Aural Fixations

THE NEW YORK DOLLS
Morrissey Presents the Return of the New York Dolls Live From Royal Festival Hall, 2004
(Attack)
First the Stooges, then the MC5, and now this? Yes, amazingly enough, the New York Dolls rise again, 29 years after last playing together. With the patronage of superstar Morrissey, curator of London's Meltdown Festival for which this concert took place, surviving Dolls David JoHansen, Syl Sylvain and Arthur "Killer" Kane reunited to show the young punk 'n' roll pups how it's done. Like the Five and the Stooges, the Dolls have been damaged by the loss of key members, in this case guitarist Johnny Thunders and drummer Jerry Nolan, both several years dead of overdoses. (Kane also succumbed to leukemia not long after this show took place, and the CD and DVD are dedicated to his memory.) But, as with their proto-punk brethren, JoHansen and Sylvain know that to be successful they had to recapture the spirit of the original Dolls, and on this ungainly titled recording they've succeeded. JoHansen's rough bawl sounds more like Howlin' Wolf than Mick Jagger these days, but that's as appropriate for the Dolls' punked-up R&B. New guitarist Steve Conte isn't Thunders and doesn't try to be; indeed, unencumbered with a heroin habit, he actually displays quite a bit more finesse (as well as a dab of 80s-era flash) than the man whose place he's taken. The Libertines' Gary Powell fills in nicely for Nolan on drums. The real star of the show is the catalog, of course, and indestructible nuggets like "Puss n' Boots," "Jet Boy" and "Trash" would hold up well in the hands of Prozacked geriatrics, let alone in those of the men who created them. "Looking For a Kiss" is a smashing opener, and "Personality Crisis," one of the great rock & roll classics of the past 35 years, simply kills here. Like a lot of retrospective shows, this one casts new light on some old warhorses, as "Babylon," "Frankenstein," "Vietnamese Baby" and "Private World" shine as brightly as the band's better-known tracks. The group also pays tribute to the long gone Thunders, interpolating his great solo tune "You Can't Put Your Arms Around a Memory" (nicely sung by Sylvain) into JoHansen's "Lonely Planet Boy," which now serves a tribute to the celebrated rock star/junkie. The Dolls are simply on fire here, throwing themselves into the material and romping through their legend without a shred of doubt or self-consciousness. This reunion is so successful it makes one hope JoHansen and Sylvain, maybe with Conte and Powell in tow, decide to stay together and get back to work. [buy it]

The only thing better than listening to a reconvened Dolls is, of course, seeing them, and the DVD accommodates those of us who can't afford to fly to England to catch a show. Conte looks perfectly comfortable rocking out in front of such a large crowd, while Sylvain effortlessly charms the audience with his floppy cap, hollowbody Gretsch and New Yawk aura. Kane doesn't look so well; now that we know how ill he was at the time of this show, it seems amazing he was able to get through such a high energy performance. JoHansen's age has made him uglier than ever, which he's probably the first to admit, and his occasional shirtless forays reveal him to be in possession of a frame even more emaciated than that of his fellow traveler Iggy Pop. But it's the music that matters more than the image, and it holds up just as well with visual accompaniment as without. Better yet, the DVD contains the entire Meltdown show, including several songs not on the CD. While the cover of Janis Joplin's "Piece of My Heart" doesn't quite come off (what in the world possessed them to pick that one?), rip-roaring takes on "Mystery Girls," "It's Too Late" and Bo Diddley's "Pills" more than make up for that momentary lapse. There's also a hilariously camp stomp through "In My Girlish Days," which has got to be a cover, though I don't know of whom, and a reverent if somewhat sloppy take on the Shangri-Las' "Out in the Street." The disk also contains a generous menu of extras, with rehearsal footage, a split-cam take on "It's Too Late," a pair of songs from the band's appearance at Manchester's Move Festival (featuring a particularly explosive "Jet Boy"), testimonials and a sweet tribute to Arthur Kane. It's a great document of a successful reunion most thought would never happen. If you're a Dolls fan, this is for you. If you're not, this ain't a bad place to get your feet wet. Michael Toland [buy it]