I'd heard talk about a band from the 70's named New York Dolls, referred to as the seminal punk glam band, also credited as a major influence for Slash and Izzy of Guns N' Roses, one of my favorite bands. I first ordered their 2nd album, "Too Much Too Soon" having never heard any of their music, only knowing of David Johansen as the 80's Buster Poindexter and the cab driver in the movie Scrooged.

After listening to it for a couple of days, I knew I had to have more Dolls! This album, their first, is every bit as good as "Too Much Too Soon". I've heard comments that this one is not as good, but I couldn't disagree more. There's not a track on this album I don't like. "Personality Crisis", "Looking For a Kiss", "Trash", "Subway Train", and "Pills" jumped right out as great rockers, but after listening to the album a few times, the tracks that didn't jump right out to me at first started to get their hooks into me. I found myself singing "Jet Boy" in the shower and humming "Lonely Planet Boy" on the way to work.

This is raw, three to five chord, two guitar, music with blistering quick guitar leads and driving drum beat. The subjects covered by the music range from loneliness to addiction to heartbreak, all the basics of great rock & roll.

I would whole heartedly recommend this album to any New York Dolls fan who doesn't already have it (is that even possible?) or to anyone interested in discovering who the New York Dolls are and how they influenced rock & roll as we know it today.

The New York Dolls debut is simply one of the greatest debut albums in the history of rock. That isn't hyperbole. Released in 1973 the album, produced by Todd Rundgren, was so far ahead of it's time that it's fairly modest sales are contributed to the fact that audiences weren't ready for what their ears were hearing. The album was punk rock before the term existed. Unfortunately low album sales and drug problems ensured that the Dolls would burn out very quickly after only 2 proper albums but that surely doesn't mean they didn't leave an incredible impression on the music world. The punk scene that followed was highly influenced by The Dolls' raunchy styled-Stones riffing in your face rock and roll. Listening to Guns-N-Roses on "Appetite" The Dolls influence is clearly apparent. Like true pioneers, those that followed were the ones that reaped the benefits.

From the opening scream of David JoHansen's vocals and Johnny Thunders' raw Keith Richards' styled riffing on "Personality Crisis" we are introduced to a dark world where paranoia, drugs and seedy living are ever so delightfully present. The second song "Looking For A Kiss" epitomizes the debauchery that is present throughout the album:

"When everyone goes to your house, they shoot up in your room
Most of them are beautiful, but so obsessed with gloom
I aint gonna be here, when they all get home
They're always lookin at me, they wont leave me alone"

These themes hardly venture into different territory from the hypnotic "Frankenstein," to the sexy imagery of "Bad Girl," and again the paranoia of the funky "Private World." The only reprieve from this dark world is the acoustic ballad "Lonely Planet Boy." Even the cover of Bo Diddley's "Pills" fits in accordingly and showcases the Dolls' ability of interpreting other artist's songs and fully making it their own. As done by The Dolls, the song takes on a whole new meaning than the Diddley version. Throughout the entire CD JoHansen sings like a demon possessed and the tag team guitar frenzy of Johnny Thunders and Sylvain Sylvain provides some of the best and most powerful riffing and soloing this side of the Richards/Taylor combination circa the early 70's.

By the time punk began to take off in the late 70's The Dolls were already no longer. But it's obvious to everyone after listening to this CD that this is where it all began, even if they didn't have a name for it yet.

Loud, crude, dirty, obnoxious, drug-addled, and cool as hell, the Dolls are the missing link between the Clash, T. Rex and Keith Richards: David Johansen sounds like an American Joe Strummer, but guitarists Johnny Thunders and Sylvain Sylvain crank out the distorted, Chuck Berry-esque riffs that Richards made his career off of. And their songs have titles like "Personality Crisis" and "Lonely Planet Boy" which, along with the album cover, probably say something about their preferences. Anyway, what makes this record really work is the combination of Thunders and Sylvain, who add remarkable riffs ("Vietnamese Baby," "Personality Crisis," "Bad Girl"), and David Johansen, who camps it up memorably and hilariously on several tracks ("Looking for a Kiss," "Private World"). I'm not sure how it works when the group tries stuff other than Stonesy, sleazy hard rock: the acoustic-and-sax "Lonely Planet Boy" isn't exactly a favorite of mine, though it's worth noting that Tom Petty's huge hit "Free Fallin'" is based on those chords. But when they rock, they rock: "Frankenstein" is a dense, loud masterpiece with Keith Richards riffs, pounding piano, pounding piano, high-pitched harmonies, darkly humorous lyrics, and screams; "Trash" is a hilarious '50s rock parody/tribute; and there's even a tempo shift on "Subway Train," something neither the punks nor the Stones did much of. Then there's the frenetic cover of Bo Diddley's pills, which adds a wailing harmonica to the proceedings and adds to the already lovable cacophony. Okay, so it's not the most listenable record in existence. So what? Fans of the proto-punk scene will be glad to know it easily ranks up there with Fun House and Back in the U.S.A.

I hardly listen to this album anymore because I've kind of worn it out, but it's an alltime classic. If you don't have it already, get it pronto!

Check out Mighty High...In Drug City

Only after the passage of time can one determine whether or not an LP is a classic. Well, time has been awfully good to the New York Dolls as both of their official LPs have more than held up on the test of time. Their first LP is a confident sounding release chock full of good rockin' catchy tunes. The band plays with a sense of wild abandon that is infectious. David Johansen's werewolf-in-heat vocals ride atop a heavy kinetic surge of cross-firing guitars, bass and drums. This is an LP that can't be missed and should be a part of your CD collection if you have an insatiable taste for classic garage/punk rock.