Here are some things that the Dandy Warhols aren't: consistent, gentle, hip-right-now. And here are some things that they are: catchy as hell, catchy as hell, catchy as hell. Got that? In all earnestness, there are more hooks and catches in The Capitol Years than in Lady Gaga's extensive corsetry box.
This album is a best-of retrospective: 14 of the band's best tracks and one brand new, never-before heard bonus track that might come as a bit of a surprise to the fair-weather Dandy Warhols fan.
Itchy were expecting 15 upbeat songs about being from Bohemia and liking people, but that's not what you get. Bummer.
There're actually rather a lot of songs about not liking people. 'Smoke It' complains that
”people got more baggage than JFK, Yeah. And I'm talkin' about the airport man“. There's also an angry revelation or two about the trials and tribulations of being rich and famous: ”there's a whole lot of fakin', and takin', and shakin my hand, and when they tell you they love you, they love you like a one night stand“.
'We Used to be Friends' is rather a funky number, featuring a
Mighty Boosh-worthy chorus of high-pitched, uber-camp, psychedelic proportions. The line ”a long time ago, we used to be friends, but I haven't thought of you lately“ doesn't ring quite true (you have to think about a person in order to write a song about them. OBV.)
Catchiest of the 'unknown' tracks, as we like to call them, is 'Not if You Were the Last Junkie on Earth' (in fact this was apparently a hitlet in 1998), features the unlikely sing-along refrain 'Heroin is so passe'.
And you will sing along. More than you could ever possibly want to. We promise you.
Helen True
