Crack

As a rock band, vaguely reminiscent of a bunch of brickies in drag, the New York Dolls were punks before Malcolm McLaren gave the movement a name and sold it to an unsuspecting UK.

Surely not something to inspire a Mancunian, Oscar Wilde quoting, would-be aesthete to write fervid fan letters to the NME and head up their UK fan club in the Seventies? Almost 30 years later, that obsessive fan, Steven Patrick Morrissey, was responsible for the New York Dolls’ initial reunion, when he invited them to play the 2004 Meltdown Festival. Shortly afterward they began touring and recording once more.

The New York Dolls formed in 1971 and soon became stalwarts of the nascent New York underground scene. The music, a blend of sleazy rhythm and blues with a nod to the girl groups of the early Sixties, seemed slightly at odds with their glam rock image. Though on closer listening the kitsch and witty elements of the Dolls, meant that their outlandish image made more sense. It can be argued that the Dolls never reached their full potential as a band, although their recordings have a raw intensity that would be the envy of their peers.

However the band was pulled apart by internecine wrangling and drug addiction, which eventually caused the deaths of three founder members (Billy Murcia, Jerry Nolan and Johnny Thunders). Following their 2004 reunion, the Dolls played their first ever gig in Bristol to a packed Thekla in July 2008, promising to return.

And return they did; to the Anson Rooms in December 2009. The only living Dolls, David Johansen and Sylvain Sylvain, are still the heart of the current incarnation of the band. However their new cohorts play as if they were born to be in this band, rather than a bunch of musicians who play for pay.

The onstage interplay between singer Johansen and guitarist Sylvain is as camp as ever. Whilst these aged rock stars are clearly heterosexual, there are still subtle homo-erotic nuances present, which in their heyday may have explained the howls of outrage from Middle America and England which dogged the band’s career. Nowadays this element of the Dolls’ show is rather sweet, like a pair of tipsy old uncles trying to shock their young relatives over Christmas dinner. The band have rarely sounded as together as they do now, nary a bum note or missed cue as they rattled through classics such as Trash, Looking For A Kiss and Jetboy, as well as tracks from new album, Cause I Sez So.

The only moment which disappointed an enthusiastic, crowd, who ranged from teenagers to grandparent punks, was a pointless melding of the Johnny Thunders’ classic You Can’t Put Your Arms Around A Memory with a newer Dolls track. It was a touching recognition of their history but slightly marred, which could sum up the Dolls’ career; moments of unpredictable genius balanced by off-kilter misjudgement and all too human flaws.



Words: Jill Tyrrell

Tune: Jetboy

http://www.myspace.com/newyorkdolls



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