Alternative Press' Dandys Rule OK review

Alternative Press #88
Dandys Rule O.K.
by Dave Thompson
November 1995

The Dandy Warhols...great name, but haven't we heard it somewhere before?

Justine Frischmann had a baby and they called it Roger McGuinn, and I know I'm not the only person who wondered what would happen if Elastica started covering Byrds songs.

Opening with a mock-concert intro, then crashing into the Warhols' own vision of a TV theme song (called, of course, "The Dandy Warhols TV Theme Song," Banana Splits meets....Elastica again), the Warhols' debut album has a frenetic, scatty edge to it, bouncing off it's own internal walls, savage surf with a "come home and meet my parents" shininess.

Then you hit the last three tracks, the suite: "It's A Fast Driving Rave Up With The Dandy Warhols' Sixteen Minutes," through which flutters the entire history of discordant pop 'n' roll, from the stooges' motorbike guitars to the Psychadelic Furs' vacuum-cleaned droning, and suddenly all that's gone before falls away.

"Sister Ray" on a akateboard, with Hawkwind doing lights (And a bonus raga drone on the end), a throbbing mix conceals a welter of activity, guitar leads which wander (and wonder why they do it), layered vocals which smack a tad of the Mary Chain, and though you know the whole thing is utterly pointless, you also know that the Dandy Warhols have nailed the secret of full-frontal sonic pop wallpaper, and there's a vivacious bounce to the whole thing which is absolutely irresistible. I bet is sounds great on acid.