15 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Repeated plays reveal the album's secrets. Honest and natural., August 20, 2008
The Oregon quartet have finally found their way to their psychedelic spiritual home.
Dumped by their label after 2005's almost unlistenable
Odditorium or Warlords of Mars, the Dandy Warhols have wisely refocused and have mostly ditched the doodling and childish shouting.
For their first independent album, they have fashioned a back to the future space-age scenario which can sound overcooked and out of date ("Mission Control").
The first track "The World The People Together (Come On)", is far from the tuneless dirge you'll initially suspect, "Welcome To The Third World" takes you on a naughty funk odyssey, while they've somehow managed to rope in the usually elusive ex-Dire Straits mainman, Mark Knopfler on "Love Song".
As on their previous albums, the songs consistently flow into one another, but this heavily-crafted sequencing is also the band's undoing, since the lack of variation eventually becomes wearing.
This is by far the band's least accessible album to date - not necessarily be a bad thing, depending on your tolerance levels - and although perseverance is rewarded in large patches, the final third somehow feels like an elaborate in-joke.
The first time listener may be horrified. Taylor-Taylor's production is swaddled in layers of guitar, indecipherable lyrics and Zia McCabe's unsympathetic keyboard.
Repeated plays reveal the album's secrets.
It is not catchy, for sure, but this is The Dandy Warhols at their most natural and honest.
The presence of Mark Knopfler and Heartbreakers' ace guitarist Mike Campbell shows the band still exert pulling power and, even at their messiest, the Portland Oregon-based outfit can still deliver, while remorseless metal piledriver Talk Radio would put many heavy rockers to shame.
All is not wholly well: the final third of the album is clogged with stodge but there's enough here to keep them going.
Pick of the album:"World the People Together (Come On)", "Welcome to the Third World", and "Mis Amigos".
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Val-Yum Yum, August 20, 2008
I like Valerie Yum (an ode to Valium?), but the rest of the CD is very average stuff. I was hoping for a total rebound from Odditorium, but unfortunately the Dandys are heading in the wrong direction. What happened to the cool stuff you could play over and over again??? This sounds like a mish-mash of songs that wouldn't make it on their earlier CD's except for Odditorium...If you are new to the Dandy Warhols then buy Dandy's Rule, OK? or Come Down, I hate to say it but I guess they may never be that good again!
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8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Another Dandys Gem, August 21, 2008
From the very first notes of "The World Come On," I knew that the mediocre critical response to this new Dandy Warhols album was dead wrong. I've been hooked on the Dandys since "The Dandy Warhols Come Down." I love the way they build songs on amazing grooves, sometimes hard-rocking, sometimes slow and hypnotic, sometimes both. Taylor-Taylor is an extraordinary vocalist and mimic, sounding alternately like Lou Reed, Ric Ocasek, Mick Jagger, David Bowie, or anyone else, however he sees fit. And the others are absolutely rock-solid in their ability to add support and muscle to Taylor-Taylor's creations.
Their last album, "Odditorium," was a truly bizarre mess. At first, I found it very off-putting, but it grew on me over time, mostly because of the Dandy Warhols' impeccable sense of rhythm and harmonies. "Earth to the Dandy Warhols" is another ecclectic weird-out, jumping from genre to genre, the only real connection between the songs being the unique flavor of the Dandy's sound and the layered, dense production.
I can really see why someone new to the Dandy Warhols would have a hard time "getting" this cd or liking it very much. I'm not sure I would quite understand what it was all about if I hadn't spent so much time with their other albums. For newcomers, I strongly suggest checking out their previous cds before jumping into this one. "The Dandy Warhols Come Down," "Thirteen Tales from Urban Bohemia," and "Welcome to the Monkey House" are all more consistent than this album. But once you've checked those out, I'm sure you'll find plenty to love on "Earth to the Dandy Warhols" as well (even if you find yourself skipping the final song, "Musee D'Nougat" more often than not).
After spending some serious headphone time with this, I'd say it feels like a cross between "Odditorium" and "Monkey House." It's got the sprawling, loose feel of "Odditorium," but it's sleek and punctuated by electronics like "Welcome to the Monkey House." Like all Dandy Warhols albums, though, it's decadent, chock-full of grooves, and gorgeous.
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