The Dandy Warhols

If you're not familiar with this band yet, it's probably best to start out with this, their debut CD. It's a good recording (and to be fair, some sounds on successive CD's were borrowed so cleanly that they might as well have been sampled from this one), and it's easy to see why Capitol snatched them up after this was originally released independently. They only bettered themselves as songwriters on their next CD ("The Dandy Warhols Come Down") on their way to putting out one of the best releases from anyone in the last 20 years ("Thirteen Tales From Urban Bohemia"). If you start out with either of the other two, you might feel that this CD is a disappointment in comparison. That's not entirely fair, but as Dennis Hopper said in "Waterworld", "Growth is progress". It's a good CD, worth owning, and it would be REALLY good for anyone else to have released...but it's not the Dandys' best effort.Oh, yeah...there are a few good nudie shots of the band in the liner notes booklet, too.

This is an E.U. release of the Dandy Warhols first album. I think the entire album is great and definitely classic Dandy Warhols.I always like the older Dandy albums compared to their more recent releases. When I found their first album here on Amazon as a re-release I ordered it. Couldn't be happier. As I said earlier it's great.

It's the Dandy's all right--but a little simpler, a little less varnished, a little more naiive, a little more acoustic, playful and tongue-in-cheek psychedelic. I especially LOVE the intro! A great start from a band worth watching.

Good

I absolutely love the Dandys. So glad i bought this CD, is is great, just like all the others. I was only missing a couple Dandy CDs. Now I have them all, I am a happy girl.

I am a big fan of Brian Jonestown Massacre and got interested in the Dandy Warhols fromthe documentary DIG! They have many great songs, but still like BJM better.

A major re-issue of this album would be nice. Quite simply, it's one of the greatest pop-rock albums ever made. The Dandy Warhols are led by enigmatic singer, songwriter and guitarist Courtney Taylor, a man with a sardonic wit and big ego that many critics found hard to tolerate in the beginning. Nonetheless, the Dandy's came along at a time in rock 'n' roll when the culture needed their fuzzed-out tunes and psychadelic outlook.This CD begins with that mysterious beep that opened all those early 1980s Duran Duran albums. Following that bit of history, "Young Thomas Pancake" quietly introduces the band, surrounded by hesitant, light clapping, as if no one is quite sure who he or she is clapping for. "The Dandy Warhols' T.V. Theme Song" is pure candy rock, nearly an updated Monkees sound that is upbeat and peppy; the band is clearly full of itself, and it's hard not to get sucked in to the sound immediately. "Ride" and "Best Friend" are slower paced, fuzzy tunes with soft vocals, a trippy vibe and dreamy lyrics. Taylor seems to thrive on these breezy, catchy tunes. "Not Your Bottle" captures the typical Dandy Warhols outlook, with hazy lyrics like "Phil wants to be a rock star, but he's a bit uptight." Never hiding their relish for rock 'n' roll fame, decadence and an elegantly wasted mentality, the Warhols make this stuff look easy. On "Grunge Betty," Taylor's voice is nearly a mock of Kurt Cobain's, full of pseudo rage and repetative choruses. "Genius" seems to question the legitimacy of artists that take their own lives, only to be worshipped later. Taylor seems to want the world to realize that he too can write catchy grunge tunes, while loving life in the process.The last three ultra-long "rave-ups" provide major bang for the buck, not that the first 13 gems weren't awesome enough. This is an outstanding non-major-label debut record, created by a band who spared nothing to enhance its sound via a multitude of instruments such as mandolins and sitars. The drums are usually snappy, and the lyrics are sung with a lazy, detached feel. While the Warhols may have had a sense of their own greatness early on, it remains to be seen if the rock 'n' roll mainstream will buy into their slacker attitude and wasted experiences and perceptions. Like their contemporaries such as Hum, the Warhols have had a little difficulty climbing the hump to the land of superstardom (see Smashing Pumpkins for that). Here's hoping the band does it soon. By the way, that puzzling Duran Duran beep from the '80s also ends this awesome album.

No 2 songs sound the same. And although a few songs are a bit bland and the Rave Ups outstay their welcome there are some real rocky and soulful tunes.This album has a mix of different songs, they range from the fun pop T.V. Theme Song, to the beautiful 'Just Try', From funky rock tune 'Grunge Betty', to psychedelic electric Jam sessions and the Bluesy 'Not Your Bottle'.Although it's not my favorite Dandy Warhols album and I would recommend 13 tales or Welcome to the Monkey House for starter albums. But this is a solid album which every Dandy fan should have in their collection.

Very happy with item!

There aren't enough stand-out tracks to justify five stars, and some of this is a little too derivative, but it's all good fun. "Ride", "Coffee and Tea Wrecks" and "Lou Weed" betray their influences in their titles, but the latter works in its own right as well as a parody/imitation. Just when the album seems to be running out of steam in the middle, it's rescued by the compulsive beat of Nothing, making a whole song out of a Led Zep cadenza ("Babe I'm Gonna Leave You"), with its distorted, almost falsetto 60s-style vocal. Then there's the straight-ahead garage-rock of Grunge Betty, before blasting out with It's A Fast-Driving Rave-Up With The Dandy Warhols Sixteen Minutes - the Velvets' Sister Ray meets Hawkwind's Valium 10 in what my mother-in-law called "a brutal cacophony". You can't get higher praise than that.

Well balanced.

All good

Dandys indeed rule!

When all the albums in the Dandy Warhols back catalogue are taken into account, Dandys Rule OK is unique; a triumphant and varied introductory fanfare to the world without caution or self-doubt. This is the Warhols in their early years, still trying to define themselves musically but confidently striding out to perform their own set pieces and unashamedly tout their influences on tracks like Lou Weed, Coffee and Tea Wrecks and Nothin' To Do in which, in true juvenile fashion, they would put the names of their fellow emergent Portland bands into the lyrics.Much of Dandys Rule OK is unrefined and checquered, a mix of efficient, harmony-rich melodies and rough-edged, darker introspection. Grunge Betty, ever popular and often requested at live shows, typifies the coarseness of this early sound as Courtney Taylor's vocals crack over a twanging country and western beat. Genius and Dick, two of several mammoth tracks on the album, delve deeper and exhibit the sarcastic misanthropism that would become a theme of Come Down once they had had their first taste of corporate rejection at the hands of Capitol.Yet there are interesting proto-elements of far more stylised Warhols work that would come later, notably a chord sequence on The Coffee and Tea Wrecks which would evolve into Bohemian Like You's anthemic opening some five years after. The jolly T.V. Theme Song, Best Friend and Lou Weed are splendidly cheeky and light-hearted; an aspect that the band would largely shed in time but which is given a deserving cameo here.The closing number, the arrogantly introduced [It's A] Fast Driving Rave Up actually spans three tracks, and totals over twenty minutes when the prelude and finale are included. It's the Warhols' first - and best - album closer, a gloriously psychedelic romp in which two chords are pounded into oblivion, layered with a dreamy verse repeated in breathy vocals and a thick helping of electronic effects to amplify the feeling of a club rave in full flow. Future efforts would be shorter and more minimalist, competent in their own right but never quite as enjoyable as this audio barrage.And indeed that is true of much of Dandys Rule OK - drummer Eric Hedford would leave, they would fall out with their record label, briefly flirt with commercial success and eventually return to their niche roots and cult following. But right here is where it all began; an energetic thrash through a variety of styles, some borrowed, some original, all executed with a talent and flamboyance that would never quite be given the same free rein again. Marvellous.

Ok

Great band. Great music.

This is a Christmas present. Not to my taste, but never the less good quality, no scratches and perfect for the job

La sonorité vaporeuse est proche de "Thirteen....", est c'est ce qui me plait.L'album est homogène, sans véritable hit, mais l'atmosphère est là!Je retire quand même une étoile, simplement parce que je ne considère pas qu'il s'agit de leur meilleur album. Il faut une justice...