Categories : Music Reviews, Rock + Pop.
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Rating: 3.5/5 Released: September 13, 2005 Reviewer: David Coats |
The Dandy Warhols first emerged on the international scene with their record Thirteen Tales From Urban Bohemia, which featured their biggest hit, Bohemian Like You, the kind of song only done justice when performed with go-go-dancers. This was followed by the release of 2003’s Welcome to the Monkey House, a sci-fi effort that largely abandoned their mid-60s influences to disappointing results. Fans didn’t really know what to expect from the Warhols’ new record, Odditorium, but it proves to be a bold return to form.
As could be expected from one of rock’s more colorful groups, the record opens with a laughably arrogant spoken word introduction from A&E personality Bill Kurtis, in which the Warhols take credit for rock and roll itself. The record’s highlights are its first three real songs, beginning with Love Is The New Feel Awful, which is unnecessarily long at 9:36, but leaves considerable room for experimentation. The same is true for Easy, probably the most 60s influenced song here, with its wah-wah guitar and walking bass line. These songs also introduce horns to the equation – a surprise – which makes the sound rich and dynamic. The sing-along, acoustic All The Money Or The Simple Life Honey is another standout. This is followed by an amusing jaunt into country (The New Country), to go along with the pop-rock and jazz fusions throughout the record.
From there the songs become a little less artistically compelling, but are still better than anything on Welcome to the Monkey House. The band, however, would be well-advised to minimize the banter between band members on the finished product, and some songs (A Loan Tonight) are overproduced. While there is certainly enough here to justify the critics jumping on the band’s pretentiousness, Odditorium features some quality material, and, more than anything, it feels like a Dandy Warhols record again.
