Showing posts with label New York Dolls. Show all posts
Showing posts with label New York Dolls. Show all posts

7.1.11

The Spaghetti Incident?


I'm not posting the Guns N Roses covers album The Spaghetti Incident? (1993)

Instead I've trawled through my old files and compiled the tracks as performed by the original artists. Beware of variable bitrate!


Since I don't Have You- The Skyliners. New Rose- The Damned. Down On The Farm- UK Subs. Human Being- The New York Dolls. Raw Power- The Stooges. Ain't It Fun- The Dead Boys. Buick Mackane- T-Rex. Big Dumb Sex- Soundgarden. Hair of the Dog- Nazareth. Attitude- The Misfits. Black Leather- The Professionals. You Can't Put Your Arms Around A Memory- Johnny Thunders. I Don't Care About You- Fear. Look At Your Game Girl- Charles Manson.





23.1.10

Morrissey- Desert Island Discs (2009)

Sorry for the delay in bringing you this -

Okay nostalgia lovers, who remembers the heady days of November 2009 when the world was a better, safer place? We used to leave our door unlocked in them days...

For those of you who don’t know (i.e.- those who are not from Britain) Desert Island Discs is a long-running radio programme. It was first broadcast on 29 January 1942 .
Imagine that you are obsessed with pop music from a young age- it is your all consuming passion- you become an aficionado.You enjoy a successful 26 year music career in which your work is rich in pop culture references, all influences reverentially eulogised. Then at the age of fifty, after 45 years of obsessive pop fandom you are invited onto Desert Island Discs and have to choose eight records.
Eight.
Practically impossible.
When he appeared in November last year I thought that Morrissey might include: Sandie Shaw, Jobriath, some Rockabilly, Ludus, Patti Smith, Joni Mitchell.
Here’s what he did choose:
• New York Dolls - (There’s Gonna Be a) Showdown (overall choice)
• Marianne Faithfull - Come and Stay With Me
• Ramones - Loudmouth
• The Velvet Underground - The Black Angel’s Death Song
• Klaus Nomi - Der Nussbaum - The Walnut Tree
• Nico - I’m Not Saying
• Iggy & The Stooges - Your Pretty Face is Going to Hell
• Mott the Hoople - Sea Diver

Included here are the eight records in their entirity and the complete programme.
For a more comprehensive insight into Morrissey’s tastes and formative influences see the LP Under the Influence .


16.4.09

New York Dolls- Demos (1972-1973)


The profoundly influential New York Dolls Formed in 1971. Their brand of raw glam rock laid the foundations for the New York scene of the mid seventies and consequently the evolution of punk. (Aside: I’ve got my music on random, as ever, and as I’m writing this The Sex Pistols came on! Did you no wrong…). The Dolls are the closest we have to an archetype of the seventies rock band. Uber fan Morrissey (an author of a book on the band) described seeing their appearance on The Old Grey Whistle Test as the first emotional experience of my life. Host Bob Harries dismissed them smugly as ‘mock rock’, but this was exactly what the music scene needed at the time, a foil to the turgid, earnest fare that was the staple of the day.
I’m not going to pretend to be an expert on New York Dolls, but I understand that these demos from 1972-73 have been recycled in various forms over the years, both as bootlegs and official releases.
What we have here:
The 1st demos, The Mercer Street Sessions- (1972, released as Lipstick Killers in 1981).
The 2nd demo recorded in October of 1972 at Escape Studios in Kent, England.
The 3rd demo Planet Studios 1973- (19 of these tracks were released as Seven Day Weekend in 1992: here there are an additional 3 songs- I think from the same session, but welcome corrections from readers).

Line up:
David Johansen - vocals
Johnny Thunders - guitar
Sylvain Sylvain - guitar
Arthur "Killer" Kane - bass
Billy Murcia - drums



This post is dedicated to my very good friends, Mr. James ‘Big Jim’ Baker and his charming wife Terri, who is celebrating her birthday today.