Pre-Crash Condition - Live From The Royal Festival Hall
Time is a bitch. You can't escape it and no matter how you might try,
it will rob you of your looks. This is a truly sad fact when you
consider how hot the boys in the New York Dolls were in 1974. Fast
forward 30 years and now you have David Johansen and Sylvain Sylvain as
the only living members of any line-up of this legendary Glam Punk
band.
I dunno... I guess it's fun to see the boys out there trying to keep
the band alive. Sylvain is still in good voice and looking fit, but
David Johansen just doesn't have that same fierce fabulousness he once
had. He can still hold your attention as a performer, but it's like
watching Maury Povich dressed as Kathleen Turner playing Chandler
Bing's drag queen father on Friends.
Outside of a slight miscue by the rhythm guitarist standing in for the
late great Johnny Thunders, the band was pretty spot on, plowing
through classics like “Trash,” “Jet Boys,” and “Lonely Planet Boy,”
where Syl and Johansen split vocal duties.
Never having been a fan of the Dolls and only knowing Johansen's
alter-ego, BUSTER POINDEXTER, I had no idea what an impact the band had
on someone like the morose Morrissey and the influence on Hair Metal
bands of the 80's like FASTER PUSSYCAT and MOTLEY CRUE. Though the band
isn't what it once was, you can still see glimpses of what used to be.
