Dandy Warhols - Odditorium or The Warlords of Mars

I read it somewhere that every great band does a bad album at some point in their careers. This may well be the Dandy Warhols effort on that score.

You can always rely on the Dandy's for a good single or two, and lead single "Smoke It" doesn't disappoint. "All The Money or the Simple Life Honey" and "Down With Disco" are two other songs which would comfortably sit up there in a best of... collection. But after this, it is rapidly downhill.

"Love Is The New Feel Awful" is a great opening track, for two and a half minutes. The problem is that the track goes on for nearly 10 minutes, disintergrating into a pseudo jam session. Close in spirit to the ethos of the Dandy's live shows it may be, but on record, with skipping facility I doubt even hardened fans will listen to it all for a second time. It's pure musical heaven though compared to the closing track "A Loan Tonight", which meanders on for nearly 12 minutes to no discernable effect.

When this album is good, its bloody brilliant, but sadly it isn't good often enough. They've reverted back to the languid, sprawling sound of their debut album (Dandy's Rule Ok) yet without the hazy charm that shone through on that effort. The Dandy's have always been clouded by their apparent emptiness, but usually there's enough smart, slick and slighltly smug genius to over-shadow on it. On this occasion, the balance has tipped the wrong way.

Icon's View - 2 1/2 out of 5.