Thursday, October 26, 2006

New York Dolls, Liverpool Academy, 25/10/06

"When I say I'm in love you better believe I'm in love L-U-V" is a pretty grand opening lyric for a legendry band and sets a challenging high standard for the rest of the set. But they provide a skillful blend of the classics we want to hear and the new songs that we should have heard.


Songs from the last album "One Day It Will Please Us To Remember Even This" come across as both electric and emotionally charged. "Dancing on the Lip of a Volcano", "Fishnets & Cigarettes" and "Plenty of Music" show that The Dolls timed their comeback well, returning with first rate material as opposed to a lame duck. "Dance Like A Monkey" is perhaps the best known new songs thanks to their performance on The Jonathan Ross Show, the monkey sound effects make it come alive.


Along with the new material we where treated to some covers, Janis Joplin's "Take Another Piece of my Heart", Johnny Thunders "You Can't Put Your Arms Around A Memory", and from the first Dolls album, Bo Diddleys "Pills".



Original member David Johansan and Sylvian Sylvain are clearly happy to be back in the limelight, lots of "Thank you Liverpool!" shouts and banter. Johnsan still moves like no one of his age should be able to, especially someone who looks like a Steve Tyler / Mick Jagger love child. Along with his all too revealing and tight trousers, its easy to understand how little effort it took to anthomorphisize them into monkey for the "Dance Like A Monkey" video.



As the set rolls on the sound gets larger, with epic renditions of "Trash" & "Jet Boy" closing the main set, and the encore starting with the essential "Personality Crisis". It was a daring move to follow such stone cold classics with a new song but set closer "Gotta Get Away From Tommy" proves that the strength of the new material.

The only problem with the set was the lack of any rollicking piano action, although some nifty harmonic void helps fill this gap. Towers of London where a dreadful support act and looked like, and have the musical credibility of Busted. Less said about them the better. Seriously. I have no comprehension of why the venue failed to sell out, so rarely does such a significant band come through Liverpool. At least I can rest safe in the knowledge that the people who passed on this oppertunity, staying home to lick a goats balls or something, missed the best gig in Liverpool for a very long time.

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