Search - New York Dolls :: Rock N Roll

Not for Dolls Freaks

Katherine McCarthy | Forest Hills, NY United States | 09/23/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"If you are a long time Dolls fan and completist, view this as a great CD for driving around in the car, or for working out at the gym. If you were born after they broke up, and think Motley Crue or Guns N Roses invented this type of music, if you didn't know that KISS used to open for the Dolls way back when, or viewed the semi-drag get up on the first album as something to be scared of, or think punk was invented by the Ramones or the Sex Pistols, you need to buy this now. NOTHING afterwards would've happened without the NY Dolls. Period. EOC. All that happened after the Velvet Underground is directly as response to the advent of the Dolls. If you love late 20th century rock, and you don't own this, buy now. 'Nuf said."

Classic Rock 'N' Roll

J P Ryan | Waltham, Massachusetts United States | 07/24/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Released a decade ago, "Rock 'n' Roll" remains - for better or worse - the best single New York Dolls compact disc. If the reader has a turntable, by all means track down "New York Dolls" (1973) and "In Too Much Too Soon" (1974) - the band's two studio albums are both classics, and you'll get the original running order, fab graphics, and analog sound. And posthumous releases such as "From Paris With L-U-V" and "A Hard Night's Day" (two of the best) offer much terrific music to those familiar with the Dolls' albums. But at this late date - and with a surprisingly smart and potent 'reunion' album out this week - neither of the original band's classics have been remastered for CD since the early days of the format, and this 20 (21 in fact) track compilation beats both in terms of sonic impact. The debut, especially, suffers a significant loss of grunge in its feeble and thin transfer to digital.

As already described by others, "Rock 'n' Roll" has 10 out of 11 tracks from the debut (Bo Diddley's "Pills" is missing), and 7 out of 10 from the second album (including a longer 'Stranded In The Jungle' but excluding marvelous covers of Archie Bell & The Drells, Sonny Boy Williamson), and for a single cd, that's about as good as it can get however we might quibble about what was not included. This set is intelligently put together, and a generous 79 minutes. As far as rarities are concerned, in addition to the aforementioned 'Stranded...' there is the amazing, truly blissful opening instrumental 'Courageous Cat Theme' from the "Too Much..." sessions, and it's a classic on the order of Johnny Thunders' 'Pipeline,' a swinging, rock-out blast. Two others are Paul Nelson-produced demos from '74, the Stax classic 'Don't Mess With Cupid' and a Johansen/Thunders original, 'Lone Star Queen.' Both are solid and enjoyable, but obviously not intended for release. Yet the mixes are fine and any Dolls fan will be glad to have them in addition to this great band's all-too-slim body of work. The final rarity is an unlisted radio spot.

So, until someone gets the wise idea of remastering the original albums, this is the Dolls cd to get, and the band remains - however misunderstood in their own time - among the very best and brightest American bands to come out of the 1970s."

A nice collection with a few unreleased tracks.

Joseph P. Ulibas | Sacramento, CA, USA | 06/26/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Rock n' Roll is a nice collection of New York Dolls music.

Not only are the tracks remastered but they've included a few unreleased ones as well (Courageous Cat Theme, Lone Star Queen). A cool booklet with a lot of information is

included with the CD. It's a shame this disc wasn't that well

publicized when it firsy came out. The disc sold poorly and their only two studio albums have never been digitally remastered. The only thing missing from this collection is the New York Dolls anthem PILLS!



Strongly recommended."