The Dresden Dolls [Enhanced] [Explicit Lyrics]

1. Good Day - A superbly powerful opener in which singer Amanda Palmer declares "God it's been a lovely day/Everything is going my way". Almost a calm before the storm of...

2. Girl Anachronism - I'm not sure if there is any better way to describe this than the term I have heard a few times in relation to this: Punk Cabaret. This has to be heard to be believed. The drumming, the crashing of the piano and the amazing lyrics that almost trip over each other: all perfection. Amanda really shows off her lyrical talent here with lines that will never leave your mind such as "But I might be catching so don't touch/You'll start believing you're immune to gravity and stuff".

3. Missed Me - Classic playful piano playing with loud bursts of drumming. The lyrics follow a simple path but are unbelievably catchy until the very end where Amanda shouts (tunefully) in the final chorus "Say you miss me! Do you miss me?"

4. Half Jack - This song follows the idea of Amanda being half Jill (good) and half Jack (not so good...). The emotion displayed in five seconds of this song is more than you will find in any other song in the world (outside of this album of course), as Amanda sings "It might destroy me/But I'd sacrifice my body/If it meant I'd get the Jack part out".

5. 672 (Six Hundred Seventy Two) - If you hear this song, wait for the blast of Amanda's voice 43 seconds in and try telling me that you aren't moved at all by the feeling of it...

6. Coin-Operated Boy - Amanda's tale of a coin-operated boy with whom love is "without complications galore". I'm sure that a large majority of females can identify with this wish...This serves as a slightly light-hearted but beautiful interval before...

7. Gravity - Incredibly catchy chorus and great lyrics throughout which Amanda ends with a plea of "The sky is always falling down on me/So officer, forgive me please"

8. Bad Habit - This is about self-harming. I don't think anyone ever has or ever will accomplish creating a song which deals with this subject in such a way which never comes across as self-pitying. This really shows how fragile Amanda is without ever trying to shock with its lyrical content. This is a great song for being able to relate to.

9. The Perfect Fit - A simple piano tune with Amanda telling us what she can and can't do..."I can take a vow, and I can wear a ring/And I can make you promises, but they won't mean a thing".

10. The Jeep Song - Quite different from the rest of the album as this stands out as more of a "pop" song than any of the other 11 tracks here. Still though, Amanda Palmer retains her brilliant sense of humour in this story of an ex who drove a '96 Jeep Cherokee..."I guess it's just my stupid luck/That all of Boston drives the same black f***ing truck".

11. Slide - The topic of the lyrics on this (paedophilia) make it by far the darkest and most poignant of the songs on this album. Once again though, Amanda deals with this subject in such a haunting way that you can only imagine one in a million people could do so possibly. If only more artists could manage such a brilliant level of lyrical and musical talent...

12. Truce - A beautiful and touching breaking-up of the world between Amanda and an ex..."You can have Washington/I'll take New Jersey/You can have London/But I want New York City"...

...It's easy enough to predict that a lot of people will come to hear of The Dresden Dolls through Girl Anachronism and I can't guarantee that because you like or love it you will feel the same way about the rest of the album. However, I honestly believe that if you listen to the lyrics of the aforementioned song and you identify with or like the lyrical content of it, I believe you really will find that every other song in this album is just as special. I have now seen them live in Manchester and I can say without doubt that they are the real deal. From Amanda's beautiful voice to Brian's subtle drumming, The Dresden Dolls are proof of the fact that originality and talent does still exist. I'm not going to forcefully say "Buy this!" or "Get this, you won't be disappointed!", but what I will say is there is no excuse for not giving this album a chance - go to the Dresden Dolls website, download a few of their songs available and see if you like this. What I can promise you though is that once you get sucked in by this album, it will never let you go. I only hope that the fragility of Amanda holds and that we see another album which continues in this line of brilliance...

Instantly infectious and more-ish, it's like Weimar Republic cabaret crossed with really a vicious drumkit and the kind of nasty dolls that eat you in your sleep. If you like The White Stripes I think you might like this because although they don't sound all that similar they have a related purity and sparseness: the Dresden Dolls are just one guy on drums with a female singer playing thrashy sleazy honky-tonk piano.

It's music to have really vile and nasty gothic sex to. Maybe with whips and chains.

Or a nervous breakdown.

Your choice...

Styling themselves as "Brechtian-punk-cabaret", they've hit the nail on the head if ever it was done. It's not like music I've ever heard before. It's practically incomparable. Amanda Palmer's lyrics are spectacular, piercing, occasionally witty, awkwardly honest, probing. Good Day, the bitterweet opener, kicks things off perfectly: "So you don't want to hear about my good day/you have better things to do than hear me say/God it's been a lovely day/everything is going my way/i took out the trash today and I'M ON FIRE...so go ahead and talk about your bad day/i want all the details of the pain and misery".

There isn't a bad song here. The album may take a listen or two for you to absolutely fall in love with it (it did me - but when it happened I feel hard), but if your tastes sometimes run the slightly different, this is for you. It's pained, it's heartfelt, its completely original. The vocals are remarkable: Palmer can move in a second from practiclaly screaming to the delicately whispering, and the effect is stunning. The piano playing is excellent too, shifing from tuneful melodies to ordered thrashing and back again.

I love this album. It's amazing. Trust me. And the others.