8538 - DAVID JOHANSEN (1978) (REPOST)

DAVID JOHANSEN
''DAVID JOHANSEN''
MAY 1978
35:38

1 Funky But Chic/David Johansen, Syl Sylvain 04:00
2 Girls/David Johansen, Syl Sylvain 03:37
3 Pain In My Heart/David Johansen 03:23
4 Not That Much/David Johansen, Buz Verno 03:01
5 Donna/David Johansen 04:27
6 Cool Metro/David Johansen, Syl Sylvain 03:54
7 I'm A Lover/David Johansen, Johnny Rao, Thomas Trask, Buz Verno 03:32
8 Lonely Tenement/David Johansen 04:12
9 Frenchette/David Johansen, Syl Sylvain 05:29

Bobbie Blain/Organ, Piano
Stan Bronstein/Horn
Felix Cavaliere/Organ
Sarah Dash/Vocals (Background)
Nona Hendryx/Vocals (Background)
David Johansen/Castanets, Chimes, Guitar, Vocals
Frankie La Rocka/Drums, Vocals
Gene Leppik/Vocals
Tony Machine/Percussion
Jimmie Mack/Vocals
Joe Perry/Guitar, Guitar (Rhythm)
Johnny Rao/Guitar
Scarlet Rivera/Violin
The Shrimps/Arranger
Syl Sylvain/Guitar
Thomas Trask/Guitar
Buz Verno/Bass, Vocals

REVIEW
by Mark Deming/AMG
David Johansen's self-titled solo debut bears a closer resemblance to his work with the New York Dolls than any of his subsequent recordings, but the former Dolls singer cleverly crafted an album that played to his former band's strengths while establishing an identity of his own and delivering a set of tight but powerful hard rock. Where the Dolls were frequently sloppy and poorly focused (if often gloriously so), David Johansen rocks with a cleaner but equally emphatic guitar attack (courtesy Johnny Rao and Thomas Trask), while Johansen's vocals are noticeably more powerful and sharper than his earlier music. Johansen's songs are more straightforward and less campy than his Dolls tunes; while "Funky But Chic" would have done his old glam buddies proud ("Mama says I look fruity, but in jeans I feel rotten"), the celebration of the fair sex in "Girls" and "I'm a Lover" cuts his former sexual ambiguity to the quick, and the tough rock & roll good times of "Cool Metro" and the girl-trouble commiseration of "Pain In My Heart" show Johansen could move into more conventional lyrical territory without losing his swagger or street smarts along the way. And while the Dolls didn't leave Johansen much room for slow songs where he could wear his heart on his sleeve, "Donna" and "Frenchette" allow him to do just that, and remarkably well. David Johansen in some respects seems like a deliberate attempt to sidestep much of the baggage that weighed down the New York Dolls in their bid for rock stardom, but at the same time its celebration of women and good times isn't simple or without its own appreciation of good danger, and it rocks out with a New York street vibe that has a life of its own; it's still Johansen's best solo work to date.

BIOGRAPHY
by Jason Ankeny/AMG
Best known for his tenure fronting the hugely influential New York Dolls, David Johansen was a true chameleon; throughout the course of a career which saw him transform from a lipstick-smeared proto-punk hero into an urbane blue-eyed soul man and finally into a tuxedo-clad lounge lizard, he remained a rock & roll original, an unpredictable iconoclast and a true cultural innovator. Born January 9, 1950, in Staten Island, NY, Johansen joined his first band, the Vagabond Missionaries, in his mid-teens. A tenure with Fast Eddie & the Electric Japs, as well as an attempt to mount a career as a theatrical actor, followed before a club-hopping Johansen met bassist Arthur Kane, who extended an invitation to join his band, Actress. After changing their name to the New York Dolls, the group began building a notorious reputation for their menacing, edgy music, drug-fueled lifestyle, and outrageously campy, drag queen-inspired glam image; although neither their eponymous 1973 debut nor 1974's Too Much Too Soon even cracked the Top 100, the Dolls established an enduring cult following, and their influence on the rise of punk was unmistakable.

the Dolls officially broke up in 1975, although Johansen and guitarist Syl Sylvain continued performing under the group's name for two more years. Finally, in 1977, Johansen entered the recording studio with his support group, the Staten Island Boys, to cut his self-titled solo debut; while it sold no better than the Dolls' records, it did renew the critics' love affair with the singer and his gritty, soulful voice. With producer Mick Ronson, he returned in 1979 with the Motown-influenced In Style, followed in 1981 by the commercial-minded Here Comes the Night. While 1982's concert set Live It Up won some airplay for its medley of the Animals hits "We Gotta Get Out of This Place," "It's My Life," and "Don't Bring Me Down," Johansen was forced to reassess his career when 1984's dance-flavored Sweet Revenge tanked. At the end of 1984 he resurfaced in the pompadoured guise of Buster Poindexter, a supposed ethnomusicologist armed with an expansive knowledge of R&B chestnuts. After debuting the Buster character at a series of mid-'80s downtown New York loft gigs with the Uptown Horns, Johansen continued honing the identity in the piano bars of Manhattan, establishing a lounge swinger persona which predated the lounge-kitsch revival of the mid-'90s by a decade.

As Poindexter's popularity grew, he began fronting a large band dubbed the Banshees in Blue and building a devoted following on the New York club circuit. In 1987, he issued an LP, Buster Poindexter, which featured the party classic "Hot Hot Hot," an effervescent cover of an obscure 1984 soca hit. In addition to reviving Johansen's career as a musical performer, Buster also renewed his long-dormant acting bug, and he was tapped to co-star in the 1988 features Married to the Mob and Scrooged. The character remained Johansen's focus in subsequent years as well, as evidenced by the albums Buster Goes Berserk in 1989 and Buster's Happy Hour in 1994. He maintained a relatively low profile in the years prior to the spring 2000 release of David Johansen & the Harry Smiths.

3447 - HUBERT SUMLIN & DAVID JOHANSEN - Howlin' For Hubert: Chicago Blues Festival, June 10, 2004 (2004)

HUBERT SUMLIN & DAVID JOHANSEN
''HOWLIN' FOR HUBERT: CHICAGO BLUES FESTIVAL''
CHICAGO, IL, JUN 10, 2004
LIVE
2004
56:12

1/Built For Comfort/2:45
2/Little Red Rooster/4:48
3/Evil/2:49
4/Backdoor Man/5:19
5/Spoonful/3:49
6/300 Pounds Of Joy/3:41
7/Tail Dragger/4:22
8/Sittin' On Top Of The World/3:03
9/Where Did My Baby Go/3:30
10/Who's Been Talking/3:20
11/Had My Fun/4:39
12/Killing Floor/5:46
13/Wang Dang Doodle/7:50

Humbert Sumlin/Guitar
David Johansen/Vocals, Harmonica
Levon Helm/Drums
Jimmy Vivino/Guitar
David Maxwell/Piano
Mike Merritt/Bass

BIOGRAPHY (HUBERT SUMLIN)
by Bill Dahl
Quiet and extremely unassuming off the bandstand, Hubert Sumlin played a style of guitar incendiary enough to stand tall beside the immortal Howlin' Wolf. The Wolf was Sumlin's imposing mentor for more than two decades, and it proved a mutually beneficial relationship; Sumlin's twisting, darting, unpredictable lead guitar constantly energized The Wolf's 1960s Chess sides, even when the songs themselves (check out "Do the Do" or "Mama's Baby" for conclusive proof) were less than stellar. Sumlin started out twanging the proverbial broom wire nailed to the wall before he got his mitts on a real guitar. He grew up near West Memphis, Arkansas, briefly hooking up with another Young Lion with a rosy future, harpist James Cotton, before receiving a summons from the mighty Wolf to join him in Chicago in 1954. Sumlin learned his craft nightly on the bandstand behind Wolf, his confidence growing as he graduated from rhythm guitar duties to lead. By the dawn of the '60s, Sumlin's slashing axe was a prominent component on the great majority of Wolf's waxings, including "Wang Dang Doodle," "Shake for Me," "Hidden Charms" (boasting perhaps Sumlin's greatest recorded solo), "Three Hundred Pounds of Joy," and "Killing Floor."
Although they had a somewhat tempestuous relationship, Sumlin remained loyal to Wolf until the big man's 1976 death. But Sumlin cut a handful of solo sessions before that, beginning with a most unusual 1964 date in East Berlin that was produced by Horst Lippmann during a European tour under the auspices of the American Folk Blues Festival (the "behind the Iron Curtain" session also featured pianist Sunnyland Slim and bassist Willie Dixon). In subsequent years Sumlin allowed his vocal talents to shine, recording solo sets that revealed him to be an understated but effective singer -- while his guitar continued to communicate most forcefully. The esteem with which he was held by musicians of a later generation was ably demonstrated by the guest list on Sumlin's 2004 album About Them Shoes, including Keith Richards, Eric Clapton, Levon Helm, and David Johansen, not to mention a noted bluesman from Sumlin's own past, harmonica player James Cotton, the old friend and bandmate who first played with Sumlin in West Memphis back in their teenage years of the early '50s, before Cotton joined up with Muddy Waters and moved to Chicago, paralleling Sumlin's own journey to the Windy City around the same time. He followed up About Them Shoes with Treblemaker in 2007. Hubert Sumlin died of heart failure in Wayne, New Jersey on December 4, 2011; he was 80 years old. Mick Jagger and Keith Richards paid for the bluesman's funeral expenses. collapse

BIOGRAPHY (DAVID JOHANSEN)
by Jason Ankeny
Best known for his tenure fronting the hugely influential New York Dolls, David Johansen was a true chameleon; throughout the course of a career which saw him transform from a lipstick-smeared proto-punk hero into an urbane blue-eyed soul man and finally into a tuxedo-clad lounge lizard, he remained a rock & roll original, an unpredictable iconoclast and a true cultural innovator. Born January 9, 1950, in Staten Island, NY, Johansen joined his first band, the Vagabond Missionaries, in his mid-teens. A tenure with Fast Eddie & the Electric Japs, as well as an attempt to mount a career as a theatrical actor, followed before a club-hopping Johansen met bassist Arthur Kane, who extended an invitation to join his band, Actress. After changing their name to the New York Dolls, the group began building a notorious reputation for their menacing, edgy music, drug-fueled lifestyle, and outrageously campy, drag queen-inspired glam image; although neither their eponymous 1973 debut nor 1974's Too Much Too Soon even cracked the Top 100, the Dolls established an enduring cult following, and their influence on the rise of punk was unmistakable.
The Dolls officially broke up in 1975, although Johansen and guitarist Syl Sylvain continued performing under the group's name for two more years. Finally, in 1977, Johansen entered the recording studio with his support group, the Staten Island Boys, to cut his self-titled solo debut; while it sold no better than the Dolls' records, it did renew the critics' love affair with the singer and his gritty, soulful voice. With producer Mick Ronson, he returned in 1979 with the Motown-influenced In Style, followed in 1981 by the commercial-minded Here Comes the Night. While 1982's concert set Live It Up won some airplay for its medley of the Animals hits "We Gotta Get Out of This Place," "It's My Life," and "Don't Bring Me Down," Johansen was forced to reassess his career when 1984's dance-flavored Sweet Revenge tanked. At the end of 1984 he resurfaced in the pompadoured guise of Buster Poindexter, a supposed ethnomusicologist armed with an expansive knowledge of R&B chestnuts. After debuting the Buster character at a series of mid-'80s downtown New York loft gigs with the Uptown Horns, Johansen continued honing the identity in the piano bars of Manhattan, establishing a lounge swinger persona which predated the lounge-kitsch revival of the mid-'90s by a decade.
As Poindexter's popularity grew, he began fronting a large band dubbed the Banshees in Blue and building a devoted following on the New York club circuit. In 1987, he issued an LP, Buster Poindexter, which featured the party classic "Hot Hot Hot," an effervescent cover of an obscure 1984 soca hit. In addition to reviving Johansen's career as a musical performer, Buster also renewed his long-dormant acting bug, and he was tapped to co-star in the 1988 features Married to the Mob and Scrooged. The character remained Johansen's focus in subsequent years as well, as evidenced by the albums Buster Goes Berserk in 1989 and Buster's Happy Hour in 1994. He maintained a relatively low profile in the years prior to the spring 2000 release of David Johansen & the Harry Smiths.

MC

3446 - DAVID JOHANSEN AND THE HARRY SMITHS - Shaker (2002)

DAVID JOHANSEN AND THE HARRY SMITHS
''SHAKER''
MAY 28 2002
54:02

1/Furry's Blues
Furry Lewis/3:21
2/I'll Go With Her
Robert Wilkins/3:58
3/Deep Blue Sea
Tommy McClennan / Traditional/3:38
4/My Morphine
David Rawlings / Gillian Welch/6:05
5/Ham Hound Crave
Reverend Rubin Lacy/3:12
6/Let the Mermaids Flirt With Me/3:38
7/I Can't Be Satisfied
Muddy Waters/2:39
8/In Love Again
Memphis Minnie/3:04
9/Death Letter
Son House/4:01
10/My Grandpa Is Old Too!
Lightnin' Hopkins/3:22
11/Jailbird Love Song/3:17
12/High Sheriff
Charley Patton/3:37
13/Kassie Jones
Furry Lewis/6:29
14/The Last Kind Words
Geeshie Wiley/3:41

Keith Carlock /Drums, Percussion
David Chesky /Producer
Kermit Driscoll /Bass, Guest Artist
David Johansen /Arranger, Harmonica, Vocals
Brian Koonin /Arranger, Guitar, Mandolin, Producer
Larry Saltzman /Dobro, Guitar

REVIEW
by Mark Deming
When one looks back at David Johansen's body of work, it's not difficult to get the feeling you're watching an actor who has slipped in and out of a number of character roles over the years; there was the trashy glam punk libertine of his New York Dolls days, the swaggering hard rock belter on his '70s and '80s solo albums, the over-the-top devotee of vintage-nightclub sounds known as Buster Poindexter, and now the grizzled bluesman who cuts pared-to-the bone acoustic sessions with his band the Harry Smiths. Shaker is Johansen's second album with the Harry Smiths, and the set list is comprised of vintage country blues classics made famous by the likes of Son House, Mississippi John Hurt, and Charley Patton (one notable exception: "My Morphine" by Gillian Welch, which fits in seamlessly into the mix). As with much of his material from the past, the theatricality of Johansen's performance is certainly evident here, though given the purposefully sparse musical arrangements of his band, it stands out in a different degree of relief; Johansen avoids an overtone of minstrelsy as he assumes the role of an aging bluesman, but ultimately he sound like an actor on-stage giving a performance as a bluesman rather than the vintage blues singer himself. That's not to say, though, that Johansen doesn't find something pure and honest in these songs; he's always been a con brio performer, and if his touch is sometimes broad, it's also passionate and sensitive, and he doesn't over-play so much as give a dramatic reading that would befit an actor who must balance restraint with the need to communicate with the last row of the balcony. The result is a collection that honors the tenor of the classic country blues recordings while adding a tone that is pure David Johansen, and not only is his delivery strong and compelling, but his voice is more supple than it has been in years, while his musicians back him up with subtle fire. While dozens of modern blues artists have stumbled while trying to re-create the sound of the past, David Johansen has taken a genuinely different approach to that idea, and on Shaker the results are impressive indeed.

BIOGRAPHY
by Jason Ankeny
Best known for his tenure fronting the hugely influential New York Dolls, David Johansen was a true chameleon; throughout the course of a career which saw him transform from a lipstick-smeared proto-punk hero into an urbane blue-eyed soul man and finally into a tuxedo-clad lounge lizard, he remained a rock & roll original, an unpredictable iconoclast and a true cultural innovator. Born January 9, 1950, in Staten Island, NY, Johansen joined his first band, the Vagabond Missionaries, in his mid-teens. A tenure with Fast Eddie & the Electric Japs, as well as an attempt to mount a career as a theatrical actor, followed before a club-hopping Johansen met bassist Arthur Kane, who extended an invitation to join his band, Actress. After changing their name to the New York Dolls, the group began building a notorious reputation for their menacing, edgy music, drug-fueled lifestyle, and outrageously campy, drag queen-inspired glam image; although neither their eponymous 1973 debut nor 1974's Too Much Too Soon even cracked the Top 100, the Dolls established an enduring cult following, and their influence on the rise of punk was unmistakable.
The Dolls officially broke up in 1975, although Johansen and guitarist Syl Sylvain continued performing under the group's name for two more years. Finally, in 1977, Johansen entered the recording studio with his support group, the Staten Island Boys, to cut his self-titled solo debut; while it sold no better than the Dolls' records, it did renew the critics' love affair with the singer and his gritty, soulful voice. With producer Mick Ronson, he returned in 1979 with the Motown-influenced In Style, followed in 1981 by the commercial-minded Here Comes the Night. While 1982's concert set Live It Up won some airplay for its medley of the Animals hits "We Gotta Get Out of This Place," "It's My Life," and "Don't Bring Me Down," Johansen was forced to reassess his career when 1984's dance-flavored Sweet Revenge tanked. At the end of 1984 he resurfaced in the pompadoured guise of Buster Poindexter, a supposed ethnomusicologist armed with an expansive knowledge of R&B chestnuts. After debuting the Buster character at a series of mid-'80s downtown New York loft gigs with the Uptown Horns, Johansen continued honing the identity in the piano bars of Manhattan, establishing a lounge swinger persona which predated the lounge-kitsch revival of the mid-'90s by a decade.
As Poindexter's popularity grew, he began fronting a large band dubbed the Banshees in Blue and building a devoted following on the New York club circuit. In 1987, he issued an LP, Buster Poindexter, which featured the party classic "Hot Hot Hot," an effervescent cover of an obscure 1984 soca hit. In addition to reviving Johansen's career as a musical performer, Buster also renewed his long-dormant acting bug, and he was tapped to co-star in the 1988 features Married to the Mob and Scrooged. The character remained Johansen's focus in subsequent years as well, as evidenced by the albums Buster Goes Berserk in 1989 and Buster's Happy Hour in 1994. He maintained a relatively low profile in the years prior to the spring 2000 release of David Johansen & the Harry Smiths.

MC

3445 - DAVID JOHANSEN AND THE HARRY SMITHS (2000)

DAVID JOHANSEN AND THE HARRY SMITHS
''DAVID JOHANSEN AND THE HARRY SMITHS''
MAR 28, 2000
NOV 29-DEC 2, 1999
50:28

1/James Alley Blues/Brown/3:32
2/Darling, Do You Remember Me?/Hopkins/4:31
3/Delia/Traditional/6:38
4/Little Geneva/Waters/3:29
5/Well, I've Been to Memphis/Traditional/3:58
6/Katie Mae/Hopkins/4:19
8/Somebody Buy Me a Drink/Brown/4:10
9/Poor Boy Blues/Traditional/3:18
10/On the Wall 2:56
11/Don't Start Me Talking/Williamson/2:31
12/Oh Death/4:01
13/Richland Woman/Hurt/3:38

Joey Baron / Percussion
David Chesky / Producer
Kermit Driscoll / Bass, Didjeridu
David Johansen / Guitar, Harmonica, Vocals
Brian Koonin / Guitar, Mandolin, Producer
Larry Saltzman / Banjo, Guitar

BIOGRAPHY
by Jason Ankeny
Best known for his tenure fronting the hugely influential New York Dolls, David Johansen was a true chameleon; throughout the course of a career which saw him transform from a lipstick-smeared proto-punk hero into an urbane blue-eyed soul man and finally into a tuxedo-clad lounge lizard, he remained a rock & roll original, an unpredictable iconoclast and a true cultural innovator. Born January 9, 1950, in Staten Island, NY, Johansen joined his first band, the Vagabond Missionaries, in his mid-teens. A tenure with Fast Eddie & the Electric Japs, as well as an attempt to mount a career as a theatrical actor, followed before a club-hopping Johansen met bassist Arthur Kane, who extended an invitation to join his band, Actress. After changing their name to the New York Dolls, the group began building a notorious reputation for their menacing, edgy music, drug-fueled lifestyle, and outrageously campy, drag queen-inspired glam image; although neither their eponymous 1973 debut nor 1974's Too Much Too Soon even cracked the Top 100, the Dolls established an enduring cult following, and their influence on the rise of punk was unmistakable.
The Dolls officially broke up in 1975, although Johansen and guitarist Syl Sylvain continued performing under the group's name for two more years. Finally, in 1977, Johansen entered the recording studio with his support group, the Staten Island Boys, to cut his self-titled solo debut; while it sold no better than the Dolls' records, it did renew the critics' love affair with the singer and his gritty, soulful voice. With producer Mick Ronson, he returned in 1979 with the Motown-influenced In Style, followed in 1981 by the commercial-minded Here Comes the Night. While 1982's concert set Live It Up won some airplay for its medley of the Animals hits "We Gotta Get Out of This Place," "It's My Life," and "Don't Bring Me Down," Johansen was forced to reassess his career when 1984's dance-flavored Sweet Revenge tanked. At the end of 1984 he resurfaced in the pompadoured guise of Buster Poindexter, a supposed ethnomusicologist armed with an expansive knowledge of R&B chestnuts. After debuting the Buster character at a series of mid-'80s downtown New York loft gigs with the Uptown Horns, Johansen continued honing the identity in the piano bars of Manhattan, establishing a lounge swinger persona which predated the lounge-kitsch revival of the mid-'90s by a decade.
As Poindexter's popularity grew, he began fronting a large band dubbed the Banshees in Blue and building a devoted following on the New York club circuit. In 1987, he issued an LP, Buster Poindexter, which featured the party classic "Hot Hot Hot," an effervescent cover of an obscure 1984 soca hit. In addition to reviving Johansen's career as a musical performer, Buster also renewed his long-dormant acting bug, and he was tapped to co-star in the 1988 features Married to the Mob and Scrooged. The character remained Johansen's focus in subsequent years as well, as evidenced by the albums Buster Goes Berserk in 1989 and Buster's Happy Hour in 1994. He maintained a relatively low profile in the years prior to the spring 2000 release of David Johansen & the Harry Smiths.

MC

3442 - THE DAVID JOHANSEN GROUP Live (1993)

THE DAVID JOHANSEN GROUP
''THE DAVID JOHANSEN GROUP LIVE''
1993
73:02

1/Cool Metro (Johansen, Sylvain) 4:03
2/Looking for a Kiss (Johansen) 3:44
3/Not That Much (Johansen) 3:41
4/Funky But Chic (Johansen) 4:26
5/Donna (Johansen) 4:51
6/Build Me Up Buttercup (DAbo, Macaulay) 3:42
7/I'm a Lover (Johansen, Rao, Verno) 3:58
8/I Found a Love (Pickett, Schofield, West) 4:19
9/Reach Out (I'll Be There) (Dozier, Holland) 4:24
10/The Girls Don't Come (Andrews) 1:10
11/Frenchette (Johansen, Sylvain) 6:41
12/Lonely Tenement (Johansen) 4:31
13/Girls (Johansen, Sylvain) 4:29
14/Personality Crisis (Johansen, Thunders) 3:48
15/Its a Heartache (Scott, Wolfe) 3:27
16/Personality Crisis (Johansen, Thunders) 2:03
17/Love Child (Richards, Sawyer, Taylor, Wilson) 5:08
18/Babylon (Johansen, Thunders) 4:37

David Johansen / Vocals, Producer
Frankie La Rocka / Drums
Johnny Rao / Guitar
Sylvain Sylvain / Guitar, Piano
Johnny Thunders / Guitar
Thomas Trask / Guitar
Buz Verno / Bass

REVIEW
by Stewart Mason
Nine tracks from this July 21, 1978, concert at New York's Bottom Line were released as a promotional LP at the time, but this 1993 CD is the first time the entire concert was released. If this had been available commercially at the time, as opposed to 1981's comparatively limp live offering Live It Up, it might have changed the direction of David Johansen's commercial fortunes, it's that good, a Frampton Comes Alive of New York glam-punk. Johansen is always an engaging live performer, but he was absolutely on fire this night, and all 18 tracks are absolute scorchers. Split about equally between solo songs, New York Dolls classics ("Looking for a Kiss," with guest guitar by former bandmate Sylvain Sylvain is particularly brutal) and a wild selection of covers ranging from Sandie Shaw's "Girl Don't Come" to Bonnie Tyler's then-current hit "It's a Heartache." The highlights are a two-part "Personality Crisis" that's as good as any version he ever recorded and a punked-up version of the Supremes' "Love Child" that's the only non-icky version of the song in existence. Powerful, funny, and rocking, this is essential for all David Johansen fans.

BIOGRAPHY
by Jason Ankeny
Best known for his tenure fronting the hugely influential New York Dolls, David Johansen was a true chameleon; throughout the course of a career which saw him transform from a lipstick-smeared proto-punk hero into an urbane blue-eyed soul man and finally into a tuxedo-clad lounge lizard, he remained a rock & roll original, an unpredictable iconoclast and a true cultural innovator. Born January 9, 1950, in Staten Island, NY, Johansen joined his first band, the Vagabond Missionaries, in his mid-teens. A tenure with Fast Eddie & the Electric Japs, as well as an attempt to mount a career as a theatrical actor, followed before a club-hopping Johansen met bassist Arthur Kane, who extended an invitation to join his band, Actress. After changing their name to the New York Dolls, the group began building a notorious reputation for their menacing, edgy music, drug-fueled lifestyle, and outrageously campy, drag queen-inspired glam image; although neither their eponymous 1973 debut nor 1974's Too Much Too Soon even cracked the Top 100, the Dolls established an enduring cult following, and their influence on the rise of punk was unmistakable.
The Dolls officially broke up in 1975, although Johansen and guitarist Syl Sylvain continued performing under the group's name for two more years. Finally, in 1977, Johansen entered the recording studio with his support group, the Staten Island Boys, to cut his self-titled solo debut; while it sold no better than the Dolls' records, it did renew the critics' love affair with the singer and his gritty, soulful voice. With producer Mick Ronson, he returned in 1979 with the Motown-influenced In Style, followed in 1981 by the commercial-minded Here Comes the Night. While 1982's concert set Live It Up won some airplay for its medley of the Animals hits "We Gotta Get Out of This Place," "It's My Life," and "Don't Bring Me Down," Johansen was forced to reassess his career when 1984's dance-flavored Sweet Revenge tanked. At the end of 1984 he resurfaced in the pompadoured guise of Buster Poindexter, a supposed ethnomusicologist armed with an expansive knowledge of R&B chestnuts. After debuting the Buster character at a series of mid-'80s downtown New York loft gigs with the Uptown Horns, Johansen continued honing the identity in the piano bars of Manhattan, establishing a lounge swinger persona which predated the lounge-kitsch revival of the mid-'90s by a decade.
As Poindexter's popularity grew, he began fronting a large band dubbed the Banshees in Blue and building a devoted following on the New York club circuit. In 1987, he issued an LP, Buster Poindexter, which featured the party classic "Hot Hot Hot," an effervescent cover of an obscure 1984 soca hit. In addition to reviving Johansen's career as a musical performer, Buster also renewed his long-dormant acting bug, and he was tapped to co-star in the 1988 features Married to the Mob and Scrooged. The character remained Johansen's focus in subsequent years as well, as evidenced by the albums Buster Goes Berserk in 1989 and Buster's Happy Hour in 1994. He maintained a relatively low profile in the years prior to the spring 2000 release of David Johansen & the Harry Smiths.

MC

3439 - DAVID JOHANSEN - Live It Up (1982)

DAVID JOHANSEN
''LIVE IT UP''
JUN 1982
LIVE
42:08

1/We Gotta Get out of This Place/Don't Bring Me Down; It's My Life/Atkins, D'Errico, Goffin, King, Mann, Weil 4:26
2/Frenchette/Johansen, Sylvain/4:55
3/Reach Out (I'll Be There)/Dozier, Holland, Holland/3:26
4/Is This What I Get for Loving You?/Goffin, King, Spector/3:16
5/Donna/Johansen, Valens/4:20
6/Build Me Up Buttercup/D'Abo, DAbo, Macaulay/2:40
7/Melody/Guy, Johansen/3:05
8/Funky But Chic/Johansen, Sylvain/3:53
9/Bohemian Love Pad/Johansen, Sylvain/2:55
10/Stranded in the Jungle/Johnson, Smith/3:47
11/Personality Crisis/Johansen, Thunders/5:02

Bass, Backing Vocals/Brett Cartwright
Drums, Percussion/Tony Machine
Guitar, Backing Vocals/David Nelson, Huw Gower
Keyboards/Charlie Giordano
Lead Vocals/David Johansen
Producer/Ron Nevison

REVIEW
by Mark Deming
When David Johansen's initial solo albums failed to click with the mainstream record-buying public, he turned to live performing with a vengeance; Johansen once described his career in the early '80s as "traveling around the country in a Dodge RAM van with about six guys...(on) our typical day, we would get up, travel 400 miles, open for a heavy mental act in a hockey rink, get back in the van, travel 400 miles, sleep, get up and do the same thing again." Recorded in early 1982 as Johansen was touring in support of Here Comes the Night, Live It Up captures the sound of a well-oiled road band who've learned to work the crowd and give kids the guitar-fueled bombast they came for while trying to make room for a bit of their own personality in the process. Johansen's vocal style is more of a fierce bellow than the more exacting studio work he was doing at the time, but he sounds as passionate and committed as one might hope for from a guy plugging his way through a two-night stand in Boston, and while the crowd sometimes sounds more familiar with the covers (such as "Build Me Up Buttercup," "Reach Out I'll Be There," and a medley of Animals hits) than Johansen's originals, he delivers cult favorites like "Frenchette," "Donna," "Funky But Chic," and "Personality Crisis" like a champ. However, Johansen's band is another matter; while they never sound less than professional and enthusiastic, the streetwise spunk of the early David Johansen Group has been replaced with faceless arena rock chops, especially David Nelson and Huw Gower's lead guitars. Significantly, Live It Up earned Johansen the closest thing to a hit his solo career would produce when the Animals medley went into frequent rotation on MTV, but it's worth noting that he began formulating his second career as Buster Poindexter not long after this.

BIOGRAPHY
by Jason Ankeny
Best known for his tenure fronting the hugely influential New York Dolls, David Johansen was a true chameleon; throughout the course of a career which saw him transform from a lipstick-smeared proto-punk hero into an urbane blue-eyed soul man and finally into a tuxedo-clad lounge lizard, he remained a rock & roll original, an unpredictable iconoclast and a true cultural innovator. Born January 9, 1950, in Staten Island, NY, Johansen joined his first band, the Vagabond Missionaries, in his mid-teens. A tenure with Fast Eddie & the Electric Japs, as well as an attempt to mount a career as a theatrical actor, followed before a club-hopping Johansen met bassist Arthur Kane, who extended an invitation to join his band, Actress. After changing their name to the New York Dolls, the group began building a notorious reputation for their menacing, edgy music, drug-fueled lifestyle, and outrageously campy, drag queen-inspired glam image; although neither their eponymous 1973 debut nor 1974's Too Much Too Soon even cracked the Top 100, the Dolls established an enduring cult following, and their influence on the rise of punk was unmistakable.
The Dolls officially broke up in 1975, although Johansen and guitarist Syl Sylvain continued performing under the group's name for two more years. Finally, in 1977, Johansen entered the recording studio with his support group, the Staten Island Boys, to cut his self-titled solo debut; while it sold no better than the Dolls' records, it did renew the critics' love affair with the singer and his gritty, soulful voice. With producer Mick Ronson, he returned in 1979 with the Motown-influenced In Style, followed in 1981 by the commercial-minded Here Comes the Night. While 1982's concert set Live It Up won some airplay for its medley of the Animals hits "We Gotta Get Out of This Place," "It's My Life," and "Don't Bring Me Down," Johansen was forced to reassess his career when 1984's dance-flavored Sweet Revenge tanked. At the end of 1984 he resurfaced in the pompadoured guise of Buster Poindexter, a supposed ethnomusicologist armed with an expansive knowledge of R&B chestnuts. After debuting the Buster character at a series of mid-'80s downtown New York loft gigs with the Uptown Horns, Johansen continued honing the identity in the piano bars of Manhattan, establishing a lounge swinger persona which predated the lounge-kitsch revival of the mid-'90s by a decade.
As Poindexter's popularity grew, he began fronting a large band dubbed the Banshees in Blue and building a devoted following on the New York club circuit. In 1987, he issued an LP, Buster Poindexter, which featured the party classic "Hot Hot Hot," an effervescent cover of an obscure 1984 soca hit. In addition to reviving Johansen's career as a musical performer, Buster also renewed his long-dormant acting bug, and he was tapped to co-star in the 1988 features Married to the Mob and Scrooged. The character remained Johansen's focus in subsequent years as well, as evidenced by the albums Buster Goes Berserk in 1989 and Buster's Happy Hour in 1994. He maintained a relatively low profile in the years prior to the spring 2000 release of David Johansen & the Harry Smiths.

MC

3438 - DAVID JOHANSEN - Here Comes The Night (1982)

DAVID JOHANSEN
''HERE COMES THE NIGHT''
1982
FEB 24, 1982
35:14

1/She Loves Strangers/Chaplin, Johansen/3:03
2/Bohemian Love Pad/Johansen, Sylvain/2:50
3/You Fool You/Chaplin, Johansen/3:04
4/My Obsession/Chaplin, Johansen/2:42
5/Marquesa de Sade/Blain, Johansen/3:51
6/Here Comes the Night/Chaplin, Johansen, Pomus, Shuman/2:55
7/Suspicion/Chaplin, Johansen/2:29
8/Party Tonight/Blain, Chaplin, Johansen/2:54
9/Havin' So Much Fun/Johansen, Murphy/3:42
10/Rollin' Job/Chaplin, Johansen/4:02
11/Heart of Gold/Johansen/3:42

David Johansen/Vocals, Producer
Elliott Murphy/Harmonica, Rhythm Guitar
Blondie Chaplin/Producer, Guitar, Background Vocals
Bobby Blain/Piano
Ernie Brooks/Bass
Tony Machine/Drums
Othello Molineaux/Steel Drums
Tommy Mandel/Organ, Keyboards

REVIEW
by Mark Deming
On his first two solo albums, David Johansen sounded like he was trying to walk a fine line between recapturing the glorious chaos of the New York Dolls and creating a sound that better reflected his own individual personality (and might sell a few records in the process). The first half of that equation fell by the wayside while Johansen was recording his third solo set, 1981's Here Comes the Night, which plays more like a conventional hard rock album than David Johansen or In Style, especially when Blondie Chaplin cranks up his guitar on "My Obsession," "She Loves Strangers" or the title cut. However, it doesn't play that much like a conventional hard rock album; few acts reaching for the masses arena-style would have included a neo-samba number like "Marquesa De Sade" (complete with traditional Latin production), the calypso flavored "Rollin' Job," a beatnik homage like "Bohemian Love Pad," or name-checked Vincent Price on "Suspicion." Some of the more playful or willfully eccentric moments on Here Comes the Night seem to anticipate the Buster Poindexter persona Johansen would adopt later in the decade (without the aural wink and nudge), though for the most part the production and arrangements seem to run counter to his occasional bursts of creativity. Johansen's vocals are powerful and full-bodied on Here Comes the Night and there are a few fine tunes here, especially the nightlife homage of the title cut, the atmospheric "She Loves Strangers," and "Heart of Gold," a heartfelt ballad Johansen revived on the first Buster Poindexter LP. But for anyone who remembered Johansen's best work, Here Comes the Night was a real letdown despite its periodic flashes of excitement.

BIOGRAPHY
by Jason Ankeny
Best known for his tenure fronting the hugely influential New York Dolls, David Johansen was a true chameleon; throughout the course of a career which saw him transform from a lipstick-smeared proto-punk hero into an urbane blue-eyed soul man and finally into a tuxedo-clad lounge lizard, he remained a rock & roll original, an unpredictable iconoclast and a true cultural innovator. Born January 9, 1950, in Staten Island, NY, Johansen joined his first band, the Vagabond Missionaries, in his mid-teens. A tenure with Fast Eddie & the Electric Japs, as well as an attempt to mount a career as a theatrical actor, followed before a club-hopping Johansen met bassist Arthur Kane, who extended an invitation to join his band, Actress. After changing their name to the New York Dolls, the group began building a notorious reputation for their menacing, edgy music, drug-fueled lifestyle, and outrageously campy, drag queen-inspired glam image; although neither their eponymous 1973 debut nor 1974's Too Much Too Soon even cracked the Top 100, the Dolls established an enduring cult following, and their influence on the rise of punk was unmistakable.
The Dolls officially broke up in 1975, although Johansen and guitarist Syl Sylvain continued performing under the group's name for two more years. Finally, in 1977, Johansen entered the recording studio with his support group, the Staten Island Boys, to cut his self-titled solo debut; while it sold no better than the Dolls' records, it did renew the critics' love affair with the singer and his gritty, soulful voice. With producer Mick Ronson, he returned in 1979 with the Motown-influenced In Style, followed in 1981 by the commercial-minded Here Comes the Night. While 1982's concert set Live It Up won some airplay for its medley of the Animals hits "We Gotta Get Out of This Place," "It's My Life," and "Don't Bring Me Down," Johansen was forced to reassess his career when 1984's dance-flavored Sweet Revenge tanked. At the end of 1984 he resurfaced in the pompadoured guise of Buster Poindexter, a supposed ethnomusicologist armed with an expansive knowledge of R&B chestnuts. After debuting the Buster character at a series of mid-'80s downtown New York loft gigs with the Uptown Horns, Johansen continued honing the identity in the piano bars of Manhattan, establishing a lounge swinger persona which predated the lounge-kitsch revival of the mid-'90s by a decade.
As Poindexter's popularity grew, he began fronting a large band dubbed the Banshees in Blue and building a devoted following on the New York club circuit. In 1987, he issued an LP, Buster Poindexter, which featured the party classic "Hot Hot Hot," an effervescent cover of an obscure 1984 soca hit. In addition to reviving Johansen's career as a musical performer, Buster also renewed his long-dormant acting bug, and he was tapped to co-star in the 1988 features Married to the Mob and Scrooged. The character remained Johansen's focus in subsequent years as well, as evidenced by the albums Buster Goes Berserk in 1989 and Buster's Happy Hour in 1994. He maintained a relatively low profile in the years prior to the spring 2000 release of David Johansen & the Harry Smiths.

MC

3437 - DAVID JOHANSEN - In Style (1979)

DAVID JOHANSEN
''IN STYLE''
1979
38:43

1/Melody/Guy, Johansen/2:58
2/She/Johansen, Verno/2:21
3/Big City/Johansen/4:09
4/She Knew She Was Falling in Love/Johansen, Sylvain/3:46
5/Swaheto Woman/Johansen, Sylvain/5:05
6/Justine/Johansen/4:34
7/In Style/Johansen/4:08
8/You Touched Me Too/Johansen, Rao/2:23
9/Wreckless Crazy/Johansen, Sylvain/3:17
10/Flamingo Road/Johansen, Sylvain/6:02

REVIEW
by Mark Deming
David Johansen's first solo album was a triumph, a savvy blend of the New York Dolls' swagger and a more conventional but no less idiosyncratic hard rock style that left plenty of room for Johansen's eclectic musical outlook. Unfortunately, it didn't sell, and for his second post-Dolls release Johansen and producer Mick Ronson aimed for something with a bit more polish and a better chance of getting onto the radio. The result, 1979's In Style, earned the wrath of many New York Dolls fans for the disco pulse of "Swaheto Woman," the slick R&B accents of the opener "Melody," the dandified reggae beats on "She Knew She Was Falling in Love," and a general lack of emphasis on straight-ahead rock and roll. However, time has been kind to the album; Johansen sings as well as he ever has in the studio on these sessions, and given his well-established enthusiasm for vintage soul, he brings a hard-won, bluesy compassion to the more dance-oriented material, while "You Touched Me Too" is a subtle but clear homage to the girl group sounds that had always been one of Johansen's clearest influences. There are a couple potent rockers on the album, most notably the hard-edged "Wreckless Crazy" (the one moment that truly emulates the Dolls) and the aggressive, passionate "She," and the epic closer "Flamingo Road" manages to sound street-smart, stylish, and deeply personal all at once. In Style may have started out as an effort to sell David Johansen to the mainstream audience, but by the time he was done, he'd made an album that managed to reflect his heart and soul nearly as well as his debut, even if the music didn't connect quite as well.

BIOGRAPHY
by Jason Ankeny
Best known for his tenure fronting the hugely influential New York Dolls, David Johansen was a true chameleon; throughout the course of a career which saw him transform from a lipstick-smeared proto-punk hero into an urbane blue-eyed soul man and finally into a tuxedo-clad lounge lizard, he remained a rock & roll original, an unpredictable iconoclast and a true cultural innovator. Born January 9, 1950, in Staten Island, NY, Johansen joined his first band, the Vagabond Missionaries, in his mid-teens. A tenure with Fast Eddie & the Electric Japs, as well as an attempt to mount a career as a theatrical actor, followed before a club-hopping Johansen met bassist Arthur Kane, who extended an invitation to join his band, Actress. After changing their name to the New York Dolls, the group began building a notorious reputation for their menacing, edgy music, drug-fueled lifestyle, and outrageously campy, drag queen-inspired glam image; although neither their eponymous 1973 debut nor 1974's Too Much Too Soon even cracked the Top 100, the Dolls established an enduring cult following, and their influence on the rise of punk was unmistakable.
The Dolls officially broke up in 1975, although Johansen and guitarist Syl Sylvain continued performing under the group's name for two more years. Finally, in 1977, Johansen entered the recording studio with his support group, the Staten Island Boys, to cut his self-titled solo debut; while it sold no better than the Dolls' records, it did renew the critics' love affair with the singer and his gritty, soulful voice. With producer Mick Ronson, he returned in 1979 with the Motown-influenced In Style, followed in 1981 by the commercial-minded Here Comes the Night. While 1982's concert set Live It Up won some airplay for its medley of the Animals hits "We Gotta Get Out of This Place," "It's My Life," and "Don't Bring Me Down," Johansen was forced to reassess his career when 1984's dance-flavored Sweet Revenge tanked. At the end of 1984 he resurfaced in the pompadoured guise of Buster Poindexter, a supposed ethnomusicologist armed with an expansive knowledge of R&B chestnuts. After debuting the Buster character at a series of mid-'80s downtown New York loft gigs with the Uptown Horns, Johansen continued honing the identity in the piano bars of Manhattan, establishing a lounge swinger persona which predated the lounge-kitsch revival of the mid-'90s by a decade.
As Poindexter's popularity grew, he began fronting a large band dubbed the Banshees in Blue and building a devoted following on the New York club circuit. In 1987, he issued an LP, Buster Poindexter, which featured the party classic "Hot Hot Hot," an effervescent cover of an obscure 1984 soca hit. In addition to reviving Johansen's career as a musical performer, Buster also renewed his long-dormant acting bug, and he was tapped to co-star in the 1988 features Married to the Mob and Scrooged. The character remained Johansen's focus in subsequent years as well, as evidenced by the albums Buster Goes Berserk in 1989 and Buster's Happy Hour in 1994. He maintained a relatively low profile in the years prior to the spring 2000 release of David Johansen & the Harry Smiths.

MC

3436 - DAVID JOHANSEN (1978)

DAVID JOHANSEN
''DAVID JOHANSEN''
MAY 1978
38:16

1/Funky But Chic/Johansen, Sylvain/4:00
2/Girls/Johansen, Sylvain/3:38
3/Pain in My Heart/Johansen/3:28
4/Not That Much/Johansen, Verno/3:03
5/Donna/Johansen/4:31
6/Cool Metro/Johansen, Sylvain/3:59
7/I'm a Lover/Johansen, Rao, Trask, Verno/3:35
8/Lonely Tenement/Johansen/4:14
9/Frenchette/Johansen, Sylvain/5:32

David Johansen/Vocals, Guitar, Castanets, Chimes, Keyboards
Joe Perry/Guitar, Keyboards, Vocals
Nona Hendryx/Backing Vocals
Sarah Dash/Backing Vocals
Jimmie Mack/Backing Vocals
Scarlet Rivera/Violins
Sylvain Sylvain/Guitar
Bobby Blain/Organ, Piano
Stan Bronstein/Horn
Felix Cavaliere/Organ, Drums
Frankie La Rocka/Drums, Vocals
Gene Leppik/Vocals
Tony Machine/Percussion
Johnny Rao/Guitar
Thomas Trask/Guitar
Buz Verno/Bass, Vocals

REVIEW
by Mark Deming
David Johansen's self-titled solo debut bears a closer resemblance to his work with the New York Dolls than any of his subsequent recordings, but the former Dolls singer cleverly crafted an album that played to his former band's strengths while establishing an identity of his own and delivering a set of tight but powerful hard rock. Where the Dolls were frequently sloppy and poorly focused (if often gloriously so), David Johansen rocks with a cleaner but equally emphatic guitar attack (courtesy Johnny Rao and Thomas Trask), while Johansen's vocals are noticeably more powerful and sharper than his earlier music. Johansen's songs are more straightforward and less campy than his Dolls tunes; while "Funky But Chic" would have done his old glam buddies proud ("Mama says I look fruity, but in jeans I feel rotten"), the celebration of the fair sex in "Girls" and "I'm a Lover" cuts his former sexual ambiguity to the quick, and the tough rock & roll good times of "Cool Metro" and the girl-trouble commiseration of "Pain In My Heart" show Johansen could move into more conventional lyrical territory without losing his swagger or street smarts along the way. And while the Dolls didn't leave Johansen much room for slow songs where he could wear his heart on his sleeve, "Donna" and "Frenchette" allow him to do just that, and remarkably well. David Johansen in some respects seems like a deliberate attempt to sidestep much of the baggage that weighed down the New York Dolls in their bid for rock stardom, but at the same time its celebration of women and good times isn't simple or without its own appreciation of good danger, and it rocks out with a New York street vibe that has a life of its own; it's still Johansen's best solo work to date.

BIOGRAPHY
by Jason Ankeny
Best known for his tenure fronting the hugely influential New York Dolls, David Johansen was a true chameleon; throughout the course of a career which saw him transform from a lipstick-smeared proto-punk hero into an urbane blue-eyed soul man and finally into a tuxedo-clad lounge lizard, he remained a rock & roll original, an unpredictable iconoclast and a true cultural innovator. Born January 9, 1950, in Staten Island, NY, Johansen joined his first band, the Vagabond Missionaries, in his mid-teens. A tenure with Fast Eddie & the Electric Japs, as well as an attempt to mount a career as a theatrical actor, followed before a club-hopping Johansen met bassist Arthur Kane, who extended an invitation to join his band, Actress. After changing their name to the New York Dolls, the group began building a notorious reputation for their menacing, edgy music, drug-fueled lifestyle, and outrageously campy, drag queen-inspired glam image; although neither their eponymous 1973 debut nor 1974's Too Much Too Soon even cracked the Top 100, the Dolls established an enduring cult following, and their influence on the rise of punk was unmistakable.
The Dolls officially broke up in 1975, although Johansen and guitarist Syl Sylvain continued performing under the group's name for two more years. Finally, in 1977, Johansen entered the recording studio with his support group, the Staten Island Boys, to cut his self-titled solo debut; while it sold no better than the Dolls' records, it did renew the critics' love affair with the singer and his gritty, soulful voice. With producer Mick Ronson, he returned in 1979 with the Motown-influenced In Style, followed in 1981 by the commercial-minded Here Comes the Night. While 1982's concert set Live It Up won some airplay for its medley of the Animals hits "We Gotta Get Out of This Place," "It's My Life," and "Don't Bring Me Down," Johansen was forced to reassess his career when 1984's dance-flavored Sweet Revenge tanked. At the end of 1984 he resurfaced in the pompadoured guise of Buster Poindexter, a supposed ethnomusicologist armed with an expansive knowledge of R&B chestnuts. After debuting the Buster character at a series of mid-'80s downtown New York loft gigs with the Uptown Horns, Johansen continued honing the identity in the piano bars of Manhattan, establishing a lounge swinger persona which predated the lounge-kitsch revival of the mid-'90s by a decade.
As Poindexter's popularity grew, he began fronting a large band dubbed the Banshees in Blue and building a devoted following on the New York club circuit. In 1987, he issued an LP, Buster Poindexter, which featured the party classic "Hot Hot Hot," an effervescent cover of an obscure 1984 soca hit. In addition to reviving Johansen's career as a musical performer, Buster also renewed his long-dormant acting bug, and he was tapped to co-star in the 1988 features Married to the Mob and Scrooged. The character remained Johansen's focus in subsequent years as well, as evidenced by the albums Buster Goes Berserk in 1989 and Buster's Happy Hour in 1994. He maintained a relatively low profile in the years prior to the spring 2000 release of David Johansen & the Harry Smiths.

MC