The New York Dolls created Punk Rock before there was a term for it. Building on the Rolling Stones' dirty rock & roll, Mick Jagger's androgyny, girl group pop, the Stooges' anarchic noise, and the glam rock of David Bowie and T. Rex, the New York Dolls created a new form of hard rock that presaged both punk rock and heavy metal. Their drug-fueled, shambolic performances influenced a generation of musicians in New York and London, who all went on to form punk bands. And although they self-destructed quickly, the band's albums remain popular cult records in Rock & Roll history. In 1972 these disturbed scientists of Punk Rock emerged from the cesspits of New York s Lower East Side lipstick in one hand straight razor in the other and Rock 'N' Roll as we knew it was never the same again. Vintage Rhythm and Blues, early Rolling Stones, classic American girl group songs, and post-Psychedelic Garage bands such as the MC5 and the Stooges, as well as hip Glam Rockers such as Marc Bolan originally influenced the New York Dolls. The New York Dolls however did it all their own way, creating something unique that hardly sounded like anything that came before. The Dolls played Hard Rock with a self-depreciating wit, and a mixture of camp and kitsch with a wicked, menacing edge. Despite their unimpeachable Rock/Punk/Glam/Sleaze credentials, Blues and Soul influences as evidenced by Johansen s bluesy harmonica and their choice of cover versions also very much determined the band s sound. If you never witnessed the classic Dolls line-up live in concert then this album recorded for a Radio Luxembourg broadcast in Paris, France, is the next best thing. In their prime at the time, this is arguably the best live recording of the New York Dolls, complete with stage banter, atrocious attempts at fake French accents and a whole lot of presumably drug fuelled attitude. In addition to thrashing through their 'yet-to-become-cult-hits', the band exposed their roots in covers of songs by Bo Diddley, Muddy Waters, and New York's original leaders of the bad girls, the Shangri-Las. By the time the New York Dolls had disbanded in 1978, they had not only been a major influence on the New York City Rock music scene, but also accumulated a devoted worldwide cult following.
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