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Probably that the Portlanders weren't terribly original, and certainly that they were wildly inconsistent. But the band was–just occasionally–capable of writing glittering pop gems. The opener here, Boys Better, provides first proof: buried under its layers of grimy guitar and droning FX are the unmistakeable contours of a brilliant tune, melodically instant and rhythmically insistent. It's soon followed by the fantastically titled Not If You Were the Last Junkie on Earth, a sneering, preening, smart-arse attack on drugs chic with a "heroin is so passé" chorus so addictively catchy it became a freak UK hit in 1998.
That sneer rapidly became the band's trademark: all the best Warhols songs find frontman Courtney Taylor-Taylor savaging an ex-friend or girlfriend. It's this sneer that makes Bohemian Like You–their only smash hit–much more ambiguous and interesting than its slacker anthem reputation suggests. It's also the same sneer that propels the glitchy, twitchy, seven-inchy genius of We Used to Be Friends, a gaudy pop song with barely concealed loathing behind its insincere smile.
Sadly, it's that same insincerity which means that when their pop instincts fail them, the band become distinctly unloveable. Scientist–titled I Am a Scientist on their Welcome to the Monkey House album; this is the version from the band's ... Are Sound LP–is plain lousy, its flimsy puns and irksomely ironic hip hop flourishes adding up to a joke that falls horribly flat. Even worse is All the Money or the Simple Life Honey: not so much a parody of Rolling Stones honky tonk as a parody of Primal Scream's parody of the Stones.
There are other minor pleasures to be found here. Get Off boasts a breezy lollop and easy hummability, while the Slowdive-indebted Good Morning summons up a deliciously lazy, hazy atmosphere. But minor is the right word, and–those handful of almost accidental gems aside–the Best of the Capitol Years seems unlikely to trouble future pop historians greatly.
--Jaime GillFind more music at the BBC This link will take you off Amazon in a new window
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Which means I'm a total idiot.
It's not often I fall in love with a band, and the Dandys were my last so far - I've been in love with 'em since the summer of '97 when Come Down was released, which was a typical Dandys album: half the tracks were derivative genius, and the other half weren't. But when push comes to shove, all you need to know about the Dandys is this - even when lead singer Courtney is so spliffed out of his skull that he actually weaves his way to the microphone stand at the start of a gig, the Dandys are the last band in town that actually seem to know how to have FUN, which these days seems to be a dying art.
These days even I'll admit that the Dandy's glory days (such as they were) are past them, their albums being mainly for fans with occasional flashes of inspired genius thrown in for good measure. But screw that. If you're a long time Dandy's fan then many of the tracks on here appear to be alternative takes of the ones you already know and love - three of the first four appear to be from the Black Album, once the Dandy's lost album (they blew all their advance having fun, Capitol hated the results and told them to start again, resulting in the Come Down album) which so far as I know is still only available from their website. Which means that if you're a long time fan, the alternative takes mean that this album will make you believe the Dandys are still alive and raring to go.
Face it, even if you've got no idea who the Dandy Warhols are, there'll be at least one song on here that you already know. Everyone on earth likes at least one Dandy Warhols song. You just didn't know who it was by!
However, if you're a fan with all the albums there's just the one new track to entice... Read more
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