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New York Dolls - Cause I Sez So
| Thephoenix. |
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The big news regarding the New York Dolls’ second album since their reactivation five years ago is the return of Todd Rundgren as producer. Rundgren was behind the boards for their paradigm-shifting New York Dolls ’73 debut, and the group — whose sole still-breathing members from that first run are singer David Johansen and guitarist Sylvain Sylvain — were wise to offer him a rematch. Unlike 2006’s uneven One Day It Will Please Us To Remember Even This, ’Cause I Sez So (only the Dolls’ fourth studio album) is not faux retro, and neither does it overreach in order to speak to 2009. It’s just solid, classic Dolls, with all the swagger, muscle, righteous kitsch, and ballsy defiance you expect, plus some new twists. Those would include a non-joky, quite charming, reggae — yes, reggae — remake of “Trash,” one of the centerpieces of that debut. And, to a lesser extent, “This Is Ridiculous,” as close to straight-ahead blues as this bunch have come (though Bo Diddley’s “Pills,” on the ’73 record, came pretty close too)....full text |
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| Allmusic |
| Five years into one of the most unlikely reunions in recent rock & roll history, the New York Dolls have begun to acknowledge the great paradox of the new edition of the band. If ever there was a band with a distinctive musical and emotional personality, it was the Dolls, but with only two members of the original lineup still alive and able to take the stage in 2009, David Johansen and Syl Sylvain have had a heavy burden to bear, trying to make music that feels and sounds like the New York Dolls without their iconic lead guitarist, their original rhythm section, and the sort of lifestyle that defined their world view when they were the edgiest band in America's toughest city. The new Dolls created a reasonable approximation of what their old sound would have been like had they all survived into the new millennium on 2006's One Day It Will Please Us to Remember Even This, but 2009's 'Cause I Sez So suggests this band has little interest in living in the past, including their own. Todd Rundgren, who produced the Dolls' brilliant 1973 debut, was behind the controls for this set, and the first two songs, "'Cause I Sez So" and "Muddy Bones," conjure up the sloppy downtown energy of the Dolls Mk. 1 better than anything on One Day It Will Please Us, full of dirty guitars, crashing drums, and broadly strutting vocals from Johansen, complemented by Rundgren's roomy, natural-sounding production. But after that one-two punch, the album shifts gears, easing into a groove that's more easygoing and (gulp) mature than the classic Dolls assault, with a warmer and more subdued approach. "Lonely So Long" is a great pop tune with a faint resemblance to the Beatles, "Nobody Got No Bizness" is a high-spirited, hip-shaking R&B shuffle, "Temptation to Exist" is a melodramatic ballad that sounds like it could have fit onto one of Johansen's Buster Poindexter albums, "This Is Ridiculous" is a blues-influenced number that gives the singer plenty of room to showboat, and "Making Rain" edges uncomfortably into adult contemporary territory. As if to declare to anyone not paying attention that this isn't the Dolls as we remember them, there's a re-recording of "Trash" that puts a ganja-burnished reggae spin on the old proto-punk classic (possibly anticipating an adverse reaction from old fans, "Trash" is followed by "Exorcism of Despair," a chunky rocker very much in the traditional Dolls style). While the group as a whole sounds vital and in even better shape than they were on the fine One Day It Will Please Us, with its broad palate of musical influences and clear willingness to move past the constraints of the New York Dolls' legacy, 'Cause I Sez So is clearly David Johansen's album, and it's a great showcase for one of the great rock singers of his generation. But is it the New York Dolls? Well, that's what it says on the front cover, and if the sound is different, the "Whatsit to You?" spirit of this set is as keen as ever, and that counts for a lot with these guys....full text |
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| Boston |
| punks the New York Dolls. In 2004, nearly 30 years after splitting up, the Dolls re-formed, and even issued a gutsy comeback record. Now the group's fourth studio album reunites them with producer Todd Rundgren, who helmed their iconic 1973 debut. With a dual guitar attack that's resolutely old-school but lyrics that often take on contemporary subject matter (the title track finds frontman David Johansen, still pugnacious at 59, grousing about Orwellian security measures in a post-9/11 world), "Sez So" has heart, soul, and swagger to spare. In other words, this is classic New Yawk Dolls, honey. The band's down to two original members - cofounders Johansen and guitarist Sylvain Sylvain - but that hasn't diluted its ability to blend '60s Brill Building pop ("Lonely So Long"), liquored-up bar-band boogie ("Nobody Got No Bizness"), and ramshackle rock ("Muddy Bones"). Johansen's bowery rasp still has the texture of old shoe leather, but against improbable odds and the ravages of time, it somehow works beautifully. Just like the Dolls themselves. (Out tomorrow)...full text |
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