This amazing session was recorded before their first album and shows the band at it's loudest and nastiest. Great sound here too so you can really feel the excess baby!! If your a dolls fan, which means you are a serious rock n roll fan, this is a must have.
November 25, 2007 |  | The Real Deal & Sloppy Wonderful |  |
Don't think of buying this instead of the two (2) studio albums. Buy this as companion. This is what the Dolls sounded like when you saw them in a cramped, sweaty club in 1973. Young, hungry, urgent, sassy, and confident. The star is Jerry Nolan's drumming. No matter what chaos was happening up front, Jerry slams the back beat and keeps the boys in line. Arthur's rumble bass is up front, and better represented here than in either studio album. Let's hear it for the underappreciated rhythm section. David is in exceptional voice throughout, and Johnny's nasal off-key vocals make me smile. I can see his screwed up face everytime he squeals "Trash!" or "I'm a human bein'." That's Queens, N'Yawk talkin' at you. Syl fills in all the blanks energetically and inventively. I've been waiting years to relive the Dolls' sloppy wonderful version of "Give Her A Great Big Kiss." Marty Thau's liner notes are heartfelt. I remember him first showing up at the Mercer Arts Center. Looking old school record biz promotor with a gang of juvenile deliquents. My only regret is that "Endless Party" was left off. It was always my favorite Dolls' song, and one that typified what they were like. RIP Billy, Johnny, Jerry, Arthur. Rock on, David and Syl!
June 24, 2006| | | New York Dolls at their Best! | |
This is the good stuff.....raw and live versions with better sound quality than any of their studio recordings.
May 17, 2006Where did these guys come from? How'd they make women's clothes look masculine? I can imagine Marty's amazement when he walked into the Mercer Arts Center. Amazement and joy.
I guess there've been several revolutions in rock. I always considered the three main stages to be Chuck Berry, the Beatles, and the Ramones. But that third stage really started with the New York Dolls. (OK, nods to Lou Reed, T. Rex, Bowie, Iggy, Alice; they definitely contributed.)
Anyway, I agree with the other reviewers that this is the Dolls best disc (or at least tied with the first album). It gives us the boys performing all the songs on the two albums (except no "Puss 'n' Boots") before Todd and Shadow produced them. Todd did a great job with the first album, and Shadow did a very good one with the second; but here we have the raw material.
I'm thrilled to hear this after all these years. I didn't even know it existed. The band is brimming with excitement, attitude, and positive energy. (A lot of people don't realize that about the Dolls and the Ramones: the music is happy, even if some of the subjects aren't exactly comedic.) Johnny Thunders was perhaps the best pure rock guitarist of all time; right alongside Chuck Berry, and probably ahead of Keith Richards.
I'm so glad nobody has any interest in this music except for a couple o' hundred people. Let 'em eat cake.
February 26, 2006| | | Loose and reckless - Dolls in their prime... | |
This is a great representation of what the Dolls where all about. The tracks are live in the studio and appropriately loose, feeling as if they might just implode at any minute. If your a Dolls fan, this is a must have.
Will be revisiting these tracks tomorrow night when the reformed Dolls play the 9:30 Club in DC. They may fewer in number and a bit rough around the edges but it only adds to Syl and David's considerable charms. They're as campy and wonderful as ever and the new guys fill in ably (great to see Sammi YAffa from Hanoi rocks - one of the few bands who truly "got" the Dolls - filling in for Arthur). It ain't 1973 at Mercer Arts but they still wipe the floor with any of the over-hyped, over-rated bands who count them as an influence.
August 10, 2005More reviews at Amazon.com ...
