THE NEW YORK DOLLS - DANCING BACKWARD IN HIGH HEELS

I became a New York Dolls fan fairly late in life. I guess my first exposure to the band was singer David Johansen's solo videos on MTV back in the day: they used to always play his medley of Animals covers. Of course, after that was his era as Buster Poindexter, which in retrospect, was a very clever character (but I don't need to hear "Hot, Hot Hot" anymore).

When I finally learned about the Dolls, I wasn't into it: they reminded me of the hair metal bands that I wasn't into. But I was missing out! And in 2004, I realized it, when a publicist took me onstage to watch the band. They were playing Little Steven's Underground Garage Rock Festival, right before the two other headliners, The Strokes and The Stooges. The Dolls were unbelievable. The minute Johansen walked on stage, he just owned it. After that reunion, they started making records again.

Their latest, Dancing Backward In High Heels, is their third since getting back together. They only did two albums before breaking up, so they've more than doubled their discography! And let's get one thing straight: nothing they do will ever match the power and impact of their self-titled debut from 1973. But even though there are only two original members: Johansen and guitarist Syvian Sylvian, the current band kicks ass live and has made good records.  Dancing Backward is cool: it sort of leans heavily towards their big "wall of sound" and girl group influence, and doesn't have much of the aggressive punk rock sneer. The thing I like about that is, they are being relatively appropriate for their age, while remaining true to their influences (that said, I love the in-your-face sound of some of the songs from their last album, 'Cause I Sez So). I think the album makes more sense if you listen to Johansen's SiriusXM show (yes, I work there, but I listened to his show before I worked there), where he plays everything from Motown to opera to country to girl group songs to soft rock (like Toto and Bread!) to, well, The New York Dolls. Dancing Backward brings more of these influences to the forefront than maybe their previous albums did. "I Sold My Heart To The Junkman," with its strings and female backing singers is something that Johansen probably wanted to do for years. "Funky But Chic" is a great mission statement for the band and Johansen himself, and is one of the only rockers.

I was a bit appalled to find out what the band is doing this summer (and I imagine Morrissey - who coaxed the band out of retirement in the first place to perform at the Meltdown Festival, which he curated - feels the same way).  They are OPENING on the Motley Crue/Poison tour. I guess it's cool of those bands to take the Dolls out: they don't need openers, and at any rate, their audience probably won't "get" the Dolls. It's strange that they are promoting their least rock album on a tour with conservatively rock bands on the bill. But who knows, maybe a few people will get turned on to the Dolls, which would be a great thing. If you are one of those people, start with the 1973 album, but Dancing isn't a bad one either.

TOMORROW ON THE MORNING JOLT - STEVIE NICKS, SADE, THE GO-GO'S, DURAN DURAN, THE CARS

Longtime readers of No Expiration know that on Wednesday morning at about 9 am ET(ish), I go on The Morning Jolt with Larry Flick on SiriusXM OutQ to talk about music. You can listen even if you aren't a subscriber yet: get a free online trial subscription here. This week I'll be talking about some artists who were huge on MTV in the '80s (I'm not calling this an '80s themed episode though).

I just wrote a bit about Stevie Nicks.  People are really excited about her new album In Your Dreams, which was produced by Dave Stewart of The Eurythmics. I think it's a pretty good album, but I am a much bigger fan of her last one, 2001's Trouble In Shangri-La (several songs were produced by Sheryl Crow). Dave Stewart is an interesting choice.  What do they have in common? How about being involved with a bandmate?  Plus, they've also worked with Tom Petty.

When I was a kid, my mom took me to see a play called "Brigadoon." It was about a city from another dimension, and the portal to get you there only opens once every hundred years or something.  Sade is like that.  Every couple of years, she reappears for a short while, and then vanishes for another decade, only to return looking as if she hasn't aged a day! Anyway, has a new best of out, with a couple of new songs.  The one that I like is "Still In Love With You." It's a Thin Lizzy cover, believe it or not! There are some remixes of her songs with Jay-Z and The Neptunes that I'm not digging as much.

The Go-Go's are reissuing a 30th anniversary edition of their classic Beauty and The Beat album.  I feel a bit old saying that. People forget that The Go-Go's come from punk rock ( I think Belinda Carlisle used to be involved with The Germs) but by this, their debut album, they were moving in a more pop direction.  I'm not mad  at that.  There are some great songs on this album.  The reissue comes with a live concert from the era.

Duran Duran have a new album, All You Need Is Now. Great title for a band that is so heavily associated with the '80s. But some of the most happening producers want to work with them: their last album was produced by Timbaland, and this one is produced by Mark Ronson. I'm curious how fans will react to this one.  I'm hoping that my friend Katy (aka "Ask Katy" on their website), who listens to Larry's show, will call in.

A few weeks ago, I talked about The Cars reunion, and I played a new song, "Sad Song." Their album, Move Like This, is out now, so I have a few more songs, including "Blue Tip." I'm looking forward to seeing them in concert soon, I have my tickets! I never got to see them back in the day.

10 UNDERRATED STEVIE NICKS SONGS - DON'T SLEEP ON THESE

Lots of people are really excited about Stevie Nicks' new album, In Your Dreams, and I'm glad for Stevie.  But when I hear people say that it's her best solo album since the '80s, I wonder if they were paying attention ten years ago to 2001's Trouble In Shangri- La.  My opinion: track for track, it's her best solo effort. It may not have a colossal hit like "Edge Of 17," but I don't think that there's any filler. I think she was really energized by the extremely successful Fleetwood Mac reunion, and the fact that the Mac had a huge hit with her song "Silver Springs" (a song which the Mac had declined when Stevie had presented it in the '70s). Also, Sheryl Crow was a huge fan, and helped to produce the album (probably the first time Stevie worked with a female producer). So, here's my list of Stevie songs (many from Trouble) that I think people sleep on. I chalk it up to ageism.

1. "Candlebright" from Trouble. She originally wrote it for Buckingham/Nicks, before she and Lindsey Buckingham joined the Mac.
2. "Sorcerer" from Trouble, which prominently features Sheryl Crow.
3. "Planets Of The Universe" from Trouble, another song that started in the Buckingham/Nicks era.
4. "Every Day" from Trouble. See, it's a great album.
5. "Blue Lamp" is one of my favorites - it is from the '80s animated midnight movie Heavy Metal. I told Stevie about that - she said it actually is about a blue lamp that she still owns.
6. "Reconsider Me" is her cover of the Warren Zevon classic.
7. "I Need To Know" is her cover of the Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers classic.  I saw her perform this backed by Tom and the HBs, it was pretty great.
8. "If You Ever Did Believe" is a collab with Sheryl Crow from the Boys On The Side soundtrack.
9. "Somebody Stand By Me" written for her by Sheryl Crow for Boys On The Side.
10. "You May Be The One" from her new album In Your Dreams, my favorite song from the new album.

JEFF BECK GUITAR GOD

I've been listening to Jeff Beck's live album from last year, Live And Exclusive From The Grammy Museum, and I have to say that his guitar playing is just so unbelievable. And lyrical.

He does some of his own compositions, like "Hammerhead" and "Brush With The Blues," which are pretty badass.  But what really knocks me out are his instrumental covers of songs that originally featured iconic singers.  Curtis Mayfield's "People Get Ready." The Beatles' "A Day In The Life." The opera piece "Nessun Dorma."  "Over The Rainbow" for godsakes! How do you take Curtis, John Lennon, Judy Garland out of those songs, and make them work?  But Jeff does.  His band sometimes has a real '80s adult contemporary vibe (his drummer, Narada Michael Walden, who produced huge hits for Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey during that decade), and on paper, this sounds like it could be "muzak," but in fact, it really works.

One reason Jeff Beck probably isn't more popular than he is, is because he doesn't sing. But the reason musicians and hard core music fans love him so much is because his guitar does. This album is exhibit A, you should check it out.

TOMORROW ON OUTQ: LOLLAPALOOZA TURNS 20

Longtime No Expiration readers know that once a week (usually on Wednesday morning at 9 am ET) I go on The Morning Jolt with Larry Flick on SiriusXM's OutQ channel. This week, we  moved my day to Friday. You can listen even if you aren't a subscriber: get a free online trial subscription here.

Last week, Perry Farrell announced this year's Lollapalooza festival, and it turns out that this year the franchise turns 20 (although it was dormant for a few of those years).  Some of my favorite bands ever have played the festival (check out a fun timeline here) and so I figured I'd talk about what a few of them are doing tomorrow.

Of course, I have to talk about Perry's group, Lollapalooza's first headliners, Jane's Addiction. When I last wrote about them, they'd released a live DVD from one of their last shows from their reunion tour, their only one to feature original bassist Eric Avery. By the time the DVD came out, Duff McKagan replaced him, and had already left the band. Dave Sitek from TV On The Radio played bass on the album, he also co-wrote songs and co-produced. But he's not in the band, and now it looks like they're back with Chris Chaney, who played with them in the early '00s.  Their next album, The Great Escape Artist, comes out in August, and the first song, "End To The Lies," is out now.  I don't know if I dig it yet.

I have yet to write about the great Pearl Jam box set, which includes remastered versions of Vs. and Vitalogy (both with bonus tracks), a live album recorded April 12, 1994 at the Orpheum in Boston and (on cassette!) a copy of the radio show they did when Vitalogy came out, which featured performances by them, as well as Mudhoney, Soundgarden, Mad Season and The Fastbacks.  I'll write more about that later.

Tres Mts, who I wrote about last night - that's the supergroup featuring Pearl Jam's Jeff Ament and Mike McCready, King's X frontman Doug Pinnick and Fastback Richard Stuverud.

Eddie Vedder, meanwhile, releases his second solo album, Ukelele Songs, later this month, and I have the first song, "Longing To Belong."

The Beastie Boys released Hot Sauce Committee Part 2 this week, I haven't gotten mine in the mail yet.  What up, Amazon? I will certainly write about it after I get it.  I know people want to know about it: a post I did in late 2009 is one of my most popular posts lately.

Green Day just released a live album, Awesome As Fuck. Check out my cousin Kyle's guest review.

The new live Soundgarden compilation, Live On I-5, which I just wrote about.

And Tom Morello's latest song as The Nightwatchman, "Union Town," which makes me proud to be a fan. Dig the video, and get the Union Town EP when it comes out digitally next week. The Nightwatchman's next full length, World Wide Rebel Songs, comes out later this summer.

DO YOU REALLY WANT TO SEE SOUNDGARDEN LIVE?

I've been listening to Soundgarden's newly released Live on I-5 lately.  It's a collection of performances from their final tour from 1996.

I'd seen Soundgarden a number of times, starting with their Louder Than Love tour in 1990 (they were opening for Voivod, and Faith No More was first on the bill). That was probably the best Soundgarden performance I'd ever seen. I saw them open for Neil Young, Guns N Roses and headlining shows as well. I saw them on the Superunknown tour playing the New York Armory, one of the worst shows I've ever seen, mostly because it was the worst sounding venue I've ever been to.

On their last tour, also in '96, I saw them twice on Lollapalooza. They were touring for their last album, Down On The Upside, which I loved. But they just weren't that good. Ben Shepherd was looking like he'd rather be anywhere rather than playing to tens of thousands of people a night. And Chris Cornell's voice was sounding pretty awful. On record, especially on Superunknown and Down On The Upside, his vocals were incredible. Listening to him live, he was straining.  Those shows were a few months before the ones recorded here.

So, QUESTION 1: Would this really be a "live" album, or would Chris go in and doctor his vocals. Peter Gabriel did this on live recordings on the Genesis box set Archive 1967-1975, but his voice was so different all those years later, it was obvious that he'd done it, and it pissed fans off.

ANSWER: I am fairly sure that no 2011 doctoring was done. Listen to "Searching With My Good Eye Closed," he is straining, big time. His vocals on the studio version is, like, superheroic.  Live, he just couldn't cut it. He sounds similarly messy (and not in a good way) on lots of other songs.  I would love to get a live Soundgarden album from the late '80s or earlier '90s.

That leads me to my second question: given that this was the last time Chris sang many of these songs with a rock band (although he has done lots of Soundgarden with Audioslave and on his solo tours)... is this live album a terrible advertisement for their upcoming tour (many of the dates were announced earlier today)?

MY ANSWER: on its own, this live album doesn't really make a great argument to see the same band, 15 years later. We know Matt Cameron is still an amazing drummer, due to his many of years with Pearl Jam (he still is in Pearl Jam, BTW). Kim Thayil has seemed to be semi-retired since Soundgarden packed it up, but I bet he hasn't lost his serrated edge on guitar. I wonder about Ben Shepherd.  Back when he was younger, as is the case with lots of the bands of that era, he had an attitude about playing to large crowds.  All these years later, lots of those guys have had to return to their day jobs.  There have been stories that Ben wasn't in great financial shape (he clarified a bit after one magazine's sensationalistic take on his situation), I wonder if he will appreciate his good fortune now. But Chris Cornell would be the real question mark.

And you know my take on that: I saw Chris do a stunning solo acoustic show a few weeks ago, it was truly incredible. And while there is a big difference between doing a solo acoustic show and playing with Soundgarden, I think his is clean, clear and ready to rock.

So my final answer: I'm getting tickets.  I think you should also.

AMENT + PINNICK + STUVERUD (+McCREADY) = TRES MTS

I have been waiting for a long time for this album! For years, I'd heard that Jeff Ament from Pearl Jam and Doug Pinnick from King's X were doing some sort of project together. Well, that project is Tres Mts and it's out now.  The band also features Fastbacks drummer Richard Stuverud (who also played with Jeff in the band Three Fish and on Jeff's solo album 2008's Tone).

I think the album was recorded at Jeff's place in Montana, and a lot of it sounds like it was created out of some pretty rockin' jams. At some point, they realized that the songs needed lyrics to become songs.  A lot of it has that "jammy" sound - not in a "jam band" way, but it sounds like they were just rocking out in the studio and hammered the jams into actual songs. Mike McCready plays a lot of lead guitar on the album - Doug Pinnick plays most of the guitar on the album, but he's mainly a (great) bass player.  When it was time for some face-melting solos, Jeff knew who to call!

What does it sound like? I guess a bit like if Doug sang for Pearl Jam. It's heavy rock, it's soul, it's psychedelic.  Not much of a punk rock influence, and no indie rock pretensions.

One song that stands out is "God Told Me." The context: King's X were a Christian band when they started out. Not like Christian metal, and they weren't playing revivals or anything, but they had a Christian message in their lyrics, and they didn't have a problem with discussing it. Years later, Doug came out as a gay man, and also as an agnostic, although on this song, he seems to have come to terms with God, if not with organized religion. It's pretty heavy.

Another great one: "She's My New Song," which reminds me a bit of Curtis Mayfield's "Superfly." I had the great privilege, the great pleasure, of filming the band when they were at the SiriusXM studios recently. It meant to world to me to film a band with members of two of my favorite groups, Pearl Jam and King's X.

I dig the album, it's pretty rockin'.  I'm not putting it on a level with King's X or Pearl Jam, but it is my favorite thing Jeff has done outside of Pearl Jam since Temple Of The Dog, and it's my favorite thing Doug has done outside of King's X.  I'd love to see a full-on show live (when they played NYC, I had tickets... and then realized my cousin Bat Mitzvah - in Ohio! - was that day, oops!), and I hope they do another album. I've been using the album to run to, and it works great.  But I've also listened to it while just hanging out in the house.  Watching them perform, you wouldn't have known that they hadn't played together too much, they were really tight and knocked out three songs in like ten minutes. They seemed to work so well together, and seemed to enjoy it, so hopefully we'll hear more from them in the future.