Review: New York Dolls- Cause I Sez So

I have been watching my summer midriff expand..makes me feel down,makes me feel like committing to a lifestyle much more blues than rock and roll..maybe even goth(black is slimming!)...makes me feel like committing to a lifestyle of entering professional eating contests( I can down 30 milk soaked Oreos in mere moo moustacio-ed minutes)...

I look at the guys on the cover of this album...they all a couple decades older than me...string beaned, sinewy swimmer like (or strung out) rock star bods. These dudes are still able to fit into jeans older than anyone who went to Bonnaroo this past weekend. They are still writing songs that grip me, shake me and almost make me want to take that spin class with a song like "Cause I Sez So" or "Exorcism of Despair" pumping thru my cans. David Johansen and Sylvain Sylvain are the only ones left from the original Dolls..and on this second effort from the revamped five-some..they string us joyfully along through genres.. the stripped down scarred up blues of This is Ridiculous and the Everly Bros./Orbison- like dreamy pop of "Temptation to Exist" are highlights.

David Johansen is one of the most underrated lyricists of this or any generation..there is a steely resolve and a confidence to his stories and his explorations on themes of resilience, indifference and intolerance.

Go get this album, be suprised like I was. The Dolls still rock. They are obviously bored with being remembered as one of the first punk bands and can hit you with a multitude of sounds these days...it all sticks. And they are thinner than you...