THE DANDYS
"I WANNA BE LIKE YOU"

BBC CEEFAX ALBUM REVIEW

The Dandys "Symphonic Screams" 18/06/98



The British music scene is in terminal decline, with album sales down and gigs cancelled, even the Phoenix has fallen back into the ashes …

Step forward the Dandys, riding out of the shadows on their off-white charges to save the day with a refreshing brand of quirky glam-pop psychedelia.

It’s not original, but its exciting, infectious, and in the use of "English Country Garden", "You Make Me Want To Scream", simply irresistible.

Hail the Dandys - top of the fops.

Chris Charles



FREEBASE INTERNET MUSIC MAGAZINE ALBUM REVIEW

The Dandys - Symphonic Screams (Artificial)


Collected here are twelve psychedelic-influenced pop songs including three previously limited releases - I Wanna Be Like You, Dirty Weekend, English Country Garden along with the brilliant Butterfly Song, a personal favourite, that was given out last November as a thank you to a small but growing devoted fanbase.

You Make Me Want To Scream more than others remind me of the psychedelic/post punk avenues ventured by the commercially overlooked, yet highly respected, Soft Boys - the band that spawned Robyn Hitchcock (and er... Katrina & The Waves).

The Dandys are fresh, considering the music of their contemporaries which loosely translated means that they appear to be out of favour with the music gutter-press. For here is a pop band reliving the happy dream-like qualities of the very British sixties psychedelic colours of Syd Barret's Pink Floyd, without feeling the need to back their guitars up with an indie-dance crossover backbeat ala Stone Roses.

Once in sync with the album the delivery, both music and vocal, has a certain underlying seventies glam vibe attached; more Sensational Alex Harvey than Gary Glitter.

The Dandys are hitting some high notes, especially live, but have yet to break through the commercial barrier. Maybe soon their time will come….

Review by Freebase Music Internet Magazine. Freebase can be found here !



MELODY MAKER REVIEW

The Dandys - Symphonic Screams (Artificial)

As keen viewers of BBC2’s Sunday morning kids show "Fully Booked", will already know, The Dandys are not a band to let credibility get in the way of a good plug. This is, after all, that combo that toured with Shed Seven; they’re also an act who have found themselves in the unfortunate position of having released half their album before it hits the shops. So here are the five releases to date, plus seven others.
This is an album which - as all good pop albums should be - seems wholly derivative. Some parts sound like David Bowie or Suede, others like Blur or the aforementioned Sheds. This may or may not be a good thing (I think its good), and The Dandys may or may not be the worst band in the world ( I don’t think they are). Fitting - as they seem to - between spangly-shirted foppishness and checked-shirt laddishness is hard work for the listener, but songs like "Dirty Weekend" and "The Butterfly Song" both do so with stylish dexterity and tuneful execution. The next album should be a stormer. Meanwhile this is fine and dandy.

Peter Robinson

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