The Dandy Warhols
[#] The Capitol Years: 1995-2007 (2010)
Strangely executed, but the songs don't lie.
Reviewed January 5, 2026
You don't see a lot of greatest hits compilations in my review section because I generally don't collect them—the weird album cuts are my bread and butter. They're also weirdly anachronistic in the streaming age. At least albums generally stand as a solid piece. A compilation was made for the folks who wanted to hear "Bohemian Like You" without having to skip through "Muhammad" and "Sleep" to get there, and now YouTube is even more convenient than that. The Capitol Years: 1995-2007 is a confusing (for one thing, the Dandys' Capitol years actually start in 1997) collection held together by its top-shelf songs, proving the Dandys' approach to pulling stirring tunes out of rumbling sonics is no bullshit.
Despite the surface-level differences in "Good Morning"'s somnolent shoegaze, "Godless"' rootsy trumpets, and the scampering synths of "Plan A", these songs sit really nicely next to each other because they all come from the same sonic blueprint—big melodies, grubby fuzz, and a disappointed sneer. The mastering is where things start to get weird. I'd grudgingly expect a greatest hits to be blown out to shit, but there's actually a variety of mix differences and altered vocals here that range from "neat" to "pointlessly schizophrenic" (half the Monkey House tracks are taken from a noticeably alternate mix, for example). Consider it something for everyone, I guess: huge tunes for the casuals and a game of spot-the-difference for the dyed-in-the-Dandy.
| Essential: | "Every Day Should Be a Holiday", "Get Off", "Holding Me Up" |
|---|---|
| Quintessential: | "The Last High" |
| Non-Essential: | "This is the Tide" |
| Rating: |  |
[#] Dandys Rule OK (1995)
A massive concussion of rock and roll.
Reviewed January 5, 2026
The Portland-based Dandy Warhols have always occupied a challenging space in the rock continuum. It's not so much for their on-paper-simple-to-understand sozzled slurry of jubilant power pop, shoegaze sonics with just a hint of sitar, varying electropop flavoring, vulnerable acoustic introspection and a deep, music nerd working knowledge and catalog of covers of everyone from Blondie to Gordon Lightfoot to AC/DC to CSNY. It's more so their uncompromising flights of fancy, experimental to the pop crowd and what the hipster crowd felt was a hipster joke they weren't invited in on.
Never mind that. Whether the Dandys butter your muffin or not, their debut is undeniably all theirs. It's not often a group hits on all their career's sonic hallmarks right at the start, but Dandys Rule OK does it. You get the rollicking pop rock in their TV theme song transitioning into a handful of artist pastiches (ranging from the fuzz-toned "Ride" being worthy of any drive playlist to "Lou Weed" being worthy of, I dunno, a walk on the mild side?), folky acoustic navelgazing, and an over sixteen minute "Sister Ray" homage to cap things off. Perhaps the most quintessential Dandys album, start here to see if these guys do it for you like they do it for me.
| Essential: | "Ride", "Best Friend", "Genius" |
|---|---|
| Quintessential: | "Nothin' to Do" |
| Non-Essential: | "(Tony, This Song is Called) Lou Weed" |
| Rating: |  |