Heart Ache And Frustration Is What You Got

Dig it! All the heart ache and frustration is over…sort of. The new New York Dolls album is great. It’s fantastic if you can get over the fact that three of the current band members were shitting their diapers while Thunders and Nolan were junk sick in Alabama or Georga or some other godforsaken place that didn’t have any junk and decided to head north for heroin, leaving the band behind. But we do have Syl and David and three knock ‘em dead musicians holding the rhythm and filling in the holes…and these guys are obviously fans. We also have Jack Douglas, recording engineer of thier first album (the one I assume you all have and love) who went on to produce and engineer a shit-ton of Aerosmith’s albums before they started playing with death-drugs and guns. All this doesn’t have to mean shit however and by all means this could have been a horrible album. Shit, what does Syl have to lose, I guarantee Mac’s bar in Lansing will still book him if the reunion album sucks. It might have affected Johansen in ways that I am not even aware of, but fuggit, I haven’t heard a record he’s made since In Style…Hot, Hot, Hot doesn’t count.
I kind of cringed when I heard that they were recording a new record. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a huge, huge fan. Their live album, Paris is Burning, on Skydog, I attribute to saving me so to speak. When I was about 20, I was listening to crap…I had the Dolls first album and dug it, but dug Phish more (tears well as I type). My girlfriend, God bless her, left my CD binder on the top of my ride as we were departing a large festival sponsored by the aforementioned horrible band and I had about 30 CDs left, the one’s that weren’t cool enough to make it into the binder. I knocked the dust off of Paris is Burning and my life, at least my musical tastes, changed forever. The first four notes of Chatterbox and Johnny Thunders’ impossibly bad singing voice almost made me shit right then and there. I can honestly say that I haven’t voluntarily listened to Phish since and I have blown a small fortune on Johnny Thunders bootlegs.
My initial reaction to them putting out a new record was as a result of two things. Our freak in the streets in Indy, Ben Raw, saw them at South by Southwest and reported back that they sucked. He made it a point of calling me all day before he saw them, leaving messages as he got drunker and drunker, gloating, while I was sweating a computer in a cubicle. I took some sick satisfaction in his slurring, diasappointed reaction to the show. The second reason is David Johansen’s fucking attitude, man. His fucking attitude towards the Dolls, man. He’s always talked about them with disdain, like it was a phase or something. According to Lester Bangs, Johansen is the nicest person on the planet and that may be, but he needs to respect why he has any fans in the first place. I liked him in Let it Ride and Scrooged, but c’mon, he wouldn’t have been in a goddamn movie with Richard Dreyfuss or Bill Murry with out the fucking Dolls, man. I heard reports that he had a telepromter so he could read the lyrics. I don’t care if has been 30 years, I know that motherfucker didn’t do enough drugs to forget the lyrics to two 30 minute albums that, wheather he chooses to acknowlege it or not, are his legacy, what he is known for now and will be in posterity. If you forgot the shit, take the week to learn it before you hit the stage, asshole…we love you.
My cat just took off across the living room carpet because she got spooked by the opening of ‘Pills’ on the Paris is Burning disc…haha, sweet.
Back to the new record. It kicks off with ‘We’re All In Love,’ which begins with a chorus and screaching harmonica over pounding drums…Weeeeeeee’r Aaaaaaaaal in Loooove….perfect for a desperate scene in a teenage drama or an orgy. ‘Runnin’ Around’ is a swagger number that makes one want to do just that, slaphappy at a party and admiring flesh-colored underwear. ‘Plenty of Music’ is sort of ballad that incorporates the word ’superfluous,’ which means ‘more than is required,’ for all us retards. This seems to present another hurdle, but after way too much thought on this geeks part, seems to fit the Dolls’ MO…using an erudite word at the wrong time, like some some self-taught trashy drop out who would suprise you with what they knew at times. According to the sticker on the cellophane on the CD (that’s right, I bought this disc, fuck you, pigs!), ‘Dance Like a Monkey’ is the ‘Hit Single…’ yet I haven’t heard it anywhere. It’s my least favorite song on the record, go figure. Michael Stipe is featured on ‘Dancing on the Lip of a Volcano’ and the Ig on ‘Gimme Luv and Turn On the Lights.’ Stipe sounds great, adding some depth to the track, while Iggy is barely present, which is a shame. I wish I had the time to go over all the songs on the album, but some of us work for the man.
I most certainly recommend buying this album. If you’ve made it this far through this review, I have to imagine that you are a fan of the New York Dolls, so you owe it to them and to yourself to purchase this record. I did download it before it came out, jammed it, dug it gradually and have now fallen for it. There are also several added bonuses to having the hard copy. For some reason the shit sounds better when I can look down and see the packaging. Also, the CD comes with a DVD that documents the making of the record. I think it’s about 20 minutes long and is fucking sweet…if you’re a fan like I am, and you must be since you’re here, now. The DVD has some great interviews, footage of live shows and them recording the album, and is suprisingly well put together. There is also a bonus track, ‘Seventeen’ that wasn’t on my burned copy. This is probably the only bonus track that has ever been worth a damn ever. It features the great (and ancient) Bo Diddley on guitar (the Dolls covered ‘Pills’ on their first album…I missed Bo play a show on his birthday a few years back at Fitzgeralds and it haunts me to this day) and is one of the highlights of this album…only $11.99 at Best Buy…

Further Dolls releases worth checking out: All Dolled Up (DVD). A raw B & W documentary spanning most of the Dolls career, culled from like a million hours of footage shot by Bob Gruen. The New York Doll (DVD). A documentary about Dolls bassist, Arthur ‘Killer’ Kane, who lived ever second after the Dolls split up, thinking about getting back together…so he becomes a Mormon…and plays one last show with the band.

Other recent reunion/comeback albums to check out: Radio Birdman’s Zeno Beach and Jerry Lee Lewis’ Last Man Standing.

Oh yeah, the title of the album come’s from Virgil’s Aenead.

Yeah Max! What’s goin’ on cousin? That’s what I’m talkin about! Much respect brother - keep that shit coming!

After your sweet review I will definately be coping this album Max. That wedding was quite the party and I was still a little off on Monday. Fuck it you only live once!

What’s up Geoff and Justin…sorry to be MIA for so long…wish I had some of that Gospel music on Sunday, as I wasn’t really loving Jesus after the wedding…actually my day wasn’t that bad: rented 3 movies and watched them all…the Matador was suprisingly good…Gimme Shelter is always a pleasure…the third one that I rented was something called the American Folk-Blues Festival 1962-66, featuring Muddy, Junior Welles, John Lee Hooker, and Miss. Fred McDowell (dig it Geoff!)…those performers were good, but what blew my mind was the lone extra perfomance on the disc by a guy who I’d never heard of, Earl Hooker. He was apparently a Chicago bluesman who recorded for Sun breifly and died of TB young. This guy pulls out all the stops: solos with his teeth (before Hendrix), literally kicks his guitar to create feedback, and plays with a tight rock band. Have you guys heard of him. I’ve downloaded some of his stuff, but it’s not at all like what I saw…more trad. Chicago blues. Oh yeah, when he sits down to his chair to play, he just yells to the crowd, ‘Thank the hell outta ya!’ Please let me know if you guys know any albums by this guy.

Dudes, you need the new Jerry Lee Lewis album…it comes out on the 26th, I think, but you need it now!

Yeah, Max, I actually have an Earl Hooker album on Blue Thumb called Sweet Black Angel. It’s pretty fuckin’ sweet….Kind of lazy, hazy Chicago meets Memphis blues, and almost all instrumental. Was produced by Ike Turner, released in 1970.

According to All Music, the one to have by Earl Hooker is his first, titled Two Bugs And A Roach on Arhoolie in 1966. It’s also available on CD. They also say that Earl Hooker was the best slide guitar player in Chicago in the 50s and 60s.