New York Dolls
Dancing Backwards in High Heels
By Geordie Pleathur
(SugarBuzz Nation)
SugarBuzz Magazine
NY DOLLS "DANCING BACKWARDS IN HIGH HEELS" (-by Geordie Pleathur)
Like my friend, the under-rated NYC guitar slinga sez, they ain't never gonna be the band he fell in l-u-v with, back in 'seventy three.
I guess Steve Conte and Sami Yaffa are out, and Frankie Infante from Blondie is in. While the rock'n'roll people are awaiting the release of the Jack Douglas produced, "Sensory Overdrive" by Michael Monroe, and the finally reunited Alice Cooper band's "Welcome To My Nightmare Part Two" with Bob Ezrin; Monsiurs Sylvain Sylvain and David Johansen have delivered an exquisitely gorgeous Brill Building/Sixties/French
pop-influenced platter that ain't a big guitar hero affair, but rather, similar to the best of their seventies solo albums. It was the enlightened Buddha poetry and pained torch songs I dug best on their two prior comeback l.p.'s, and this one is also awesome, because it emphasizes David Johansen's beatific beat poetry and Sylvain's gorgeous pop melodies, often reminiscent of Burt Bacharach, and Brian Wilson.
There's a lot of melancholy on this album, it's kind of bittersweet, but I love the song where David Jo scoffs at tourists, trust funded poseurs and Cincinnatians, for being unfabulous. This rekkid is perfectly tailored for all us aging glamsters, ex divas, semi-reformed rock-punks and glittery starlets, cus it is spilling over with truth and compassion, wit and wisdom...Lots of us never came down fom the Coney Island high we used to know, ya know? If ya never made the big time, if ya never recovered from your broken heart, and broken dreams, if the grey keeps peeking out from underneath the Presley blue/black, if you can't afford to bid on Sylvain's beautiful "Truth And Soul" velvet newsboy caps, if you can no longer even afford to live on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, this record is for youse. If you seen the Throbs come, and D-Generation go...it's a cryin' shame about Pillbox...If you sometimes wonder, whatever happened to the Star Spangles...and Star Star?? Jeni Foster, Elka Brandt, Billy G. Bang, where are they now? If you can't understand why Mister Gary Sunshine won't reunite with Circus Of Power, if you ever visited the Genzale grave, or went to see the Cycle Sluts From Hell, live, This record's for you, too...
I dunno why they don't get Johnny Rao to join the band!!? He played on all their best stuff, Post-Thunders. I guess the "Two York Dolls" will be touring with Motley Crue and Poison, this summer. That might have bugged me twelve, or twenty
years ago, but now, I get it. Totally. It's their retirement fund. God Bless those two. Someday, it will please us, to remember even this. David Jo's understudy, Steven Tyler's been awkwardly appearing on "American Idol", squinting, preening, lookin' like a Botox stiffened, aged drag queen, constantly emoting, chewing scenery, makin' desperate passes at every chick. David Johansen, on the other hand, is just hitting his stride, he's just now, starting to peak. I mean, I defy anybody to pretend that "Maimed Happiness" ain't every bit as classic as, "Lonely Planet Boy". What was the last good Aerosmith song? "Chip Away"? "What It Takes"? "Pink"? The new Dolls song, "Kids Like You" makes me think of the Patti Smith book about her misspent youth in NYC, with Mapplethorpe. I've been listening to a lotta solo Syl, lately, admiring his soulful songwriting, but still thinkin' to mahself, "ya know what's missin'?" DAVID JO'S wry and eloquent witticisms, reflections, story telling, and philosiphisin'! Everybody can't be a poet, but the two of these cats together, are kind of tough to beat. What was the last good Stones song? "Eileen"? "Put Me In The Trash"? Been a long time. "Round She Goes" is a bit of a throwaway, but every time I think that, it's the single. "Dance Like A Monkey" just didn't do it for me, even with David's insightful ruminations on intelligent design, in the shadows of that looney creation museum, in Kentucky. "You Don't Have To Cry" is good. Leonard Cohen, or Kris Kristofferson good. Top-notch, pure soul. These guys are our last-standing bad-arsed, holy kings. Hope ya got to see the Batusis. I still ain't come by an affordable copy of Cheetah Chrome's book, yet. God Bless all the NY rockers. I wish these cats could live forever. "I Sold My Heart To The Junkman" is heartfelt kitsch-like, you know, the
Shangrillas. 'Reminds me of when we first turned-on to the Dolls, as delinquent pre-teens, you and me, Weird and Gilley, we were marvelous, marvellin' at every last one of 'em: Billy, Jerry, Johnny, Killer Kane. I used to love that Lords Of The New Church song, "Little Boys Play With Dolls".
This whole L.P. is like going through your old scrapbooks, the ones stolen by your ex girlfriend, never to be seen again. Shades of that old Replacements song---no, not that one, but "Rock'N'Roll Ghost". These guys have so much heart, that's why i fretted a bit to hear they're working with some young gun hot shot best known for collaborating with the Killers. The Killers are all production budget and zilch on substance, after their debut-single, about voyeurism. "Baby Tell Me What I'm On" reminds us that it was David Jo influencing generations of our best punken beat poets, even the very greats, like Tom Waits, Shane MacGowan, Chuck E. Weiss, and Joe Strummer. Hey, Morrissey, thanks again, mate. I still say, "First Of The Gang To Die" is the second best Mott The Hoople Song that Ian Hunter never wrote. Some of us who growed up wrong, on the lame side of the eighties, missed-out on the golden and silver ages of heart'n'soul punk and glam, like me-personally, I was born waaaaaaaay to late, I missed it all-Max's Kansas City, the silver Factory before Valerie Solanis shot Andy, the Chelsea Hotel, the Dolls, Eric Emerson and the Magic Tramps, early Blondie, the Deadboys, etc., but as an eighties Creem magazine readin', teenage Frankenstein, at least I still had Billy Idol, the Clash, Lords 
Of The New Church, the Alarm, and Hanoi Rocks, but can you imagine ANY of those bands, had the Dolls not come along, previously? I love when that Killer Kane documentary does the rock'n'roll family tree, succinctly, illustrating how many of our fave bands, from the Pretenders to the Sex Pistols, Aerosmith and the Ramones, could be traced straight back to the Dolls. I got a pal who sez he ain't into, "Funky But Chic", which startles me, cos what's not to love? That's MY SONG! "I'll get down in any neighborhood, I swear that my friends'll take me!" My amigo who ain't into it, is a James Dean non-dancer. I wonder if they ever play "Frenchette" live. Both Syl and Steve Conte agreed previously to be interviewed right here, but your ramblin', gamblin' rock'n'roll ranter overwhelmed 'em both, with an absolute avalanche of fanboy inquiries. Why'd I have to ask 'em so many tedious questions? "CUZ I WANNA KNOW! SO WHY DONCHA TELL ME? WHO ARE THE MYSTERY GIRLS??!!!"
My friends are gone, and my hair is grey. Jim Carroll's dead. Even Giovanni Vitanza. Not to mention the Bill Of Rights and Geneva Conventions. It's all too fleeting. What a sad time to be alive. "End Of Summer" sounds like all my favorite songs wrapped up, together. If "Caroline No" ever made you cry, you better run out and buy this record! Sylvain, and David, I just wanna say Thanks for making this album. Thank You for all the beautiful music and good times. You guys are heroes. Bless You.