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New York Dolls - New York Dolls (1973)

Track listing:
  1. Personality Crisis
  2. Looking For A Kiss
  3. Vietnamese Baby
  4. Lonely Planet Boy
  5. Frankenstein (Orig.)
  6. Trash
  7. Bad Girl
  8. Subway Train
  9. Pills
  10. Private World
  11. Jet Boy

Notes

There are hints of girl group pop and more than a hint of the Rolling Stones, but The New York Dolls doesn't really sound like anything that came before it. It's hard rock with a self-conscious wit, a celebration of camp and kitsch that retains a menacing, malevolent edge. The New York Dolls play as if they can barely keep the music from falling apart and David Johansen sings and screams like a man possessed. The New York Dolls is a noisy, reckless album that rocks and rolls with a vengance. The Dolls rework old Chuck Berry and Stones riffs, playing them with a sloppy, violent glee. "Personality Crisis," "Looking for a Kiss," and "Trash" strut with confidence, while "Vietnamese Baby" and "Frankenstein" sound otherworldly, working the same frightening drone over and over again. The New York Dolls was the definitive proto-punk album, even more than anything the Stooges released. It plunders history while celebrating it, creating a sleazy urban mythology along the way.