New York Dolls

Thrilled that DavJoh finally made some money, although it figures it would come from extending "Stranded in the Jungle" into a full act.

>i don't think joe strummer played much gtr on their records tho

What?!? All that Telecaster dub-scratching/powerchord mania is him! Jones handled the Mott the Hoople lead lines and harmonic counterpoints. Both totally classic, as was Steve Jones, who merged Ramones chainsaw with Chuck Berry boogie (well, so did Eddie and the Hot Rods) to make the Pistols (dare I say it?) swing!

anyway, they had their moments, sure. "Frankenstein" kicks ass. But I absolutely can't stand Johnny Thunders (even though So Alone was one of my desert island discs in college - I've done a complete 180 on that fucker for some reason)

"...these jerks who will ultimately pull no more weight that to make the world safe for Motley Crue, whose sole function of note during their collective professional tenure will be as Malcolm McLaren's first test barrel of monkeys..."

Maybe Johansen's lyrics turn you off? If so, you ought to hear the wacky Actress demos from '71 or whenever (been bootlegged and was pressed on LP by the Italian label Get Back in 2000 or so). With Johnny Thunders on lead vocals, they were a very different thing. It's almost Electric Eels-like.

for the record, I don't like the Pistols either (and prefer the Dolls anyway)

As if that's a bad thing! I remember now why Meltzer has been a bore for so long.

to be honest though, Too Fast for Love still totally rocks, I'll give you that. It's almost punk in places.

Man I'd kill to hear The Jet Boys

'Chinese Rock' was a song by Dee Dee Ramone.

Listen to Sonic Youth's cover of 'Personality Crisis'.

Was I having nightmares or did I really read somewhere that the late Mr Genzele's replacement for this - ahem - Frankenstein creation with a Personality Crisis, is actually going to be Chrissie "Bad Girl" Hynde?

Of course, I will go and see 'em if I get the chance....

Incidentally, my understanding is that Dee Dee wrote the lyrics to Chinese Rock but the Ramones refused to record it so Richard Hell finished it off when he was working with Jerry Nolan and Johnny Thunders in the first incarnation of The Heartbreakers. There are demos of this version about.

It's even moreso "Sister Morphine" by the Rolling Stones.

my understanding is that Dee Dee wrote the lyrics to Chinese Rock but the Ramones refused to record it so Richard Hell finished it off when he was working with Jerry Nolan and Johnny Thunders in the first incarnation of The Heartbreakers. There are demos of this version about.

It appears on the Time 2CD retrospective of Hell's work that Matador put out a couple years back, so its not hard to find. It's probably my favourite version of the song. In Hell's essay in the CD booklet, he points out what he wrote (the last two verses, if yr interested) and touches on the writing controversy (after he left the Heartbreakers, they took a writing credit on it).

I know what you mean but bet a lot of those groups never even heard of the New York Dolls. Maybe they indirectly took their Dollish elements from KISS and Aerosmith.

WHOA THERE MR. DIAMOND CIRCA TWO THOUSAND THREE. JERRY NOLAN WAS A KILLER DRUMMER.

Yeah, i remember Duff was the one really talking up what he was originally calling 'the punk album'. Other than that, I don't know whose songs were whose.

i too impatient to read this thread but i am listening to the dolls and "private world" is fucking great. and it's nice to see the name vic funk on a thread.

http://mediaconfidential.blogspot.com/2013/02/rip-record-producer-shadow-morton-dead.html

RIP. Dude also had a pretty cool solo 45 as Shadow Mann:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11xvtrmRuM8

We watched at least half of that doc on TV, and thought it was fairly basic/boring... didn't realize it was Martin Scorsese.

I can't access it yet, postponing having to confront how lukewarm I am about seeing it.

i enjoyed it -- i've spent enough time musing on the three-dimensional chess game that is his interior life that i'm not gonna stop now -- but it's not for everyone. unless you have a hankering to hear cocktail lounge versions of the johansen songs from the three dolls reunion records that nobody listened to.

Finally saw One Night Only - really enjoyed it, way more than I was expecting to tbh

Xgau’s observation in that review upthread is so otm, re the Buste persona transforming anarchic New York Dolls songs into the love songs to humanity they always were deep down

Plus you really see so clearly how deliberate Johansen is about what he chooses to reveal of himself, in all of his ventures - there is a craft to it all, even among the chaos, and so seeing the personas/poses all lined up, new and archival, alongside the interviews with his daughter was really quite moving …. the whole documentary becomes a sort of zoetrope, where if you keep your eye trained & look through the crack at just the right angle for long enough you can ~almost~ see the whole person spool out before you.

And the Carlyle performance stuff is shot so beautifully <3

Yeah, I think it was Ellen Kuras- great cinematographer, and Johansen complimented her, saying she got close without making herself seem intrusive.

I just saw it and enjoyed it but thought some of it was awkwardly edited -- the way Scorsese would suddenly cut away from old footage bugged me. Sometimes when he would go quickly from DolLs rendition to Johansen solo tour rendition to Carlyle lounge version it worked and not other times. Plus to fit in with the title and theme the lounge versions are largely longer.

Tyler W posted this old YouTube link to New York Dolls at the Waldorf Astoria on Halloween in 1973. As he noted Will Hermes wrote about this chaotic over packed late starting gig in Love Goes to a Building on Fire book

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQVDL-B80d0