The Dandy Warhols Album Recommendations: "...The Dandy Warhols Come Down"

Album Reviews

The old five-point scale has been retired in favor of just rating stuff 1-10, which allows me a much more nuanced final rating. Still don't take it that seriously. Most of these come from my own collection, so the grades skew rather high. Your results may vary if you send me stuff to review.

Each album is given three Essential tracks, my personal favorites, regardless of how weird and inconsequential they are. The Quintessential pick is the one I think best represents the album as a whole, so you can try one song instead of a whole album of songs. Non-Essential picks range from merely disappointing to outright unlistenable.

The Dandy Warhols

[#] ...The Dandy Warhols Come Down (1997)

Melodically sweet, sonically dense, perfectly balanced.

Reviewed January 12, 2026

...The Dandy Warhols Come Down album art

Shimmery, glistening, and all warm and fuzzy, ...The Dandy Warhols Come Down might as well be a sonic Christmas tree—apt, given all the gifts the Dandys come bearing on it. What might be the band's brightest moment, a perfectly-paced mix of snowy drones and strutting garage rock, this is a huge leap forwards from both Dandys Rule OK and its attempted followup. OK might've seen them bury a huge tune like "Boys Better" or "Cool as Kim Deal" in fuzz or "la la la" out a great vocal melody, but here, their pop songs leap out of the speakers, and the lyrics are more cutting and introspective to boot.

It's easy to get caught in Courtney Taylor's smirking self-awareness when he sings about how he'd rather be cool than smart, or how heroin isn't even fuckin' cool anymore, but deeper analysis of Come Down reveals just as much vulnerability. "Be-In" borrows a jangly riff from a Black Album interlude and uses it to soundtrack isolation. "Whipping Tree", over an icy, distant guitar, is all about being in deep, perhaps futilely, and you don't need to listen very close to catch the hyperventilation and screaming fits on the smouldering "I Love You". About the only thing you can charge these smartasses with is not knowing how to end their album—but when the party's this good, why would you want to?

Essential:	"Be-In", "I Love You", "Every Day Should Be a Holiday"
Quintessential:	"Boys Better"
Non-Essential:	"Pete International Airport"
Rating:
Further listening:	"First Draft: ...The Dandy Warhols Come Down" on Letters From Somnolescent