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Dandy
Warhols
Welcome to the Monkey House
label: Mute
released: 05.19.03 UK / 08.05.03 US
our score: 4.0 out of 5.0
buy
it: here
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The Dandy
Warhols need not worry about selling out to commercialism if they
run upon hard times. They have already done it! The band from
Portland, Oregon, made a packet from a mobile phone company when
"Bohemian Like You" was chosen to push the telecom industry.
Such media attention ensured their last album, Thirteen Tales
From Urban Bohemia, was a 225,000-selling success one year
after its’ original release. It deserved to be in CD players
across the country without corporate backing, and make no mistake
that this should be the case with Welcome To The Monkey House,
out on May 19.
Skillfully
crafted in their own free-flowing way, the 13 tracks roll into
each other effortlessl, surprising when you think of the musical
diversity on show. But the guitars are toned down a little and
replaced by electronica as childhood heroes Duran Duran get in
on the act. Welcome To The Monkey House! The short titular
opener breaks into the new single, "We Used To Be Friends",
a song intent on sticking in your head and raising the curtain
on a wonderfully addictive album. The Warhols specialise in anthemic
gems based around cool guitar pop-rock and the incredibly wide-ranging
vocals of frontman Courtney Taylor-Taylor. Nowhere is this more
evident than in the lovely "Plan A", with Simon Le Bon
adding backing vocals, and "You Were The Last High",
which is the best track on the new CD despite sounding a little
like Prefab Sprout.
Elsewhere
on Welcome To The Monkey House, songs like "I Am A
Scientist", "I Am Over It", "The Dope"
and "Heavenly" provide solid backing to these three
obvious single releases. It’s a tightly constructed and very
strong follow-up album to what has already become an early 21st
Century classic, and Welcome To The Monkey House will scratch
“The Warhols” onto the musical map.
The Warhols,
except when helping to sell consumer durables, are not primarily
a singles band, instead spending their time honing the full package
of an album. Welcome To The Monkey House, named after a
1968 collection of short stories, is a finished package. It was
three years in the making, benefits from the band’s earlier
experiences and builds on the promise of Thirteen Tales From
Urban Bohemia. It misses out on nothing at all, so make sure
you don’t miss out on it either. A corking collection of
laid-back, soft pop-rock.
7-May-2003
8:15 AM
If you
liked Welcome to the Monkey House...
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Tracklist:
1.
Welcome to the Monkey House
2. We Used to be Friends
3. Plan A
4. Dope
5. I Am A Scientist
6. I Am Over It
7. Dandy Warhols Love Almost Everyone
8. Insincere Because I
9. You Were the Last High
10. Heavenly
11. I Am Sound
12. Hit Rock Bottom
13. You Come In Burned
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