Tuesday 4 November 2008

The New York Dolls - One Day It Will Please Us to Remember Even This

I've previously mentioned here that I encountered a great deal of reluctance from friends to acknowledge the return of The New York Dolls in 2004. As a result very few of them bothered to buy their 2005 album One Day It Will Please Us to Remember Even This. And more fool them.

When the Dolls announced they were planning a new album I thought they might plunder Red Patent Leather or at least commit their version of 'Another Piece of my Heart' to tape (as performed at the Meltdown shows), so it was a surprise when they instead issued a full album of new material.

First and foremost there is little point comparing this album to either The New York Dolls or Too Much Too Soon, and not just because of the change in personnel. After all, 30 years have passed, recording methods have improved (it's no secret that the first two albums suffered production-wise), and even David Johansen's voice - although still clearly identifiable - has developed into even more of a drawl.

Perhaps a more straight rock & roll album than its predecessors (damn, what was that I said about comparisons ...), One Day It Will Please Us to Remember Even This initially didn't grab me but once on my MP3 player that all changed and it's very rare that I skip a song when they come up on shuffle. I can easily imagine songs like 'Gotta Get Away From Tommy' and 'Runnin' Around' taking their place in a live set next to 'Personality Crisis' et al, and with various guests lining up to pay their respects (Iggy on 'Gimme Luv And Turn On The Light', Michael Stipe on 'Dancing On The Lip Of A Volcano' this is a good an album than I could have ever wished for from a reformed Dolls.

Oddly the one song that most harks back to the 70s output - 'Rainbow Store', with its similarities to the Shangri-las 'Great Big Kiss', covered by the Dolls and later by Johnny Thunders on So Alone - is arguably the album's weakest.

So if you are guilty of ignoring this album then shame on you ....

See also:
Nina Antonia - The New York Dolls: Too Much Too Soon
Johnny Thunders - So Alone
Motorcycle Boy - Popsicle


2 comments:

MarkEMoon said...

Ok, I might have to reconsider this album, to be honest I saw them on the *ahem* Jonathan Ross show performing a track from it about 18 months ago? and wasn't that taken, didn't bother buying the album mostly because it clearly isn't the Dolls as we know and loved them. I will scan Amazon and see if i can get a cheapo copy.

DGW said...

The one they did on Ross (Dance Like A Monkey) is probably one of the weaker ones on there. Check out the MySpace page as 'Take A Good Look At My Good Looks' is on there - if it appeals you might rate the rest of the album. If it doesn't you probably won't!