Metascore
80 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 18 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 13 out of 18
  2. Negative: 0 out of 18
  1. Without a doubt one of the best pop records of the year.
  2. 90
    A real piece of art, with an unmistakably original sound and incisive storytelling.
  3. 90
    A stoner's paradise from start to finish. Most pleasurable.
  4. They may not always transcend their influences, but even when they don't, they make wallowing in them a helluva lot of fun.
  5. 80
    One of the better albums released this year...
  6. A bakers' dozen of their most focused and cohesive songs. Where their earlier albums were eclectic to the point of being scattershot, this release manages to limit the band's style-switching to dreamy, sweeping epics like "Godless" and "Nietzsche"; sussed, sleazy power pop like "Horse Pills" and "Cool Scene"; and country and gospel ventures like "Country Leaver" and "The Gospel."
  7. While their previous albums have always had great songs, with this latest set they've managed to place them in the right order, creating a truly impressive journey...
  8. A scattershot bagful of wild rides and demented ditties and an album of maniacal depth and vision. [#146, p.86]
  9. Akin to a perfectly plotted soundtrack to an unplanned psychedelic journey - multi-dimensional and anything you want it to be.
  10. There isn't the slightest pause between any of the tracks on Thirteen Tales, just one big schmeer of good-rockin' vibes cresting and troughing for the length of this ode to, well, hipness.
  11. 80
    A rousing, enjoyable pastiche from start to finish, Thirteen Tales is an awful lot of fun...
  12. An 800-pound gorilla of winning, eclectic rock 'n' roll.... Thirteen Tales may be the most joyous, instantly likable rock record you'll hear this year.
  13. After a while, the whirling atmospherics give way to the Dandys' dorkier tendencies: the jaunty chuggers, Taylor's dissolute mannerisms, the quirky little twists and tricks.
  14. Being that the band's name is derivative, so are many of these Thirteen Tales they tell.
  15. One-upping their previous masterwork, 1997's The Dandy Warhols Come Down, Thirteen Tales... will trip you out, especially when listened to on headphones in the post-midnight hours.
  16. 60
    Intermittently successful... [July 2000, p.107]
  17. The band nearly succeeds in messing with your head. However, front man Courtney Taylor's hamming like Jagger on "Bohemian Like You" and the country schlock of "Country Leaver" are definite buzzkills.
  18. Dandies can still harmonize you into a trance, but they've replaced the dreamy drone of 1997's . . . The Dandy Warhols Come Down with more diverse atmospherics.
User Score

Universal acclaim- based on 24 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 15 out of 15
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 15
  3. Negative: 0 out of 15
  1. This is an absolute pearl. One of the few albums I always listen as one track. With 'Sleep' as my favorite. I haven't heard from them for a while, but this album is always with me in my car! Full Review »
  2. DanielW.
    10
    Brilliant.
  3. VidarT.
    9
    One of the best releases in 2000, an album spanning from the mellow and alternative to pure rock and roll, always melodic and almost annoyingly catchy. Full Review »