New York Dolls

Syl has cancer.

https://www.gofundme.com/sylvain-sylvain-of-ny-dolls-medical-support-fund?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=fb_dn_postdonate_r&fbclid=IwAR3Bz7Z_kfZogjtStqFsWUjcokX5BN0mR_c1C8X1k59OjVBvCOeQdJAJ1NY

Oh right, had seen some mention of a medical support fund on Facebook.
His memoir was really good, read it a couple of months ago and would recommend it.
Need to get the Jerry Nolan memoir too.

the nolan book was readable and well researched, but has the same sad downward trajectory as other books about addicts. agree about syl's book. it's a much more personal and idiosyncratic journey.

is it a challop to say their recorded output is pretty crap, barring a couple songs?

A band I've always wanted to like more than I actually do. "Trash" and "Jet Boy" are great singles though. This Old Grey Whistle Test performance is pretty spectacular too

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Cbd-BcuPvLA

yeah I've seen that, it is entertaining. They just kinda didn't have the songs or the performances when it came to making records. Personally p much all I need from the first album are the first two tracks.

Took me ages to get into all the album tracks, especially from the first one.

it's not so much as a challop as it is something you would respond to one of those terrible twitter threads that's like YOUR UNPOPULAR MUSIC OPINIONS: GO

The first album is great, though admittedly I never listen to it these days. I'd rank "Trash" in my top five "rockers," no question.

i like most of the first album. i don't get how anyone could dismiss "trash." "frankenstein" is a personal favorite but maybe not everyone is into a 6-minute new york dolls song.

i don't know if i've ever listened to too much too soon. i should check it out.

too much too soon is good! underrated

huh I like both albums a lot but the first one really lives up to it's billing to me

I love 'em but...if you pruned one minute from every song I would not be mad

The real challops would be: the only good Dolls song is "Hot Hot Hot"

Lol.

The real challops would be: the only good Dolls song is "Hot Hot Hot"
― chr1sb3singer, Thursday, November 7, 2019 2:21 PM

inject this directly to my veins, please.

That's what killed Johnny Thunders.

but to respond to the revive. . . yeah, i mean i always respected 70s nyd, but recently traded away the records (again) because it's stuff that i felt like i "should" have in my collection, not because i actually wanted it there.

The late Adam Roth used to have a funny bit about Johnny Thunders.

golfclap to Austin + Grisso/McCain for that A+ setup/punchline

First album is awesome all the way, dammit!!!

never made it past “stranded in the jungle” on the second one. I’m sure the rest of it rules.

it's worth getting past that - the David Johanson Novelty Songs are a big stumbling block on that one but Human Being and Chatterbox are all-time

(my reissue copy of TMTS had a locking skip in Stranded in the Jungle on the line "My soul was dead" so I literally started skipping that track and it made the album better)

Personally p much all I need from the first album are the first two tracks.

― Οὖτις, Thursday, November 7, 2019 2:00 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

really??? "jet boy", "subway train", "trash", and boy do i love "lonely planet boy"

I don't love the second one, but the first has wonderful tracks all over, and "Lonely Planet Boy" is a personal anthem.

my love for this band knows no bounds. i saw them when i was 17, which might have something to do with it. in their red patent leather phase, shortly before they split. i love johansen's goofy covers, love the way johnny thunders guitar acts like a greek chorus to the lyrics. love how the lyrics don't exactly parse but sound so cool. oh, check this out -- i got this from the man himself: "well we can't take her this week, and her friends don't want another speech, hoping for her that someday they'll hear what she's gotta say." true quote from steve conte to johansen: "THAT's what you're saying?!?"

^great post!

The first David Johansen album is a cleaner Dolls record, down to the co-writes. I recommend it to skeptics.

That's great--you're the second person I know who saw them first time around. (I mean, the other person I really do know.) He saw them in '73 or '74, I think at Toronto's Victory Burlesque Theatre...with Rush opening! Close as I got was seeing Johnny Thunders in '86 or '87.

First album, 10/10; second, 8 or 9/10.

for some reason i really enjoy most of the songs on the debut if i hear them in isolation, but it's not an album i ever feel like hearing all the way through. "lookin' for a kiss" sounds delightful on almost any playlist, but somehow i get tired of their sound in a way i don't with, say, the velvets or the stooges or even the ramones. i think my main issue is how sludgy the album's always sounded to me -- what i mainly enjoy is david johansen's singing.

Does this thread have a mention of Quintano’s School for Young Professionals yet?

for some reason i really enjoy most of the songs on the debut if i hear them in isolation, but it's not an album i ever feel like hearing all the way through

Yes! I always wanna hear "Trash," "Frankenstein," "Lookin' for a Kiss," etc, but I don't wanna stream or play the album.

New York Dolls are great
Aesthetically their songs are “crap” I guess - they arent a finesse band by any means. But I dunno if that’s really what you seek out the Dolls for. Fun! Danger! Excitement! All their songs from the first 2 albums sound like something is on the verge of breaking, shorting out, exploding etc - like you have 45 minutes to make this record or the studio will self destruct

To me they are the better, fuckup version Kiss. Shitty songs, a lot of terrible recording & not-great cohesion, and a Look. But NYD make you kinda love them for all that whereas Kiss repels it more and more over time. NYD have an endearing likeability that draws you in despite their terribleness & idk, give off this wacky (junkie) musketeers vibe that Kiss doesnt have. NYD feel like they are all still kids performing in front of their bedroom mirrors, living out a rocknroll fantasy, but playing it out in real life as adults with very few real-world concessions

Can you tell that I love them? I LOVE THEM

Trash is all time and if they only existed to do that it was worth it

Veg with THE REAL TALK.

I DJ occasionally at a '70s Rock night, so I've been picking up at lot of favorites that I didn't previously have on vinyl. Back around the first of the year I scored a nice copy of the Dolls twofer Mercury put out back in the day to cash in on Punk. I hadn't listened to them in a while, but as soon as the needle dropped, I remembered just how much I'd loved them. That was a good night.

They had this goofy junkie joie de vivre, even in wonderful nightmares like "Frankenstein". The Dolls and Shadow Morton were a match made in Heaven on TMTS; between it and that one Mott single, it's a shame he didn't work with more Glam artists. I love their covers too, they were great at picking stuff that fit right in with their originals (and in pretty much every case, I discovered the originals through the Dolls' versions).

VG and C.G/M otm

I love pretty much all of the 1st 2 albums.

2nd album gets maligned a bit but I think only because the first album is so good - an album with Who Are The Mystery Girls, Puss N Boots and Babylon on it can't be that bad surely

then there's their cover of Great Big Kiss. there's a few versions of that around, but there's one which sounds like a proper studio version, not just a sloppy demo, but it took me ages to track down where that came from - there are lots of NYD outtake/demo compilations out there, none of which have that version on - but I eventually found it on the Night Of The Living Dolls compilation LP

Slightly prefer the second album.

Like when people refer to it as In Too Much Too Soon.

Only know the version of “Great Big Kiss” from “So Alone.”

Argh. I shouldn’t bother with the quotes and italics, So Alone.

That's great--you're the second person I know who saw them first time around.

to be honest, arthur was m.i.a. that night, with their roadie peter jordan filling in on bass. though that wasn't an uncommon occurrence, from what i understand. this site lists three shows in february 1975 at long island's my father's place club. it was one of them, most likely. we were chaperoned by my buddy's older brother. i even remember the conversation i had with him afterward. me: "well they never claimed they could play their instruments." him: "i'm glad they don't claim that!"
http://www.fromthearchives.com/nyd/chronology.html

i also saw the "dollettes" a couple of times, which was johansen and syl carrying on with some of david's staten island cronies, working out the material that later became his first solo album. those were great fun because they'd through just about anything at the wall.

*throw*

Supposedly Peter Jordan played on the albums as well, at least some of the time.

https://gothamist.com/arts-entertainment/new-york-doll-turned-doorman

Not really sure about the recordings though. Maybe it was mostly or all Arthur.

peter jordan's band stumblebunny wasn't half bad either.

https://stumblebunny.bandcamp.com/album/while-you-were-out

"Lonely Planet Boy" and "You Can't Throw Your Arms Around a Memory" are pretty much the same song, aren't they?

i think to johnny thunders a "ballad" meant playing d and d-suspended chords slowly. that's just what it was. the reformed dolls used to segue from one to the other. i always thought it nice that they did a post-dolls thunders tune.