New York Dolls Album: “Rock 'n Roll”

This album is both an excellent introduction and retrospective, since they only had two actual albums, from this noisy, garish quintet of smart-alecks. There is the added bonus of some previously unreleased cuts. I'm a huge fan, so I had to have all three. Emerging from the glittery Manhattan sixties hangover, they were the court jesters of the sleaziest sections of N.Y.C. Their fashion faux pas went into some uncharted territory beyond transvestitism and looked as if they shopped in the most disreputable thrift stores. They accesorized with hand bags, glad rags, and trash bags. Apart from this, and a large part of their appeal over many later punk/metal outfits, was that they were bi-: half contemptuous sneer, half goofy smirk. They immediately became a love `em or hate `em band and managed to simultaneously win both "Best New Band of the Year", and "Worst New Band of the Year" in Creem Magazine's Reader Poll. Some denigrated them as a grotesque garage band parody of the Rolling Stones, but if the originals were more and more becoming boring professional millionaires, well than why not? Supposedly they weren't musicians, couldn't play, but if they lacked a certain, shall we say finesse, they made up for it tenfold in brute power, raw exuberance, and unbridled passion, which many at the time were forgetting that's what rock `n' roll is all about. Guitarist Johnny Thunders high speed whiplash playing may have slid past the notes and chords, but he landed in the general vicinity, so why quibble? Besides there was always so much distortion, who could ever tell anyway? (Thunders later went on to a successful career as a professional corpse imitator). Other guitarist Sylvain Sylvain provided both bridge and anchor to the rhythm section for Thunder's thunder. Meanwhile, guy with the microphone, David Johansen, snarled, yelled, bitched, and generally preened and posed. Beneath all the bluster and blurry noise, they were true to their roots and influences: sixties soul "Don't Mess With Cupid", kitsch, the Cadet's "Stranded In The Jungle", and great girl group harmonies in "Trash" (well sorta' harmonies. General vicinity, general vicinity). Oh yeah, and cartoons, "Courageous Cat Theme". The Dolls made (endless) party music for the latter 20th Century's accelerated, fractured, and fragmented world. In "Frankenstein" they tell you how they know they're bits and pieces thrown together from the cultural trash heap, and they're none to pleased about it: "Oww, these shoes are too big! Oww, this jacket's too small!" In their classic "Personality Crisis" they are even sympathetic. Play it for your best burned out neurotic friends, it will cheer `em up. But what of this bizarre sartorial statement, what really was their sexual orientation? "I'm trisexual, I'll try anything", quipped Johansen. Naw, beneath all the mascara and pancake, they were just your average horny males, out on the prowl, "Looking For A Kiss" as the song stated, or perhaps a "Bad Girl". After all there was nothing else to do. In the end ("Human Being"), both the last song on this album and the last song of their second album, they justify their outlandish obstreperous behavior. They may all have looked like Frankenstein's monster, but if they were acting like kings, or wanted too many things, they knew they had to dream, and if it got a bit obscene ("whoopee!"), it's just `cause they were human beings.

Now every fan knows that the best way to expieriance the Dolls music is through their two ( and only two) studio albums. Yet, for an introduction to the band, this album works. Seventeen tracks off those two records are included on this baby, along with three previously unreleased songs (which are terrific). The unreleased material and digitally remastered sound make it a must for all of the fans. And since it features most of the stellar work of the first two albums, it's a great jumping on point. There really aren't any standout songs as they are all eclectic and great in their own way. Buy it now!!!! It'll take you back to when music was actually good.

If you are a long time Dolls fan and completist, view this as a great CD for driving around in the car, or for working out at the gym. If you were born after they broke up, and think Motley Crue or Guns N Roses invented this type of music, if you didn't know that KISS used to open for the Dolls way back when, or viewed the semi-drag get up on the first album as something to be scared of, or think punk was invented by the Ramones or the Sex Pistols, you need to buy this now. NOTHING afterwards would've happened without the NY Dolls. Period. EOC. All that happened after the Velvet Underground is directly as response to the advent of the Dolls. If you love late 20th century rock, and you don't own this, buy now. 'Nuf said.

Timeless raunch-n-roll. Still rocks LAMF. First got their stuff on 8-track when originally released, and still in heavy rotation. The only omission is "Pills"-I wonder why. Anyway-it's essential.

NEW YORK DOLLS-ROCK 'N ROLL: An aptly titled collection that reigns in most of the NEW YORK DOLLS' initial two album career, a swaggering, staggering mash-up of sleazoid garage, brash white boy soul, and greasy glam rock...the very foundation of future punkers everywhere. This motley assemblage of rude 'n crude cross-dressers spotlighted gravel-gargeling growler DAVID JOHANSEN, who later forged a kitschy career as high-haired retro jumpin' jiver BUSTER POINDEXTER. His bloozey, bronto stompin' bellows rode shotgun over the cockfighting guitars of JOHNNY THUNDERS and SYLVAIN SYLVAIN, anchored by the slopbucket ryhthm section of JERRY NOLAN and KILLER KANE. Strangely, the band's unhinged covers of BO DIDDLEY's PILLS and THE CADETS' cult classic STRANDED IN THE JUNGLE are missing in action, ignoring the muddy RNB vibe that was an esssential part of their makeup. Original sonic slabs of sludge TRASH, PERSONALITY CRISIS, and WHO ARE THE MYSTERY GIRLS, while too confrontational for early 70s FM radio, were an obvious influence on subsequent outrageous groups like KISS and THE RAMONES. Love 'em or loathe 'em, here's a platter that truly matters, smeared with the indelible, glorious mess that was the NEW YORK DOLLS.

RATING: FOUR LIPSTICKS