Boys are fine and Dandys
CD PICK OF THE WEEK
With very limited exceptions, and regardless of their professed personal comfort with such matters, bands expend a great deal of agony on their publicity photos. The Dandy Warhols, bless ’ em, have never displayed any discernible disdain for the misunderstood role “ image” has always vitally played in rock music. They coyly opened their first album a decade ago with their own “ TV Theme Song” and cultivated a well- traveled reputation as effete, so- much- coolerthanyou hedonists long before all but a reverent few beyond the Portland, Ore., city limits were paying attention to them.
This talent for committed, if sometimes conflicted meta- rock irony tends to infuriate non- fans who see the Dandys as smug poseurs. But part of the Dandy Warhols’ shtick is to come off as smug poseurs. And in case frontman Courtney TaylorTaylor’s droll repertoire of such astute cultural putdowns as “ Nothing ( Portrait of a Young Artist for Sale),” “ Not if You Were the Last Junkie on Earth” and “ Bohemian Like You” had not previously alerted you to the band’s sense of humour, it has assembled some of the most ridiculous rock ’ n’ roll vanity shots of all time — including a hysterical pic of Taylor smoking on the john in full ’ 50sstewardess drag — for the cover art to its fifth album, Odditorium or Warlords of Mars
( Capitol/ EMI).
It has also enlisted A&E voice of doom “ MC” Bill Kurtis to introduce the record with a discussion of the Dandys’ progression “ far beyond the traditional jug- band sound.” Such foolish hijinks and their own predilection for wayward psychedelia often obscure the Dandys’ winning way with a tune. And although Odditorium makes a marked retreat from the strippeddown clarity of 2003’ s up- and- down Welcome to the Monkey House
to more intentionally cluttered headspaces, Taylor is still cranking out sublime, ’ 60s- influenced pop gems like “ All the Money or the Simple Life Honey” and “ Down Like Disco” in between freaky, fan- friendly guitar drones like “ Holding Me Up” and “ Love is the New Feel Awful.” As usual, you’re not sure if the Dandys are laughing at you or with you during these moments. The dippy “ Smoke It” is a send- up of a stupid pop hit that could easily wind up a stupid pop hit, albeit one that manages also to be a typically sharp Taylor response to the idiotic grind of 21st- century life. But that rarely diminishes the fun. The only thing that knocks Odditorium a notch or two beneath the band’s terrific first three albums are silly hoedowns like “ The New Country,” a tune enlisting dogs as percussionists and the patience- testing closing tandem of the mincey Beta Band goof “ There is Only This Time” and “ A Loon Tonight,” which suggests an extensive mangling of “ No Quarter” by Dean and Gene Ween.
Still, if you’re already into the Dandy Warhols, you’ll appreciate them playing to their strengths again here.