Amazon.com's Welcome To The Monkey House review
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Amazon.com
Welcome To The Monkey House
by Robert Burrow
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It's refreshing to hear a 1980s tribute that doesn't get overwhelmed by its own sense of irony. The Dandy Warhols' fourth album, Welcome to the Monkey House is just such an album. Teaming up with coproducer Nick Rhodes--who learned a thing or two about 80s success-via-excess as Duran Duran's keyboard player--the Dandys have ditched most of their guitars in favour of synths and sequencers, and teamed up with a host of "genuine, period authentic" guest stars: Duran Duran's Simon Le Bon provides backing vocals on the tripped-out "Plan A", Chic guitarist/producer Nile Rodgers joins the band on the retro, electro-funk work-out "I Am a Scientist" and legendary Bowie/ T-Rex producer Tony Visconti collaborates on "The Dope" and the glam-stomp of "Hit Rock Bottom".
Generally, the new sound is a change that suits them well--the Dandy Warhols have always had a superb sense of history, and their best work has often been their more obvious homage ("Bohemian Like You", for example). But more than that, the Dandys have retained their playful, baiting sense of humour (they are, after all, also responsible for the classic "Not If You Were the Last Junky on Earth"), and it's this tongue-in-cheek deconstruction of their own coolness that serves them well on Welcome to the Monkey House. Frontman Courtney Taylor-Taylor (the double-barrelled surname is new, so maybe it's an attempt at anglicising?) still delivers most of his lyrics with a lazy nonchalance, but this time he matches it with a tight-trousers falsetto that seems equally suited to his androgynous image. As with most Dandy Warhols albums, the best songs on Monkey House are the most biting--in particular the first single, "We Used to Be Friends". The rest of the album isn't as immediately accessible, but it's well worth giving it a few listens. Guitars or not, the Dandy Warhols know a thing or two about writing a catchy tune, and Welcome to the Monkey House is as much fun as anything they've done before.
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