Thirteen Tales from Urban Bohemia is the third album by American rock bandThe Dandy Warhols, released in June 2000, through record labelCapitol. It is considered their breakthrough album, largely owing to the song "Bohemian Like You" being featured in a notable Vodafone advertisement. Four singles were released from the album: "Get Off", "Bohemian Like You", "Godless" and "Horse Pills". This is the band's first album to feature their new drummer Brent DeBoer, Taylor-Taylor's cousin, who joined the band following the departure of their original drummer Eric Hedford, during the tour of their previous studio album.
Background and recording
Recording of the album commenced in December 1998 and concluded in March 1999. On the making of the album, frontman Courtney Taylor-Taylor said that "we felt like we needed to make the last classic rock album. A record that would be, sonically, shaped somewhere in-between All Things Must Pass and Workingman's Dead."
Release
The album's first single, "Get Off", was released in May 2000. Thirteen Tales from Urban Bohemia was released in June 2000 by record label Capitol. It is considered their breakthrough album due to the success of the album's second single "Bohemian Like You", released in August, which reached number 5 in the UK, despite the album only reaching number 182 in the US Billboard 200. It reached number 32 in the UK Albums Chart. A special edition of the album, titled Seven Tales for Urban Australia, was released at the band's Australian tour, containing a bonus disc of seven extra tracks. Two further singles were released: "Godless", on July 17, 2001, and "Horse Pills" the same year, released in Australia only. By 2003 the album had sold over 200,000 copies in the UK alone. In 2013, a remastered version of the album called the 13th Anniversary Edition was released, featuring a bonus disc of previously unreleased material.
Reception
Thirteen Tales from Urban Bohemia was well received by critics and holds a score of 80 out of 100 on the review aggregate site Metacritic, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Keith Phipps of The A.V. Club called the album "an 800-pound gorilla of winning, eclectic rock 'n' roll" and wrote that it "may be the most joyous, instantly likable rock record you'll hear this year." Heather Phares of AllMusic called it a "bakers' dozen of their most focused and cohesive songs". Alternative Press called it "a scattershot bagful of wild rides and demented ditties and an album of maniacal depth and vision." The Phoenix New Timess Brian Baker wrote, "Thirteen Tales from Urban Bohemia is astonishing in its maturity and vision, coming from a band that is so young and so purposefully aimless." The Portland Mercury wrote, "while previous efforts have been somewhat schizophrenic in their ping-ponging between over-the-top atmosphere and dumbass pop, The Dandy Warhols' third record brings everything together in one tight package." Robert Christgau of The Village Voice gave the album a two-star honorable rating and remarked: "Dandies have feelings too—no, strike that, tunes too."
Track listing
Personnel
The Dandy Warhols
Courtney Taylor-Taylor – lead vocals, guitar, production, mixing
