NEW YORK DOLLS
ONE DAY IT WILL PLEASE US TO REMEMBER EVEN THIS
(Roadrunner)
Reconstituted punk/glam icons pick it up again after 30 years.
3½/5
Even when all the original participants still drew breath, a third album from the New York Dolls was always going to be a tall order. Whittled down to just two old-time members through drugs, drink and bad luck, the 21st century Dolls no longer pack the careening trash-rock edge afforded by Messrs Thunders, Kane and Nolan; but with Sylvain Sylvain’s trebly 1950s twang and David Johansen’s growling wit still sparking, the boys have something in their corner and have pulled a more than half-decent album out the bag here. While the hired help play it too much like a straight-up rawk act - surely never the point with this band - the record is pretty respectable, and in fact damn good on some of the cuts; ‘Dance Like A Monkey’ is pure Diddley-daddy jungle-beat, and ‘Fishnets And Cigarettes’ is prime hook-heavy rock ‘n’ roll swagger, fully in key with the ‘Dolls of old. Doubters might sniff, but overall, it‚s worthy of the name. The fuchsia-pink sleeve-art should swing it for most fans in any case.
Hugh Gadjit
