X-Ray's Welcome To The Monkey House review (4 out of 5 stars)

X-Ray Magazine
Welcome To The Monkey House
by Fred Hill

Portland, Oregon, Bohemians' fine fourth waxing bring their rock recycling programme up to the age of leg-warmers.

There they were on Top Of The Pops, doing 'Bohemian Like You' all togged-up like the 60s rolling stones, with Courtney Taylor-Taylor rattling his maracas at ear-height, Jagger-style. It might just have been the definitive image of The Dandy Warhols, but it's one that we will now have to discard, as this fourth album of theirs boldly, bravely takes them somewhere else entirely. To the 80s, basically, and damn the consequences.
It seems like the whole of North America is currently vibing on that largely foul decade. Gladly, the Dandys aren't grubbing around in the same itchy-twitchy punk-funk influence-pool as most. They're miles away in the Med on a yacht, lippied-up and quaffing champagne with the Duran glitterati. Quite literally - Nick Rhodes co-produces and Simon Le Bon provides backing vocals! No, really! The Dandys' is a neo-classical 80s which, given their neo-classical take on the preceding two decades thus far, at least provides some sense of theoretical continuity.
Initially, though, 'Welcome..." is a shock. Mostly gone are the fuzz pedals, acoustic textures and rocking grooves of yore. In comes a wholly different sonic vocabulary - clipped, robotic rhythms, weirdly-treated guitar effects, electro basslines, tekkie noises and, oddest of all, tonnes of tight-trousered falsetto from Courtney (very Tim Burgess). 'I Am A Scientist' - which guest-stars Duran cohort and Chic/Bowie producer Nile Rodgers - sounds like Heaven 17. 'Bohemian...' it is not.
If your socks want rocking off, this is not the album for the job. However, after a few plays, the sheer catchiness overtakes the aesthetic weirdness. 'You Were The Last High', which was co-written with Evan Dando, but sails along on a riff akin to Duran's 'Girls On Film' , is simply fantastic. The moody 'I Am Sound' is Bowie's 'Ashes To Ashes' gone electroclash (well, almost). 'We Used To Be Friends' and 'Plan A' are equally 80s and equally ace.
The Dandys have always been reliably wayward on their albums, but even those drifty songs they write (like 'Mohammed' off Thirteen Tales...) have fit snuggly within the conceptual whole - almost, but not quite, to the point of sameyness. Whether or not it sells, this is a triumph. Like a dancefloor titan in a dark overcoat, 'Welcome To The Monkey House' will subvert your senses with its wicked science - and, contrary to your worst fears, it will feel very, very nice.