Odditorium Or Warlords of Mars [CD]

litening to the start of love is the new feel awful (track2) you'd be inclined to agree. gone is the 80's stlye synth, and a return to the more dandy like guitar of 'dandy's rule OK?' and '13 tales from, urban bohemia.' the first three minutes or so pass in sheer pleasure, at the great guitar riff, and they eerie lyircs of courney taylor taylors voice. however, after about 4 or five minutes, the song just become a blur, fading out slowly, with no clear direction, and loosing all the brilliant momentum it had built up in the first few minutes, and as it finally reaches the end (9 and a half minutes in) your pretty damn gald its over.
this frustrating lack of direction continues with track 3 , 'easy' which takes a full 4minutes and 50 seconds to get going, when it does though its worth the wait, being another great guitar song.

this trend continues throughout the album, with great songs such as smoke it, all the money or simple life honey, down like disco being brilliant, but lacking focus.

this could of been an absolutly brilliant brilliant album, yet due to this apparant desire to waste time on the album its spoiled, and the end result isnt what it should be.

this album is lacking the brilliance of songs like 'bohemian like you' and 'we used to be friends' which is even more frustrating as almost every song on the album could be easily that good if they were just shortened, and made more precise, which was so good about the afore mentioned songs, they cut straight to the chase.

in conclusion, this is still a very enjoyable album, and very good to listen too, however it could of been just perfect. this album has no clear standout tracks, so one feels there arnt going to be many succesful singles coming from it unfortunatly. However, if your in the mood for a bit of calm, quirky alt-rock to have as background music, or just to chill out too, there isnt really a better album. just dont expect any true thunderbolts.

To say that the band have 'returned' to their guitar strumming roots, following the experimental 80s flashback of 'Welcome to the Monkey House', would not be a completely accurate statement. There is a rough-edged feel to the recording, reminiscent of their early work, juxtaposed to some slick production effects more typical of recent albums. What it probably IS true to say, is that the powerful musicianship and considered optimism of Odditorium ... demonstrates a strident return to top form for the Portland quartet. Some of the more introspective strumming from previous work is present, and notable is the livelier feel of most songs when compared to Welcome to the Monkey House's whispering ambience. Psychedelic musings melt into and out of full-blown rock outs, complemented by a sleek, grooving underbelly to the album.

Odditorium executes superbly the full array of the Dandy Warhols' musical influences, from the four-to-the-floor 'Down Like Disco' to more off-beat numbers like 'Smoke It' and 'Love is the new Feel Awful', plus a little kick of country blues has returned as well, in the form of toe-tapping hoe down, 'The New Country'. Listening to 'Easy' and 'All the Money or the Simple Life Honey' you just know they are going to be excellent songs to hear live; knowing the band they could quite easily spin out either to twice the length that they are here and really go to town.

A few things could have been altered to work to the Warhols' advantage or to make room for more tracks; for example the 5 minute navel gazing freestyle instrumental on the otherwise excellent 'Love Is The New Feel Awful' could be dropped without the song losing anything of its substance, and the now trademark marathon close-out track is, for once, intractable and a touch dreary. One also feels that the band occasionally try to do too much at once, and just as you think there's a solid theme emerging, the next song heads off in a totally different direction.

Nevertheless this is a fine record; one that Courtney Taylor-Taylor obviously felt that the band were ready to make after dalliances with different styles and a few sideline projects, and crammed full of wonderful guitar hooks, singalong vocals, catchy bass lines and thumping drums. It's a marvellous, varying ride of smooth and uneven sounds, all of which are blended into a tremendous, memorable whole.