The New York Dolls - The First Albums: 1973-74 (4CD in Original & Remastered form) RESTORED

The New York Dolls created punk rock before there was a term for it. Building on the Rolling Stones' dirty rock & roll, Mick Jagger's androgyny, girl group pop, the glam rock of David Bowie and T. Rex, and the Stooges' anarchic noise, the New York Dolls created a new form of hard rock that presaged both punk rock and heavy metal. Their drug-fueled, shambolic performances influenced a generation of musicians in New York and London, who all went on to form punk bands. And although they self-destructed quickly, the band's two albums remain two of the most popular cult records in Rock & Roll history.

All of the members of the New York Dolls played in New York bands before they formed in late 1971. Guitarists Johnny Thunders and Rick Rivets, bassist Arthur Kane, and drummer Billy Murcia were joined by vocalist David Johansen. Early in 1972, Rivets was replaced by Syl Sylvian and the group began playing regularly in lower Manhattan, particularly at the Mercer Arts Center. Within a few months, they had earned a dedicated cult following, but record companies were afraid of signing the band because of their cross-dressing and blatant vulgarity.

Late in 1972, the New York Dolls embarked on their first tour of England. During the tour, drummer Murcia died after mixing drugs and alcohol. He was replaced by Jerry Nolan. After Nolan joined the band, the Dolls finally secured a record contract with Mercury Records. Todd Rundgren – whose sophisticated pop seemed at odds with the band's crash-and-burn rock & roll – produced the band's eponymous debut, which appeared in the summer of 1973. The record received overwhelmingly positive reviews, but it didn't stir the interest of the general public; the album peaked at number 116 on the U.S. charts. The band's follow-up, Too Much Too Soon, was produced by the legendary girl group producer George "Shadow" Morton. Although the sound of the record was relatively streamlined, the album was another commercial failure, only reaching number 167 upon its early summer 1974 release…

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Following the disappointing sales of their two albums, Mercury Records dropped the New York Dolls. No other record labels were interested in the band, so they decided to hire a new manager, the British Malcolm McLaren, who would soon become famous for managing the Sex Pistols. With the Dolls, McLaren began developing his skill for turning shock into invaluable publicity. Although he made it work for the Pistols just a year later, all of his strategies backfired for the Dolls. McLaren made the band dress completely in red leather and perform in front of the USSR's flag, all of which meant to symbolize the Dolls' alleged communist allegiance. The new approach only made record labels more reluctant to sign the band and members soon began leaving the group.

By the middle of 1975, Thunders and Nolan left the Dolls. The remaining members, Johansen and Sylvain, fired McLaren and assembled a new lineup of the band. For the next two years, the duo led a variety of different incarnations of the band, to no success. In 1977, Johansen and Sylvain decided to break up the band permanently. Over the next two decades, various outtakes collections, live albums, and compilations were released by a variety of labels and the New York Dolls' two original studio albums never went out of print.

Upon the Dolls' break up, David Johansen began a solo career that would eventually metamorphose into his lounge-singing alter ego Buster Poindexter in the mid-'80s. Syl Sylvain played with Johansen for two years before he left to pursue his own solo career. Johnny Thunders formed the Heartbreakers with Jerry Nolan after they left the group in 1975. Over the next decade, the Heartbreakers would perform sporadically and Thunders would record an occasional solo album. On April 23, 1991, Thunders – who was one of the more notorious drug abusers in rock & roll history – died of a heroin overdose. Nolan performed at a tribute concert for Thunders later in 1991; a few months later, he died of a stroke at the age of 40…

Along with the Stooges, the New York Dolls were largely responsible for pioneering the sound and attitude of punk, and this, their self-titled debut, is one of the founding documents of post-'60s rock. Outrageous, shambolic, and bursting with energy, the Dolls borrowed from the amped-up, bluesy swagger of the Rolling Stones, the pop confections of Phil Spector, and the campy theatricality that would flower with the glam movement, yet brought it all together with a visceral impact that recalled the jolt of early Rock & Roll.

Tracklist:

01. Personality Crisis
02. Looking For A Kiss
03. Vietnamese Baby
04. Lonely Planet Boy
05. Frankenstein
06. Trash
07. Bad Girl
08. Subway Train
09. Pills
10. Private World
11. Jet Boy


Original Release Date: 1973
Audio CD: "October 25, 1990"
Label: Mercury / Polygram
Catalog No.: 832 752-2

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The New York Dolls - The First Albums: 1973-74 (4CD in Original & Remastered form) RESTORED

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There are hints of girl group pop and more than a hint of the Rolling Stones, but The New York Dolls doesn't really sound like anything that came before it. It's hard rock with a self-conscious wit, a celebration of camp and kitsch that retains a menacing, malevolent edge. The New York Dolls play as if they can barely keep the music from falling apart and David Johansen sings and screams like a man possessed. The New York Dolls is a noisy, reckless album that rocks and rolls with a vengeance. The Dolls rework old Chuck Berry and Stones riffs, playing them with a sloppy, violent glee. "Personality Crisis", "Looking for a Kiss", and "Trash" strut with confidence, while "Vietnamese Baby" and "Frankenstein" sound otherworldly, working the same frightening drone over and over again. The New York Dolls is the definitive proto-punk album, even more than anything the Stooges released. It plunders history while celebrating it, creating a sleazy urban mythology along the way.

~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, all media guide

Tracklist:

01. Personality Crisis
02. Looking For A Kiss
03. Vietnamese Baby
04. Lonely Planet Boy
05. Frankenstein (Orig.)
06. Trash
07. Bad Girl
08. Subway Train
09. Pills
10. Private World
11. Jet Boy


all arrangements by New York Dolls. Produced by Todd Rundgren
Engineered by Jack Douglas & Ed Sprigg. Recorded at Record Plant Studios, New York

additional musicians:
- Buddy Bowser - saxophone
- Todd Rundgren - piano, moog synthesizer

Original Release Date: 1973
Release Date: March 4, 2009
Format: Original recording remastered
Label: Universal Music Japan
Catalog No.: UICY-60098



Discounting the proto-punk '60s work of groups like the Stooges and the MC5, the New York Dolls are probably the first punk band. Visually they flirted with glam, but that's just because they were emulating their main influence, the Stones, whose one-time penchant for wearing ladies' clothes the Dolls aped. Like the Stones, the Dolls had a flamboyant singer (David Johansen) full of sexy swagger and soul, and a strung-out-looking guitarist (Johnny Thunders) who'd chewed up and spit out the Chuck Berry catalogue. The Dolls revved up that rootsy sound, combining a hard edge with a respect for the rock & roll verities. Songs such as "Who are the Mystery Girls?" and "It's Too Late" meld punk abandon with soulful rock & roll, with Thunders's slashing guitar slicing the '50s and '60s aesthetics into little pieces. The iconoclastic Dolls had an undeniable respect for tradition, shown by their cocky covers of the soul classic "(There's Gonna Be A) Showdown" and the '50s novelty hit "Stranded in the Jungle". Despite all these nods to the past, though, TOO MUCH TOO SOON burst onto the 1974 rock scene sounding like exactly what it was–the dawning of a new day.

Tracklist:

01. Babylon
02. Stranded In The Jungle
03. Who Are The Mystery Girls
04. (There's Gonna Be A) Showdown
05. It's Too Late
06. Puss 'N' Boots
07. Chatterbox
08. Bad Detective
09. Don't Start Me Talkin'
10. Human Being


Original Release Date: 1974
Audio CD: "October 25, 1990"
Label: Mercury / Polygram
Catalog No.: 834 230-2

After the clatter of their first album failed to bring them a wide audience, the New York Dolls hired producer Shadow Morton to work on the follow-up, Too Much Too Soon. The differences are apparent right from the start of the ferocious opener, "Babylon". Not only are the guitars cleaner, but the mix is dominated by waves of studio sound effects and female backing vocals. Ironically, instead of making the Dolls sound safer, all the added frills emphasize their gleeful sleaziness and reckless sound. The Dolls sound on the verge of falling apart throughout the album, as Johnny Thunders and Syl Sylvain relentlessly trade buzz-saw riffs while David Johansen sings, shouts, and sashays on top of the racket. Band originals – including the bluesy raver "It's Too Late", the noisy girl-group pop of "Puss N' Boots", and the Thunders showcase "Chatterbox" – are rounded out by obscure R&B and rock & roll covers tailor-made for the group. Johansen vamps throughout Leiber & Stoller's "Bad Detective", Archie Bell's "(There's Gonna Be A) Showdown", the Cadets "Stranded in the Jungle", and Sonny Boy Williamson's "Don't Start Me Talkin'", yet it's with grit and affection – he really means it, man! The whole record collapses with the scathing "Human Being", on which a bunch of cross-dressing misfits defiantly declare that it's OK that they want too many things, 'cause they're human beings, just like you and me. Three years later, the Sex Pistols failed to come up with anything as musically visceral and dangerous. Perhaps that's why the Dolls never found their audience in the early '70s: Not only were they punk rock before punk rock was cool, but they remained weirder and more idiosyncratic than any of the bands that followed. And they rocked harder, too.

~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, all media guide

Tracklist:

01. Babylon
02. Stranded In The Jungle
03. Who Are The Mystery Girls?
04. (There's Gonna Be A) Showdown
05. It's Too Late
06. Puss 'N' Boots
07. Chatterbox
08. Bad Detective
09. Don't Start Me Talkin'
10. Human Being


all arrangements by New York Dolls. Produced by Shadow Morton
Engineered by Dixon Van Winkle with Dennis Drake. Recorded at A&R Studios, New York, NY.

Original Release Date: 1974
Release Date: March 4, 2009
Format: Original recording remastered
Label: Universal Music Japan
Catalog No.: UICY-60099

• David Johansen - vocals, harmonica, gong
• Johnny Thunders - guitar, background vocals
• Sylvain Sylvain - guitar, piano, background vocals
• Arthur Kane - bass instrument
• Jerry Nolan - drums