The New York Dolls are still an adventurous, deeply-schooled, challenging, fun-loving rock band. I've been listening to their new album, Dancing Backward in High Heels, non-stop for a couple of days now with much delight. I don't know how recording it in Newcastle brought them back to the fifties/early-sixties girl-group sound, one of the musical veins that they tapped in the early seventies (thus starting the camp approach that was an integral part of punk), but it did. It's an updated version of the sound, too, and man, does it ever sound hip in 2011. By the way, there was a lot of turnover in the group's personnel from the last album to this one - only the drummer, Brian Delaney and the two original members, David Johansen and Syl Sylvain, are back from the squad that produced One Day It Will Please Us to Remember Even This (2006) and Cause I Sez So (2009), and having seen the band in that configuration, I was sorry to hear that the bassist, Sami Yaffa and the guitarist, Steve Conte had gone, because they both made terrific contributions. But that's rock and roll, I guess. In any event, this new release is a very interesting development of the band's sound, and maybe the personnel changes allowed that to happen to some degree. Here's the brilliant second track, "Streetcake" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPz_baKEe3U&playnext=1&list=PLAD8182C5ECFA20AE).

What a great month March 2011 has been for rock and roll fans. Not only did we get a new (and tremendous) Radiohead album, not only do we have a new one by the Strokes to look forward to (it's to be called Angles, apparently, and its release date is March 22), but the New York Dolls have just released their fifth album (the third of their 21st century comeback), Dancing Backward in High Heels, and after a listen to all the tracks I could find on YouTube (I'll be picking up the CD tomorrow, I hope), my first impression is that it's another great one. The first thing you'll notice is its sound. It's unlike anything the band have done before, and yet it's rooted in the band's past and logical for their future, as well. I'll be writing more about the record in a week or so, assuming I can get the album, but it certainly looks like they've done it again. That's a five for five ratio in the great albums versus number of albums released category, by the way. Here's the opening track: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmzFpt9_xck&feature=related.

David Johansen is the lyricist of the New York Dolls, and on the evidence of One Day It Will Please Us to Remember even This (from 2006) and 'Cause I Sez So (2009), he may be the most sophisticated one working in rock today. The quality that is the most central in artistic writing is usefulness - the way the best words come back again and again in all the different situations that make up a life. The greatest writers are the ones that have things of import to say and say them in memorable ways. Johansen's lyrics are varied in subject, tone (by which I mean the writer's attitude toward the subject and toward him or herself), diction, and technical content. Sometimes, they show the effect of difficult experience. For example, "I Ain't Got Nothing" is an entirely believable description of the destitution experienced by so many rock and rollers. (This is not an area that many rock lyricists want to explore - it won't sell.) They contain great humour ("Dance like a monkey" opens with the line, "You designed so intelligent/ Ain't no way that was an accident." "Better than You" begins, "My baby, don't talk nasty about her/ You ain't even got no class/ I'm gonna kick your ass." Of course, I'm taking it out of context. You have to hear it to really get it.)
He understands the importance of romance (in its broadest sense). Listen to the awesomely beautiful "Temptation to Exist" for proof. He has the rare ability to juxtapose high and low (or "mean") diction for all sorts of effects: "Better than You" quoted above, also contains lines such as, "My baby got mystical frenzy/ Tempered by an irony/ Verging on blasphemy."
This brings me to the final point of this discussion: Johansen's ability to see events on several different levels at once, i.e. the physical, the emotional, the intellectual, the spiritual. Songs such as "Lonely so Long" or "Maimed Happiness" work perfectly in several ways, simultaneously. They deal with the complexities of life with complete honesty, but in Auden's words, "show an affirming flame". Listening: You guessed it.

For those of us who were fans of the New York Dolls back in the seventies, their recent (triumphant) return to touring and recording feels like vindication. We were right all along! The Dolls of the seventies were about much more than music. They were crucial parts of the pipeline that kept American music important and dangerous: from Robert Johnson to Elvis and Little Richard to Dylan to the Velvets. From the MC5 to The Dolls to the Ramones. (Something like that, anyway.) The Dolls rough, energetic take on rock, R&B and pop was (and still is) amazing. Led by the volatile guitar prodigy Johnny Thunders (perhaps the most influential punk guitarist) and the charismatic, powerfully-voiced David Johansen, the Dolls took a big-picture outlook on music and life. Their rawness as a band became part of the message: the point of music is to participate. Of course, one can extrapolate that to life, and they did. The band lived almost entirely for the moment, and like all great rockers came down squarely in favour of human freedom, whatever the cost.
You can read up on their history elsewhere. Here, I want to begin discussing the astonishing fact that the band has accomplished the unthinkable feat of releasing two brilliant, ragged, influential albums in the early seventies, and then returning after over thirty (!) years to release two more. At the heart of their recent success is the fact that these albums contain some of the most poignant, wise, funny and thought-provoking lyrics ever written. Tune in tomorrow for my attempt to convince you of that.

Just a short note today: I'm going to elaborate a bit more extensively on the following topic (and others, as well) in the upcoming week: The Rolling Stones vs. The New York Dolls in terms of lyrical content. As musicians, the Stones were more advanced than the Dolls during the Seventies. But the Dolls' greatness came partly from their amateurish sound. In rock and roll, and in other styles, the listener is more inspired by the effort of someone trying to move up in terms of expression rather than moving down (or "slumming") stylistically. It can be very exciting to hear a person learning right in front of you. Ergo, for musicians to be honest, they must always be on the vanguard of their abilities. But I digress.
The Dolls made two brilliant albums in the Seventies, and recently returned (the two surviving members along with the spirit of the others, with great contributions from new members) with two albums of equal stature and importance. (If you haven't heard them yet, go and listen to them immediately.) The musicianship on the third and fourth albums, benefiting as they do from older ears and years of experience, is much stronger than on the first two. But that sense of wild discovery found on the earlier records is thrilling to hear, as well. Anyway, you've probably guessed today's suggested listening: New York Dolls (1973), The New York Dolls in Too Much Too Soon (1974), One Day It Will Please Us to Remember Even This (2006), 'Cause I Sez So (2009), and Exile on Main Street (1972).