The New York Dolls have recently released their fifth studio album,
Dancing Backward In High Heels, and as it’s the third since their reformation in 2004 they have now been more prolific than during their 1970s guise. Normally I would have already acquired the album and posted up a few thoughts. Instead I have only got as far as listening to the samples available on the
429 Records website.
I was slightly alarmed to see that ‘Funky But Chic’ had been dusted down – hardly a lost classic deserving of a second chance – and I was immediately reminded of those questionable moments on ‘Coz I Sez So’ when the Dolls tried to do funky (along with the unnecessary reworking of 'Trash'). Turns out – assuming the samples are a fair representation – that Sylvain and Johnassen have embraced said funkiness to the point that they’ve produced a whole album’s worth of it. To an extent there are echoes of the early-60s girl bands that have always been part of the Dolls mix, and in my heart of heart's I know I have to give the album a proper chance but at the moment I just don't know if I can return to it ...
on eBay (only £3.99!)
