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Rating: Success, both a blessing and a curse for an artist. Especially when it comes from a single, insignificant little song used in a mere commercial.
Let's make it clear: "Bohemian Like You" does not represent the Dandys at all, nor the album from which it was taken (apart from "Get Off", barely any pop little songs). In this "Odditorium…", the experimental side of the Portland band, led by the charismatic (and self-proclaimed addict) Courtney Taylor-Taylor, is exponentially accentuated compared to previous works, emphasizing that the previous commercial attempt (the awkward '80s revival "Welcome To The Monkey House") was just an accident, or at best a bad idea.
A long spoken introduction ("Colder Than The Coldest Winter Was Cold") opens the set, followed by "Love Is The New Feel Awful", introduced by a muffled drum and a repetitive yet subdued guitar, while Taylor overlays with a discreet falsetto. But, oh dear, the piece, after a few minutes, transforms into a long instrumental where the Dandys let their creativity flow with a jam featuring vague Jazz flavors. The subsequent "Easy" nods to a vintage Prince, while "All The Money Or The Simple Life Honey" is a great single, with a good crescendo melody accompanied by a sober and very pop arrangement (pop in the noblest sense of the word). "The New Country" takes us to country scenes reminiscent of certain things from second-to-last Ryan Adams work, and introduces us to "Holding Me Up", the only track on the record that recalls the sounds of the successful "Thirteen Tales From Urban Bohemia": among the best of the entire work.
The part that sends the quality level of the album sky-high, however, comes now. After a useless interlude ("Did You Make A Song With Otis"), comes "Everyone Is Totally Insane", a clear example of how to write a good pop piece: perfectly intriguing melody, average length, excellent vocals even in the lower parts, guitar touches that are not overly intrusive. A textbook case. "Smoke It" is the first single, but it doesn't say anything new, with its catchy melody mimicking the Rolling Stones (imagine Mick Jagger singing through a megaphone); its only merit is leading us to "Down Like Disco", perhaps slightly below "Everyone…", but also capable of presenting an excellent melody and arrangement. And, just when you "resign" to a pop-tinged finale, the hits arrive: "There Is Only This Time" would thrill any Brian Eno fan, it is an electronic piece with infectious atmospheres; rather, since we're speaking of the Warhols, I'd say "drugged". "A Loan Tonight" presses the accelerator even more: ten minutes of sounds with an ethereal and suspended atmosphere cluttered together, with Courtney singing in an unrecognizable, almost alien manner.
Some have described this album as the portrait of a tired band; it is not at all, it is instead a demonstration that the Dandy Warhols are a group that wants to play, experiment and, above all, do what they prefer. With or without audience approval.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Colder Than the Coldest Winter Was Cold (01:03)
By the end of the great war,
the dandy warhols had progressed
far beyond the traditional jug band sound.
Zia had all but hung up the washtub bass,
in favor of her new invention, which she called the synthesizer.
The banjo was still there but now it was electrified,
to a flat microphone which pete had wound tightly with copper wire and
called his pick-up and in turn made it louder by what fat-head jokingly
called, Pete's Amp.
Well, the name stuck and by the time such luminaries as Gene Vincent, Elvis
Presley and B.B. King had heard this new Warhols Sound, they were calling it
Rock and Roll.
Dandy frontman Courtney Taylor-Taylor would be quoted as saying, I know it's
only rock and roll, but i think i like it
I'm Bill Curtis and you're listening to a piece of history
04 All the Money or the Simple Life Honey (04:29)
(All The Money Or The Simple Life Honey)
All right, here it comes
Well I can tell you for the money
The simple life honey is good
Well if you ask me how you made it
Secure life, baby, you should
Oh, yes you should
Cause if you're doing all the best that you can
But you're still runnin' just as fast as the man says
Well I can tell you for the money
The simple life honey is good, now
Yes it's good
Now when you're movin' to the city
You worry on your mental health
Yes you do, now
Oh, you gentlemen and ladies
You've got to be good to yourself
So get yourself into a ranch-style home
When the neighbor's never more than a stone's throw
Well I can tell you for the money
The simple life honey is good
Yes it is
Yes it's good
That's right
Yeah
But oh, no
All the money
Still you just can't please everybody
How bad do
Do you want it?
Cause the money
It looks so good, good, good
Ohh
Yeah
So now you're chasin' the American dream
Just like the dollar's gonna make everybody scream
But I can tell you for the money
The simple life sure looks good
That's right, now
Yes it's good
Oh yeah
Oh, no
All the money
Looks so good, good, good
To everybody
How bad do
Do you want it?
Cause the money
It looks so good, good, good
Now there's a whole lot of faking
And takin'
And shakin' my hand
And when they tell you they love ya
They love ya like a one night stand
So if you're playin' in a rock and roll band
But still you're doing whatever the man says
Well I can tell you for the money
The simple life honey is good
That's right
Yes it's good
Take care
09 Smoke It (04:06)
Hey I've been thinkin'
I've been thinkin' about nothin' yeah
Now I've been thinkin' about nothin' to do and nothin' but thinkin'
and oh yeah I know what it is to be there
now people there ain't nothin' here but people
Dig it yeah
Now if people got problems and they got problems with people oh yeah
I know what it is to be there
you gotta smoke it (smoke it)
just as long as you can smoke it (smoke it) yeah (yeah)
if people got problems and people got problems with people oh yeah
i know what it is to be there
uninsured car payment amortization
local collection at its latest litigation
i should of stayed in college for about another 100 years(LEAVE ME ALONE!) but I never wanted it to be there
alimony PALIMONY don't get too drunk in vegas
AT LEAST NOT with the waitress from any those places
people got more baggage than JFK, Yeah
And i'm talkin about the airport man
you gotta smoke it (smoke it)
just as long as you can smoke it (smoke it) yeah (yeah)
we got child-proof containers we got use only as directed
Inspected by (Number 9) it seems like he checked it
alright, here we go, everybody together (here we go), everybody together now
so let's get a big round of applause, big round of applause
to brothers and sisters, brother's mothers, sister's other mothers
other brother's sister's mothers anyone, anyone who's here yeah
lets have a big round of applause anyone who can do it
yeah yeah
smoke it (smoke it)
just as long as you can smoke it (smoke it) yeah (yeah)
if people got problems people got problems with people oh yeah
i know what it is to be there
FILED FOR AN EXTENSION ON MY TAX MOTION
paid off our house and then fell into the ocean
i'm growing up quicker and handlin' my liquor and yeah
you know what it is to be there yeah
i registered to vote so i could abstain my exemption
ah man i thought LAUNDRY was the fifth dimension
see thats why i never voted in the presidential election
cause women are clearly more qualified to select him
smoke it (smoke it)
just as long as you can smoke it (smoke it) yeah (yeah)
so if your gonna be a dog then at least be a good dog
come on now and sit, beg, stay
smoke it (smoke it)
just as long as you can smoke it (smoke it) yeah (yeah)
so now these people got problems and they got problems with people oh yeah
i know wHAT it is to be there
SMOKE IT!
10 Down Like Disco (04:54)
I want you, I think so
I wanna get round like Tokyo
I won't tell, will freak you
I wanna go down like this girl (wisk go)
I want you, California
I don't want to get shown like I'm on ya
I won't tell, won't miss though
I wanna get down like disco
I'm, coming on all of the time
I'll whip one, out of this joint
See a red neck burn like I must go
Temperamental, never miss though
I wanna go down like disco
I wanna get in, I wanna get out
I wanna go up and then I wanna come down
I wanna get in, I wanna get out
I wanna go out and then I wanna high
Coming on, all of the time
I want you, I don't think so
I don't wanna come down like disco
I wanna get in, I wanna get out
I wanna get up and then I wanna come down
I wanna get in, I wanna get out
I wanna get out and then I wanna get high
Coming on, all of the time
I'm coming on, all of the time
Coming off, all of the time
11 There Is Only This Time (04:41)
Only this time
What a time it is
Only this time
What a time it is
What a time it is
What a time it is
Only you and Me
What a you it is
Only you and Me
What a you it is
What a you it is
What a you it is
Only you and me
What a me it is
Only you and me
What a me it is
What a me it is
Whar a me it is
Only this time
What a time it is
Only this time
What a time it is
What a time it is
What a time it is
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Other reviews
By Adil
The album that followed their unexpected success did not garner much attention from the public, and the dreams of glory quickly vanished.
The word that keeps coming to my mind when listening to this disjointed album is always the same: resigned.
