After the clatter of their first album failed to bring them a wide audience,
the New York Dolls
hired producer
Shadow Morton
to work on the follow-up,
Too Much Too Soon
. The differences are apparent right from the start of the ferocious opener,
"Babylon."
Not only are the guitars cleaner, but the mix is dominated by waves of studio sound effects and female backing vocals. Ironically, instead of making
the Dolls
sound safer, all the added frills emphasize their gleeful sleaziness and reckless sound.
The Dolls
sound on the verge of falling apart throughout the album, as
Johnny Thunders
and
Syl Sylvain
relentlessly trade buzz-saw riffs while
David Johansen
sings, shouts, and sashays on top of the racket. Band originals -- including the
bluesy
raver
"It's Too Late,"
the noisy girl-group
pop
of
"Puss N' Boots,"
and the
Thunders
showcase
"Chatterbox"
-- are rounded out by obscure
R&B
rock & roll
covers tailor-made for the group.
Johansen
vamps throughout
Leiber & Stoller
's
"Bad Detective,"
Archie Bell
"(There's Gonna Be A) Showdown,"
the Cadets
"Stranded in the Jungle,"
Sonny Boy Williamson
"Don't Start Me Talkin',"
yet it's with grit and affection -- he really means it, man! The whole record collapses with the scathing
"Human Being,"
on which a bunch of cross-dressing misfits defiantly declare that it's OK that they want too many things, 'cause they're human beings, just like you and me. Three years later,
the Sex Pistols
failed to come up with anything as musically visceral and dangerous. Perhaps that's why
never found their audience in the early '70s: Not only were they
punk rock
before
was cool, but they remained weirder and more idiosyncratic than any of the bands that followed. And they
rocked
harder, too. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine