The Dandy Warhols "Thirteen Tales From Urban Bohemia" - Retrospective Review

9/10

Thirteen Tales from Urban Bohemia feels like an album that got dropped into one of the strangest little pockets in rock history. It came out after a lot of the magic, or "coolness" of ’90s alternative rock had started to run out of gas, but just before the early-2000s indie and garage rock boom kicked the door open to the next era, changing what “cool” was supposed to sound like all over again. Alternative rock, at that exact moment, was in a weird identity crisis, as alt and mainstream rock started merging into one. Grunge and Britpop had ended, that post-grunge/K-Rock sound was starting to form, and for the most part, alt-rock fans, especially those outside of the US really wanted nothing to do with that. But the strange homelessness of this record turned out to be part of what makes it so interesting to me. Thirteen Tales from Urban Bohemia sounds like an album without a natural era, stuck somewhere between the last fumes of the ’90s and the explosion of the 2000s indie rock revival.

That weird placement really does retrospectively work in the record’s favor, because The Dandy Warhols never sound like they are trying to fit neatly into anything anyway, with their mix of experimental rock, power-pop, and cosmic rock. Godless opens the record with that slow, hazy confidence, so different from the radio-ready alt-rock records peppering the late ’90s, even if the album eventually produces a couple songs that could absolutely work that way. Mohammed is where the album really starts to show off its atmosphere, especially with those backing vocals creating this pretty, floating soundscape that feels much bigger than the song itself. Even the cover looks cool, which matters more than people want to admit. It has that fried, stylish, slightly suspicious energy that fits the music perfectly — like a bunch of people who know exactly where the party is, but maybe not where they are sleeping that night.

A lot of the album’s personality comes from how many sounds are being thrown around without making the record feel messy. The space-age effects, keyboards, synths, horns, and drum-machine-sounding money beat that pops up between a bunch of the tunes all give it this strange continuity, like even the weirder turns belong to the same late-night world. Horse Pills is probably the best example of the band just going for it — a weird, trippy, ridiculous song that works because it does not seem interested in explaining itself. Nietzsche is in that same general lane, sounding like an acid trip with a chorus, and I can only imagine how many people blasted off to that song back in the day. Then you have Sleep, which is less immediately flashy, but might be one of the better examples of the album’s ability to create a mood. It is really one of those songs that high-quality headphones give you a completely different appreciation of. Atmospheric brilliance, in truly the most literal way possible.

Of course, how could you write about The Dandy Warhols without mentioning the one-of-a-kind Courtney Taylor-Taylor? Out-there does not even come close to characterizing that unique man, with vocal stylings closer to that Anton Newcombe, Beck, or Gibby Haynes kind of sound, where the appeal is less about range and more about delivery, attitude, and sounding like nobody else could quite sing the song the same way. That said, Gospel exhibits Taylor-Taylor putting on a masterclass of more traditionally lauded vocal abilities, especially for fans of Thom Yorke... Of course, plenty of the lyrics are goofy and atypical, but there is real darkness here too. The record can sound cool and loose on the surface, but a lot of it feels pretty introspective underneath, which is probably why the whole thing has more staying power than it might initially let on. The guitar work helps with that too — sometimes pretty and unique, other times more aggressive and in-your-face, but almost always adding to the album’s odd little atmosphere.

Of course, Get Off and Bohemian Like You are still the obvious classics here. Get Off is sharp, catchy, and just sleazy enough, while Bohemian Like You remains one of those songs that still sounds like being in your 20s and just trying to get by in a very weird world, hopping from dive bar to dive bar, meeting weird people, sleeping in sketchy places, and just not having a whole lot of responsibility — or money. Ultimately, Bohemian Like You became a lot bigger than the album to a lot of people, becoming an anthem for so many people and one of the quintessential alternative rock songs. Sadly, most people who know that song don't know the album. That said, Thirteen Tales from Urban Bohemia works best when you let the whole thing play out. Don't put it on shuffle because so much of its appeal comes from the way its sounds bleed into each other and create this bigger mood. Each song is right where it needs to be, and they clearly put a lot of thought into the transitions. Country Leaver probably could have been left off, and I do not think the record would lose much, but that is not enough to derail what The Dandy Warhols pulled off here.

This is a strange, stylish, sometimes dark, sometimes goofy album that probably arrived at the wrong time to get the praise it deserved. It is not perfect, but it is one of those records where the uniqueness, and the homelessness really made it such a classic. Funny enough, the strange homelessness of this record turned out to be part of what makes it so interesting to me. Really, Thirteen Tales from Urban Bohemia being an era-less album makes perfect sense, because that is kind of what the record is about in the first place — drifting around, living loosely, and finding some weird little identity in not totally belonging anywhere. Who could do that better than the Dandies?