Dolls-Rundgren: Like 1973 All Over Again!

Viva la Runt!

By Fred Mills

Where were you in '73? If you answer, "Out purchasing that spankingly fine debut album from the New York Dolls" you're lying through your teeth just as sure as if you said you bought the first Velvet Underground album when it came out. Oh yeah, yeah -  maybe your big brother told you about the band, or maybe you heard about this cool magazine called Rock Scene that extolled the virtues of the NYC scene, or maybe you even knew a slutty little gal friend with jones for hitting the Lower East Side in search of Quaaludes and rooster-haired rock dudes to hang out with.

 We understand.

Actually, maybe you likely you didn't even pay attention until the reunited Dolls played the Spin mag day party a couple of years ago at SXSW and all of a sudden you were scrambling to claim some belated hipster cool. Yes, we understand.

So punk, now here's your chance to get in on the ground floor (slight return): in January, Todd Rundgren is going into the studio with the Dolls - essentially founding members David Johansen and Sylvain Sylvain, plus pals Sam Yaffa, Steve Conte and Brian Delaney - to record the band's next album. Rundgren of course produced the '73 debut. Atco/Warners will release the record and the band will hit the road for a lengthy tour, so your 2 imperatives are clear.

Johansen enthused in a statement, "We're really excited to be working with Todd gain. We're hoping to recapture the same magic on the forthcoming album [that was on the debut]."

Here's hoping that "magic" doesn't include the indifference of the buying public and the outright hostility from the record company - because that is what was going on in 1973, revisionist historians aside. You, gentle citizens, can make a difference this time around.