New York Dolls - From Here to Eternity: The Live Bootleg Box Set

3 CD set. Combining both studio demos and live recordings, this three CD box set defines the early history of the the New York Dolls’ recorded output by offering a near complete document of their '73 studio sessions. The live recordings are taken from shows recorded in Paris in December '73, Vancouver in '74 and New York City in '75. Some hardened fans consider the demo recordings superior to the subsequent Mercury albums. Castle Music. 2006. Album Description

Punk rock roots

This is a good opportunity to check how raw was the punk rock in its beginning. Different from the 'punk' rock bands in these days, someone (whose isn't inserted in the punk rock scene) can think this a poor record, but, I assure, this must be listen to understand why this musical genre appeared. Thunders, Nolan and Kane were there! GG Allin lives! May 8, 2008

Ahead of their Time

As a Dolls fan, I bought this item as soon as I saw it. The song selection
is excellent, and is an amazing career overview. The only down side(although
not for me) is the sound quality. If that would deter one from buying this,
your not as big a Dolls fan as you may have thought you were. A must have for any serious fan of The New York Dolls. December 17, 2006

Clearing The Vaults

According to the placemat on my table at Lim's last night, 2006 is the Year of the Dog. Well, at least they got the first two letters right because even though we're only about halfway in, it appears Year of the DOLL may be closer to the truth. Based on all of the Stooges swag dusted off and cleaned up for consumption by the great unwashed masses last year though, the Chinese nailed it when they christened 2005 the Year of the Cock.

Early track listings for this swanky mini box trumpeted the inclusion of studio demos allegedly superior to those versions ultimately released on the two much-maligned albums which make up the Dolls official discography but like Jimmy Hoffa back in 1975, they've gone missing somewhere between concept and reality. Has anyone checked the Meadowlands?

What we get instead are three discs worth of shows which, with the possible exception of Vancouver (1974), have all been available on various boots and dodgy, semi-official releases over the past 30 years, packaged a hundred different ways under wrappers like "Panic In Detroit," "Paris Le Trash," "Dolls Live: Dallas '74," "Live At My Father's Place," "Hootchie Cootchie Dolls," "Seven Day Weekend," and "Red Patent Leather." For what it's worth - perhaps an afterthought - Castle even throws in three songs from a 1984 Heartbreakers gig in Sweden with Sylvain Sylvain masquerading as Walter Lure, previously available on Receiver Records' "Sad Vacation."

Extra credit to whoever untangled the snarl of licensing rights as well as to whoever has to figure out the distribution of royalties.

True believers in the healing powers of digital technology will be dismayed to learn that it has proved worthless in cleaning up the sound of those dusty old vinyl sides they may have laying around the basement. It's all as boomy, flat, and muffled as ever, even the Detroit show, culled from a WABX-FM simulcast, but it will do in a pinch. Hand-held cassette recorders held high above a sea of tottering, jean-jacketed chunderheads fortified on Quaaludes and cheap wine were never meant to take the place of a soundboard.

But the performances shine BRIGHTLY nonetheless, like the best night of your life crammed into 60-minute blocks of the sound of five guys, with not inconsiderable chemical assistance, not so much reinventing the wheel as fitting it with shiny chrome mags and raised white lettering. Set lists will read like the back of the hand to the faithful aside from the occasional non-LP track and cover like "Lone Star Queen," "Great Big Kiss," "Don't Mess With Cupid," and "Daddy Rolling Stone." Nice to have all of this in one spot, thereby freeing up the vinyl versions for sale on ebay.

Frankly - and I never thought I'd say this - I'm tapped out of adjectives for the New York Dolls, much as I was in 2005 with The Stooges. Reviewing albums by either band without using words like "raw," "fuzz," "proto," "primal," "punk," "drugs," "crash," or "burn" - ad nauseum - is no longer within my wheelhouse.

"From Here To Eternity" clears the Dolls' plate just in time to welcome the dawning of a new epoch. Bring on the new album! I'll meet you there, alright? June 26, 2006

Where are the demos?

First of all, the track listing is wrong from what appears on the Amazon site as of 6-14-2006. It's not even close. Second, there are no demos on this. Am I missing something?? I preordered this to get the demos and all we have are live recordings. The sound on this is awful, very similar to the Stooges live recordings. If your familar with those, you know what I mean. I would have given it one star, but it is still a interesting listen, as I love The New York Dolls. I'm shocked they would release this the way it sounds. It appears to be a attempt to make money without putting a dime in cleaning up the sound on this. The Vancouver show is the only decent recording on this release. June 14, 2006

Same Old, Same Old

Nice packaging and liner notes but this is mostly the same old stuff that has been floating around on boots or semi-legitimate releases for years.

Unfortunately there was no magic remastering applied so the crummy sounding stuff still sounds crummy.

One bright spot: I had never heard the Vancouver material before and it is pretty darn good, very listenable. June 13, 2006

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