here it is, the first and best of the new york dolls' recordings. there's so many GREAT songs here: "personality crisis", "looking for a kiss", "vietnamese baby", "frankenstein" (although it could've been a bit shorter), "trash" (one of my favorites), "bad girl", "private world", and the all-time CLASSIC "jet boy". i never liked "pills" when bo diddley did it, so i can't really make a judement on the dolls' version (though i must say it IS an improvement). Actually, it's not a bad song now that i'm actually giving it a fair listen... i can get into this. as for the songs i don't care for:

"lonely planet boy", is way too mellow. i know, i know, i use that excuse too often, but what can i say? with the odd exception, i like upbeat shit. at least it's better than fleetwood mac.

"subway train"... nah, i take it back. i like this one too. the whole album passes, even "lonely planet boy" is easy to get through after a couple listens. maybe i'm too uptight or something.

for those of you not familiar with the dolls, they combined the trashyness of the early rolling stones, the attitudes of the stooges and the MC5, the pop sensabilities of groups like the shangri las, and the fun-oriented, teen appeal of 50's r&b. the end result was this album, a masterpiece even to this day (yeah, okay, i'm eating my own words here. just be happy i'm candid and i lay off the "backspace" key). don't forget also, that this was released in 1973, right at the tail end of the hippy era, the beginning of the disco explosion, and a time WAY before MTV made it "cool" for guys to wear womens clothes and tease their hair.