Thirteen Tales From Urban Bohemia / Welcome To The Monkeyhouse [Limited]＜限定盤＞

Uncut - 3 stars out of 5 - "...Their ideals are based on the late Sixties/early Seventies cusp, with specific references to Jefferson Airplane and the Grateful Dead....A fuzzed-up, country-psychedelic romp..." NME - 7 out of 10 - "...A pretty good album....they're terrific....[their] music is good enough to override any irritation you might have with their [b.s.]..." Rolling Stone - 3 stars out of 5 - "...A departure for [the band]....they've replaced their dreamy tones with more diverse atmospherics....covering more abrasive, Velvet Underground-lined terrain..." CMJ - "...With its stylistic variety...[it's] more like 4 or 5 records in one....you've got a garden of pop in which something grows for everyone." Q - Included in Q's "50 Best Albums of 2000". Melody Maker - 3 stars out of 5 - "...Pretty damn pleasurable....a big strummin' rock record, half tunes and half tomfoolery..." NME - Ranked #29 in NME's "Top 50 Albums Of The Year". Mojo - "...Plain peachy-keen....A stoner's paradise from start to finish. Most pleasurable." Entertainment Weekly - "...Effortlessly slack. Lethargic space rock, rock-steady retro riffs, and country-blues bop coexist peaceably in [their] vaguely nonconformist cityscape..." - Rating: B Q - 4 stars out of 5 - "...A truly impressive journey that calls on Kevin Ayers, The Rolling Stones and US grunge as well as their original influences [The Velvet Underground and T.Rex]....this sets out their stall magnificently."

Though they still tend towards pastiche, the Dandy Warhols' third full-length, Thirteen Tales From Urban Bohemia, presents a bakers' dozen of their most focused and cohesive songs. Where their earlier albums were eclectic to the point of being scattershot, this release manages to limit the band's style-switching to dreamy, sweeping epics like "Godless" and "Nietzsche," sussed, sleazy power pop like "Horse Pills" and "Cool Scene," and country and gospel ventures like "Country Leaver" and "The Gospel." The group's increasingly strong songwriting makes most of these experiments successful and distinctive, though the Dandys fall into their old habit of appropriating sounds they like wholesale with "Shakin'," a "tribute" to Elastica's uptight yet sexy riffs and rhythms. Not surprisingly, the most successful songs on Thirteen Tales From Urban Bohemia are the least derivative ones, such as anxious pop songs like "Solid," "Get Off," and the delicate, lovelorn ballad "Sleep." On those tracks, as well as the satirical single "Bohemian Like You" -- this year's model of their hit "Not If You Were the Last Junkie on Earth" -- the Dandys reveal themselves as a savvy pop band with a voice of their own. Though they're not all the way there yet, Tales From Urban Bohemia is a worthwhile step in their developing creativity. ~ Heather Phares|