Dolls hit more than miss

Dolls hit more than miss
Band dormant 30 years after two big albums is reasonably OK in newest
 

The New York Dolls are one of those seminal, highly influential bands that all casual music fans are familiar with, but often can't name a single one of its songs.

Like the Stooges, the Dolls are considered proto-punk, and their two records -- New York Dolls and Too Much Too Soon -- were a direct influence on the Sex Pistols and many many other nascent rockers and malcontents who went on to form bands in the '70s and '80s.

Also, like the Stooges (and Dolls-influenced Velvet Underground), the band was largely ignored by the mainstream. Those who paid attention were usually frightened by the band's junkie-glam look and loose, lascivious but elemental rock 'n' roll songs.

The Dolls succumbed to industry apathy and heroin, and in the nearly 30 years since its initial run (1971-1977) ended, four members have died, the most recent being bassist Arthur ``Killer'' Kane, who died shortly after the band's first reunion show in 2003.

With singer David Johansen and guitarist Sylvain Sylvain the only two original members left, one might assume that the Dolls' new album, One Day It Will Please Us To Remember Even This, would be a pale imitation of its ramshackle NYC street noise. But the 13 tracks hit more than they miss, and veteran producer/engineer Jack Douglas (John Lennon, Lou Reed, Aerosmith) keeps the proceedings reasonably loose and loud.

We're All In Love opens the album with a familiar blues ramble, and though the late Johnny Thunder's buzz saw-licks and leads are certainly missed, guitarist Steve Conte smacks the fretboard around pretty good in his place. The best songs on the album -- Fishnets and Cigarettes, Dance Like a Monkey, Punishing World -- almost manage to capture the swagger and drive of the band's early material.

Lyrically, Johansen doesn't pretend it's 1971. Monkey turns the intelligent design vs. evolution flap into a dance-off. Likewise it's doubtful that anything on the band's first two albums would have contained the phrase ``subterfuge, Orwellian double-speak, a self-consciously aware little ego freak.''

The 21st-century Dolls also has discovered its softer side, with mixed results. The ballad Maimed Happiness finds Johansen ruminating on his ``wasted life,'' and Michael Stipe shows up to warble on the less interesting midtempo Dancing on the Lip of a Volcano.

Also included is a DVD featuring a 40-minute making-of documentary, featuring the bonus track Seventeen, standard interviews with band members and producer Douglas, and entertaining snippets, such as Johansen lobbying Sylvain to ``de-Stonesify'' the song Take a Good Look at My Good Looks. It's entertaining, but probably won't engender repeated viewing.

When legendary, long dormant bands reconstitute, one of the biggest outside obstacles is living up (or down) to expectations. If the new record isn't as good as the ``classic'' material, the whole endeavor can be perceived as a failure or a greedy cash-in. It's an often unrealistic and unfair assessment, but good music stirs fans' emotions and those don't cater to notions of fairness.

One Day It Will Please Us to Remember Even This won't make anyone forget the band's first two musical salvos, and for newbies, those are definitely the place to start. But the album retains enough of the rock stench of the old Dolls without applying too much modern perfume. It should be able to sit alongside the band's previous work without shame, and fill in the set list without sending concertgoers to the bar and bathroom.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Wholesale Dolls Wholesale Garden Furniture Water sports product Dolls Garden Furniture sports product