No Virgina by The Dresden Dolls and Who Killed Amanda Palmer? by Amanda Palmer

Amanda Palmer's had a busy year. She's released 2 complete albums of new (for me at least. The Dresden Dolls album includes outtakes from Yes Virginia) material. It all seems kind of silly to me. She writes (except for the occasional cover), sings and plays piano on every Dresden Dolls song. And she writes, sings and plays piano (most of the time) on every song on her solo album. So why the hell couldn't she play those songs as The Dresden Dolls? Is this division really necessary?

I could puzzle over this some more, but I won't be able to resolve this. By all appearances, there hasn't been any falling out with the other 50% of the Dresden Dolls, Brian Viglione, so I guess she really felt like some of her songs didn't fit with her band. This is frustrating to me since the last Dresden Dolls album, Yes Virgina, suffered because the band was clearly limiting themselves. Additional musicians were far less present than they were on the debut album. As a result, No Virginia was a weak follow up for me. There's only so much you can do with just two instruments, and while The Dresden Dolls certainly do all they can with piano and drums, there are some clear sonic limitations.

Because of this, I thought the solo album might hold the most promise. And playing them side by side, Who Killed Amanda Palmer opens light years ahead of No Virginia. WKAP opens with "Astronaut", a song with a driving piano melody backed by strings. Palmer played this at the in-store performance I saw last month. It was easily the best song of the night, and it kills "Dear Jenny" easily. "Dear Jenny" opens with an inevitably jarring combination of piano, drums, vocals (and maybe even bass) that turns me off before I have a chance to warm up to the song. By the end, it redeems itself, but it never reaches the heights of "Astronaut".

And for a while last week while I was listening to both of the albums, I thought this would be the dominant theme. On the first few listens, it seemed clear that WKAP was the more diverse and challenging album. Songs like "Leeds United" and "Guitar Hero" show a strong pop sensibility that is sometimes too often lost with The Dresden Dolls. But WKAP is dominated by slower, more contemplative songs like "Amersand" and "Blake Says" that just feel like downers.

And while No Virginia gets off to a rough start, it picks up dramatically with tracks 3 and 4, "The Mouse and the Model" and "Ultima Espiranza" which both show off what The Dresden Dolls are best at. The first is one of those powerful slow burn songs that picks up steam by the end while "Ultima Esperanza" is a briskly paced number that manages to pack a more efficient punch. And while No Virginia continues to offer little surprises throughout --especially, the haunting song "The Kill" which seems to borrow lyrics from "Anarchy in the UK", WKAP decends into either bland pop music "Oasis"or tedium "What's the use of wond'rin".

So despite Palmer's interest in providing a more diverse sonic landscape on her solo album, she's saved her strongest material for The Dresden Dolls. Looks like they'll be around for a while longer. I hope they invite some friends to the party.