly grows on you. The songs are somewhat off-center and therefore not instantly catchy and assessable. They are, however, quite mesmerizing and captivating. If you stick with this CD, the songs tend to grow on you with each successive listen.

One thing that really works for this album is its off-center pacing. The songs go from mid-tempo, to manic, to soft-spoken, to a fast pace, to mid-tempo and so on. The listener never knows what to expect. The album's haunting melodies and morose themes never loose momentum or get tedious.

If your looking for something offbeat, refreshing and original, the Dresden Dolls debut album is highly recommended.

Old porcelain toys are what come to mind when you hear the name of the "Dresden Dolls." But their faces and their music sure won't make you think of toys. It's very different from what I had expected, with its raw lyrics and complex piano'n'drums music, and left me expecting future great things from the most original new group in eons.

The sound of a piano builds up to a crescendo in the pummelling, jerky "Good Day," a barbed, sarcastic little ditty. It's not a funny song, but has a dark humor that shines through in the deceptively simple, searing "Bad Habit," the jazzy, self-examining "Perfect Fit," and the quirky, funny "Coin Operated Boy." Some songs are a little more downbeat, like the chillingly creepy "Slide," with its bogeyman line "the orange man got you." Perhaps the best song on the album is "Girl Anachronism," a fast'n'furious, punkish song about a psychiatric patient.

The Dresden Dolls can catch your eye as no other band can, with their face paint and striking black-and-white clothing. And they can back up their unusual look by being just as musically interesting, with a strange mix of piano and drums that somehow weave together seamlessly. The piano at the start sounds like a dusty music box, coming form the corners of a dark, neglected attic. But that illusion is shattered as the album progresses to songs where the piano is as percussive as the hard drums.

Amanda Palmer's neurotic whirl of ex-boyfriends, razors, wind-up boy toys (literally!), black jeeps and not-cured psychiatric patients set the tone of the album. "Sappy songs about sex and cheating/bland accounts of two lovers meeting/make me want to give mankind a beating," she snaps. Her versatile voice can be high and girlish, or boom through the room.

Cabaret punk-rock sounds like some kind of novelty act, but the Dresden Dolls are the real thing: punk piano rock that is sexy, dark, twisted, and deliciously original. A must have.

I first saw The Dresden Dolls at the 2003 WBCN River Rave. They opened on the second stage and totally blew me away. I went to the stand and bought a copy of "A Is For Accident". I talked with Amanda Palmer (the singer) for a while and talked to Brian (the drummer) later. After that, I saw the rest of the concert. On the way home I listened to the C-D and fell in love. I started corresponding with Amanda Palmer occasionally. When I found about this album I was thrilled. The problem was: I'm only 16; the Record Release Ball in Boston was an 18+ show. So i ordered it off of here. It was estimated delivery in December. So I cancelled the order and went EVERYWHERE. To those of you looking for either "A is for Accident" or their studio album, they have them for the same price at Newbury Comics all over New England.

The album is AMAZING. Well worth the wait if you can't find it anywhere. My favorite songs on it are "Good Days", "Girl Anachronsim", "Half-Jack", "Jeep Song", and "Coin-Operated Boy". I'm dissappointed they didnt include songs like "Mrs. O", "Kalendrina", or "Christopher Lydon". Although you can find "Mrs. O" and "Christopher Lydon" on "A is for Accident". The Dresden Dolls have recently started a new tour, and i suggest you ALL go see them and buy their albums!

This album is amazing. The Dresden Dolls is a band that creates songs with my two favorite instruments: piano and drums. The songs are amazing, "demented" only beginning to describe their sound. I recommend that everyone at least give them a listen, keeping an open mind since their music really doesn't fit inside the restrictions of a particular genre.

I didn't like the album design too much, since the songs aren't listed on the back of the album and are instead on the inside, so I couldn't tell how many songs were on the disc until after I bought it. The little booklet that contains the lyrics though, is awesome. There's some great collage work going on, though some of the lyrics are out of order. The art alone makes it worth it, though (keep in mind, some of the art contains naked women drawings, so if you have overly-protective parents who like to peruse your CD collection, beware).

A warning to those of you who play your CDs on your computer, though. I have Windows ME and the CD didn't play on my computer. The only thing that registered was the video for Girl Anachronism. The songs didn't show up at all, even when I went to "explore" and specifically selected the E drive. So if you only have a computer to play your CDs on, be warned; it may not work on yours.

With that said, here are my personal ratings of the individual songs, rated out of 10, 10 being the best and 1 being absolute crap.

1. Good Day - 9/10 - I wasn't fond of this song at first, but after a couple listens, I couldn't get the chorus out of my head. I think it's the enthusiastic way the lead singer sings, "and I'M ON FIRE!" The song is original, a screw-you ode to an old boyfriend, with very clever lyrics ("I want to do more than survive; I want to rub it in your face," for example).

2. Girl Anachronism - 9/10 - The only reason this isn't a 10/10 is because this isn't the same version of the song that you can hear on their video. I prefer that version, which sounds like two different women (with identical voices!) singing the lyrics to each other, each too impatient to wait for the other to finish with her line before she begins her own. This version is cool, too, because what it lacks in the fine polishing of the video-version is made up for with an extreme amount of enthusiasm. The fast beat is wonderful. I love fast songs.

3. Missed Me - 10/10 - Demented! Twisted! Disturbed! This song is the very empitome of psychosis, a twisted little girl persona singing her own revenge fantasy about a (presumably) older lover. I even have a favorite line in the song, when she sings in a cute, high voice, "...and so misunderstood" and then follows it up with a wonderfully hellish growl of, "so treat me DELICATELY". Awesome. Awesome awesome awesome. The only problem I have with this song is that parts of it are really, really quiet, so I can't understand the wonderful lyrics. I agree with previous reviewers - whoever produced this really sucked when it came to polishing the final sound, because the constant raising and lowering of volume is really an issue.

4. Half Jack - 8/10 - The second half of this song is my favorite, because it gets louder and more aggressive, while the first part is merely moping. Still, it's awesome and I almost never skip it.

5. 672 - 3/10 - I really don't like this. You can't understand anything she says in it except for the number, and it sounds far away, like a live recording instead of something from the studio. The piano would be pretty if the sound had been managed better. I always skip this one.

6. Coin-Operated Boy - 10/10 - Extremely, extremely catchy. I find myself humming it often, and the lyrics are a delight. I'm extremely impressed that the band wrote these songs themselves, since they all sound _different_! Many of the bands I listen to have songs that blend together, because they're all the same speed, key, style. The Dresden Dolls are awesome because each of their songs is an individual, Coin-Operated Boy being an excellent example. The melody almost sounds like something from the 1930s, with the exception of the bridge.

7. Gravity - 10/10 - Neat lyrics, extremely catchy chorus, wonderful tune.

8. Bad Habit - 10/10 - Wonderful song about self-mutilation, because the tune is so HAPPY. This song is another reason to purchase the CD. Original bands like The Dresden Dolls deserve all the royalties they can get.

9. The Perfect Fit - 5/10 - Slow and boring. It's occasionally soothing whenever I get to it, because it goes well as a follow-up to Bad Habit, but for the most part, it's forgetable.

10. The Jeep Song - 5/10 - It sounds like a refuge from the 80s, and while the lyrics are clever and there's a bit of an homage to "paint it black" stuck into the middle, I just can't get into it.

11. Slide - 8/10 - Creepy, creepy, creepy. You can't really appreciate the song until you read the lyrics, and THEN you'll get what I'm talking about. Unfortunately, it's very hard to make out what the lyrics are on your own, since this song, like "missed me", has VOLUME ISSUES! ARGH! If only they had fixed up the songs better before they released it, this would have been the most perfect album EVER!

12. Truce - 3/10 - Boring. Long. Endless. At over 8 minutes (including the creepy voice at the end), it went on way too long. The lyrics were kinda "blah" too, at least to me.

Despite a few duds on the album, however, there are more than enough good songs to make up for it. I love The Dresden Dolls. They're almost like a combination of the piano skills of Tori Amos with the eccentricity of Rasputina. They're a great, great band and they deserve a listen.

This is one of the most amazing CDs I've ever heard in my entire life. It combines confessional style lyrics, beautiful vocal stylings, and the instruments alone could create the atmosphere that the vocals create. I would buy this album if it were just the piano tracks. It is just that amazing. This album can envoke feelings in you, whether you start to remember an ex-boyfriend, remember a desperate situation, or just imagine a story of a bottom-dropped-out-life that is sometimes expressed in the lyrics.
The lyrics are amazingly crafted, while sometimes cryptic, are still massively melodic and catchy. I sing these songs all the time. They're really catchy for piano/drum pieces.
The stand out tracks on this album are "Gravity", a very heavy track about what seems to be suicide, "Girl Anachronism", "Good Day", "Bad Habit", "Missed Me", and "Truce". "The Jeep Song" is surprisingly upbeat and a welcome addition to the CDs extra dark and mood.
I cannot describe how wonderful this CD is, and myself, being an enthusiast of electronic rock music, am thorougly surprised that I found myself enjoying this album as much as I did.
For being just piano and drums, it surely isn't mellow.

It's difficult to describe a band like The Dresden Dolls. My admiration for them surpasses almost all musicians today, both for the musical talents of Ms. Palmer and Mr. Viglione and for the impact their songs have had on me personally. That always helps a band when I can connect with them in such a way.

If you're wondering what "punk cabaret" means, don't worry about it. The Dolls are a nice burst of fresh air in an otherwise stagnant and decrepid scene. You won't find it easy to turn this album off or to get the songs out of your head. Not that they're by any means "catchy," but they haunt you and stay with you, be it a melody, a verse of Amanda's lyrics, or Brian's furious drumbeats. This band will change you, I guarantee it.

To get a 'full' idea of the Dolls you really have to see them live. It's not just a concert, it's an experience. I saw them just this past May and I'll never forget that night. I was in tears at several of their songs, regardless of their tone, simply because of how awe inspiring the band is when you see them on stage.

This cd is nothing short of a brilliant piece of art, one you will be glad to have in your collection and find it hard to replace. You may have heard a song or two on the radio--Coin-Operated Boy and Girl Anachronism--which are great songs, yes, but the ones that aren't singles are, IMO, the foundation of the cd. Half-Jack and Truce especially.

I've never known a band to have this kind of impact on me, and I don't think they'll be another band anywhere near The Dresden Dolls. Try it, buy it, and love it, duckies.

It's sort of hard to describe what kind of music the Dresden Dolls play. Despite their image and album art, they're not really "goth rock". I've always heard the term "cabaret punk" thrown around with reference to them, which sort of makes sense considering that they actually have people signing up to be "living dolls" or do other performance art in the venue, or perform say, short theater pieces while the band sets up, but I haven't really heard enough cabaret music to say for myself. I guess I would describe it as "dark piano pop". Vocalist Amanda Palmer might not have a technically perfect voice (in "Perfect Fit" she even admits "I can write a song, but I can't sing on key"), but has a good intuitive emotional range, comes up with some haunting piano melodies, and balances the pessimistic introversion of her lyrics with some dark humor that on the whole makes the material more down to earth than say, Tori Amos. The only other member of the band, drummer Brian Viglione seems a bit under-used (thanks to the slower tempo of many of the songs, the only time he really gets to show off much is "girl anachronism", the closest the cd comes to the "punk" part of "cabaret punk"), but still adds enough prickliness to keep material from floating away. And although it could be written off as a quirky novelty, the bridge of current semi-hit single "coin operated boy" (which is sadly truncated a bit for radio play) shows there's a lot of sorrow behind the goofy premise; the real reason the narrator wants a coin operated boy is that she feels she's too difficult for a real one to love.

Imagine the worst night following your break-up. You're alone, bitter, angry, and crying on the bathroom floor. You snap, and then you're on a rampage to "correct" the jerks that slammed you.

In this moment, as you sharpen your axe against the grind-stone. As you put on your terrifying grin. As you break your coffee-and-cigarette-stained-jagged-toothed-Joker-smile to your trembling ex. This is the music that will play in the background.