All
material on this CD was recorded in the studio in 1972 during the time
the Dolls were first building their Legend with their historic performances
at the Mercer Street Arts Center in what was to become SOHO, NYC. It pre-dates
their two releases on Mercury records.
The
New York Dolls "Lipstick Killers" is historically and commercially one
of ROIR's most important rock n' roll releases in our 21-year history.
The NY Dolls had been together only four and a half months when they entered
a small studio in NYC and made these demos, produced by Marty Thau. This
is the original band, straight from playing a tumultuous weekly residency
at the avant-garde art mecca, The Mercer Arts Center. It included drummer
Billy Murcia, who soon after died from an overdose during the Dolls first
gigs in the U.K.
"Lipstick
Killers" is how the band truly sounded, raw and live, before they were
put into the studio by Mercury records where their special unique energy
was commercially doctored by Todd Rundgren & Shadow Morton for their
two major label releases.
"This
archive tape re-writes history. The Dolls, with original drummer Billy
Murcia, were only four and a half months old when these nine tracks were
cut in a Manhattan studio one night during the summer of 1972. They were
doing one night a week at the city's underground art mecca The Mercer
Arts Center and really sowing their "young" wild oats.
"Lipstick
Killers" captures the nascent Dolls at a fascinating and yet vulnerable
juncture. Sylvain Sylvain and Johnny Thunders' guitars perform a six-string
demolition derby and big mouth David Johansen barks like an angry wounded
dog. "Killer" Kane and Murcia beat the songs into a bloody pulp."
"Lipstick
Killers takes you back to the dawn of an era, to one enchanted evening
in 1972, (28 years ago), when five kids from the outer-boroughs (of NYC)
dreamt they could change the world. Three months after this set was recorded
Marty Thau took the band to England, where they opened for Rod Stewart
and The Faces before 13,000 at Wembley Stadium, after never having played
to more than 350 in The Mercer Arts Center." - Roy Trakin- Liner Notes
"One
of the most influential rock bands of the last 30 years, The New York
Dolls pre-dated the punk and sleaze metal movements which followed long
after their own demise. They were a first rate rock n' roll band." - Guinness
Encyclopedia of Popular Music
"The
New York Dolls were the bridge between The Rolling Stones, The MC5 and
The Sex Pistols and the punk rock movement of the late 70's." - All Music
Guide To Rock
"The
Dolls single-handedly started the NY scene that later spawned the Ramones,
Blondie, Television, Talking Heads, and others. The Dolls were much more
than a band. Their signing to a major label set an example of commercial
feasibility." - Trouser Press
"These
early demo tapes with the original line up captures the Dolls at their
crudest and best minus the various techniques producers Rundgren &
Morton used in the Mercury releases in an attempt to tone the Dolls down.
Cuts their Mercury Lp's to shred." - James Marshall- East Village Eye
"This
years significant releases include ROIR's New York Dolls' 'Lipstick Killers'."
- Robert Palmer- New York Times
"The
Dolls epitomized trash. They were tart, amoral, stupid, crass and vulgar.
This is about as good a Dolls collection as you can get. For most of the
time they were the oldest most excitable pretenders to the Rolling Stones
ever." - Chris Bohn- NME U.K.
"Lipstick
Killers is a must for any New York Dolls fan because it presents the beginning
of their all too short recording existence. Features versions like you
never heard before! The sound is raw and cruel, definitely ahead of its
time, but it is also surprisingly clear and clean for such an early recording." -
Lucky Clark
"The
cassette shows what great songwriters the Dolls were." BillBoard- Top
Album Pick
"A
previously unreleased 1972 blitzkrieg studio session that totally eclipses
their Mercury LP's. This is their very first studio session. Thunders
leaves you with your mouth open." - Cassette International U.K.
"The
New York Dolls, their rise and tragic fall, typified a decade of false
starts, failures and deceit. Their potential was overwhelming, but never
satisfied. "Lipstick Killers" stands on its own musically, but is of even
greater importance as a lasting look at this band at their earliest most
ambitious period. Immediately obvious is the fine drumming of Billy Murcia.
He wasn't on either of the Mercury albums and judging from his driving
solid sound the band would have benefited if he would have lived long
enough to play on them." - John Koenig- Goldmine
"When
the group was a mere eighteen weeks into existence and still making their
fabled weekly showings at the Mercer Arts Center, they gathered in a small
studio and recorded the contents of this cassette in a solitary night.
Well in evidence, even in these infant days are the exhilaratingly exaggerated
Big Apple accents of David Johansen's vocals and the full blooded Thunders
lead lines." - Mick Sinclair- Sounds U.K.
