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Released by: MVD
Released on: 10/25/2005
Director: N/A
Cast: Johnny Thunders, Arthur Kane, Jerry Nolan, Barry Jones, Babsie Doll
Year: 1987
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The Movie:
Before the New York Dolls 'formally' reformed in 2005 (obviously without Johnny Thunders or Jerry Nolan), Johnny Thunders, Arthur Kane and Jerry Nolan held an impromptu reunion of sorts on stage at the Roxy in Los Angeles on January 4th, 1987. Thankfully, there was a camera there to record it for posterity and while the latest incarnation might have the official name behind it, this is about as close to a true New York Dolls reunion as we'll ever see again even if it is without the very distinct vocals of David Johansen. Barry Jones of The London Cowboys replaces Waldo on rhythm guitar for this show and while it's not quite the same, the guy can play and musically he fits right in with the rest of the crew.
The complete track list for the concert is as follows:
Pipeline/Blame It On Mom/Personality Crisis/Dead Or Alive/Can't Keep My Eyes On You/I Ain't Superstitious/Too Much Junkie Business/You Can't Put Your Arms Around A Memory/Eve Of Destruction/Lonely Planet Boy/The Wizard/Play With Fire/Green Onions/In The Midnight Hour/Little Queenie/Born To Lose/Baby What You Want Me To Do/Courageous Cat/Chinese Rocks.
It's an interesting set list that throws in a few covers and some nice acoustic renditions of better known songs, but it's surprising to see that there aren't more Heartbreakers 'classics' on the list - In Cold Blood and Do You Love Me are both suspiciously absent. Regardless, the band tears through the set list with enthusiasm and style. They sound really good even if Jones' backing vocals are a bit flat on a couple of tracks here and there.
In terms of how this was shot, well, it was done with one camera so the entire show is presented from the same angle with little to no camera movement at all. While this is fine in that it keeps Thunders in the frame at all times, it doesn't capture Nolan very well and Kane isn't give that much screen presence either. This does hurt what is otherwise a very strong performance. The other complaint that needs to be levied against this release is that large portions of Dead Or Alive are obviously dubbed over and not actually the live recording. Why this was done in post production is anyone's guess but if you pay attention during this track, you'll notice that Johnny's voice is still singing on the audio track but he's walked away from the microphone on stage.
That being said, there's still plenty here to recommend for Thunders or Dolls fans. A few 'intimate' moments where the band interacts with the crowd, in both positive and negative ways, give this some interesting charm, particularly when a girl comes out of the audience to plant one on Kane's cheek or when someone hits Thunders with a flying beer! There's even the occasional stage diver who braves the crowd, gets on stage, then flails himself back into the audience after dancing around for a few seconds before security comes rushing.
Thunders is in pretty good shape here, especially when you compare his performance to In Cold Blood where he's just a mess. He's as audible and in key as was likely ever possible for the guy and his he sounds really good here and actually looks almost healthy when you compare this incarnation to the late eighties version - a drugged out shell of a man.
Video/Audio/Extras:
For material shot on a video camera under less than ideal circumstances almost twenty years ago, this footage doesn't look half bad. Yeah, there's some blurring and some definite softness to the image and color reproduction isn't reference quality but everything is perfectly watchable on this DVD. In terms of the transfer itself, there are only the slightest instances of mpeg compression evident here in some of the darker spots and in the corners of the stage, other than that, things are alright. You can't go in expecting this stuff to look like a million bucks, but for what it is, MVD's DVD does a fine job with the visual presentation of the material
The entire presentation has been re-mastered in an all-new Dolby Digital 5.1 sound mix though for the most part it's simply the original mono mix spread out a little bit. There's hiss. There's distortion. There's background noise from the crowd and sometimes the between song dialogue and banter is slightly muffled as is the music, but it is cleaner sounding than you'd probably expect and for the most part these problems are quite minor.
Aside from a menu and track selection option, this release is completely barebones.
The Final Word:
A very solid performance and a little slice of rock and roll history is captured well on this DVD. While some extras would have been very welcome, the concert looks and sounds pretty decent considering the source and the music holds up very well.