Review:
“In 1972, when rock & roll was all but dead in Manhattan, five cross-dressing glam punks from the boroughs convened and began hammering out crude, sub-Chuck Berry rock for the downtown in-crowd. It took another year before a record company dared to sign them, thus foisting The New York Dolls on an essentially uninterested world.” BH
The resulting self-titled debut “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.” STE “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.” STE “The album’s proto punk sound is mixed with influences of glam rock and rock & roll.” WK “It’s hard rock with a self-conscious wit, a celebration of camp and kitsch that retains a menacing, malevolent edge.” STE
“With the Rolling Stones finished as a vital force by '73, the doomed Dolls were there to step into the void.” BH “Taking their cue from the band’s guitarist/Keefalike Johnny Thunders,” BH “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.” STE “The New York Dolls is a noisy, reckless album that rocks and rolls with a vengeance.” STE
“Hardcore Dolls fans pooh-poohed Todd Rundgren’s production as wimpy” BH but “years after its release, songs like Personality Crisis and Looking for a Kiss sound more trashily invigorating than ever.” BH Those songs “and Trash strut with confidence, while Vietnamese Baby and Frankenstein sound otherworldly, working the same frightening drone over and over again.” STE
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