Hard Heavy and a Classic 1974
New York Dolls Too Much Too Soon 1974 (Mercury)
Glam Rock-Proto Punk
Too much too soon for their own good!
The Album
After the trashy clatter of the debut album, it was more of the same for the Dolls again the following year, but this time the esteemed Todd Rundgren had been substituted by Shadow Morton on production duties. Again the band gave us another round of rock ‘n’ roll vibes rooted in the 1950s, but this time around the guitars had a cleaner feel and a greater use of studio effects has been employed on the album overall, just listen to the opening track “Babylon” here in regards to this. The difference in the albums, is rather similar in some ways to the first two albums that the Jimi Hendrix Experience put out in
Are You Experienced? and
Axis:Bold as Love, but of course the difference between the Doll’s albums, is nowhere near as extreme as the difference between those albums! Overall
Too Much Too Soon has a far cleaner feel than its predecessor, but without ever removing the manic demeanour that made the debut set so essential. Again the tendency is for the songs to focus around rock ‘n’ roll clatter, but a heavier proto-punk numbers such as “It’s Too Late” with its bluesy feel almost steps into the Stooge’s territory at times. Then there is a blazing cover of the Sonny Boy Williamson’s Don’t Start Me Talkin’ and the album closes with the gutsy sounding “Human Being”. The album might not be as essential as the debut, but it still packs a real punch.
The band folded the following year whilst on tour and before the band could reform three of its original members had passed away, and for many a year the Dolls always held the pedestal as one of those cult bands that were always cool to know about. It was the advent of punk in the late 1970s and the glam metal genre in the 1980s, that actually cemented the influence of the Dolls into the annals of rockdom. Never again would a band be quite so trashy and sleazy as the Dolls, even though Motley Crue came damned close to them at times!
David Johansen- Vocals
Johnny Thunders- Guitar
Sylvian Sylvian- Rhythm
Arthur Kane- Bass
Jerry Nolan- Drums
Production- Shadow Morton