Puncture's Dandys Rule OK review
|
Puncture #33
Dandys Rule O.K.
by Josh M. Gilbertson
Summer 1995
The Dandy Warhols are one of a number of bands combining amateurism and pop psychadelia. The initial effort is great, but it can sag over the course of a lengthy album. Great pop groups of the past made short albums not only because an LP's capacity was limited, but also because they didn't expect to hold anyone's attention for much over half an hour.
The Dandies kick off with an introduction steeped in pop in-jokes. After that, for 70-plus minutes, guitars and tambourines jamgle at different tempos. It's very convincing at first; less so after "Lou Weed." This tune, featuring the most convincing Lou Reed imitation (and enough Velvets references to make Galaxie 500 seem modest), is funny and completely self-concious. But after this point, half an hour in, a wearying sameness sets in. It becomes harder to lose yourself in the grooves, especially since none of them coalesces into a song - they're just fragments extended past the 3-minute mark.
Many other bands are playing this schtick right now, but there's an airy gap between the best and the worst in the revival game - between a modern twist on an old sound and a faint echo of a rosily (thus falsely) remembered past. It's not clear that the Dandy Warhols will be able to leap that divide.
|
|
|