New York Dolls- A Hard Night's Day

Since we're on the subject of Johnny Thunders (from the previous post), you can't fully discuss Johnny until you mention his previous band, the New York Dolls. The Dolls only released two official albums with their original line-up, New York Dolls and Too Much, Too Soon, and like Thunder's career they were best represented by their live performances. The debut Dolls album suffered from Todd Rundgren's stifling muddy production and the recording sounded flat and too tight. When I purchased their first album (in the early 80's?), I heard about their reputation and legendary status and their influence on many of the punk bands in the late 70's, but I must admit I was slightly disappointed and didn't think they lived up to the hype, though this album is considered an all-time classic from the seventies.

A Hard Night's Day is a recording that better captures the sound of the New York Dolls as they record direct to tape, live on the floor, one-take versions of their repertoire (including covers), as a demo for their first album. This one night of instant demo-ing is what is represented on this recording and it was made to present to Mercury Records and to their eventual producer Rundgren so they could select what songs to put on that first record. The result is a great sounding document that was loose, sloppy and clear, a major improvement, in my opinion. Unfortunately, it was a little too sloppy for official release, but it has the added interest of listening to the between song chatter amongst the band members (mainly Johansen). I really like this disc because the Dolls don't sound slicked-up yet for mainstream commercial audiences and I don't have an image in my mind of a group of guys dressed up in drag or glamming it up with high-heel boots with too much make-up. Just sweaty, raw rock'n'roll, like it should be!

NEW YORK DOLLS
A Hard Night's Day (2000)
Seven Day Weekend
Frankenstein
Who Are The Mystery Girls?
(There's Gonna Be A) Showdown
Back In The USA
Looking For A Kiss
Jet Boy
It's Too Late
Bad Detective
Lonely Planet Boy
Subway Train
Private World
Trash
Human Being
Don't Start Me Talking
Give Her A Great Big Kiss
Vietnamese Baby
Babylon
Bad Girl
Pills
Personality Crisis

Download: New York Dolls- A Hard Day's Night. rar