Boring was not an adjective used to describe The New York Dolls. The band came screaming out of New York City in the early 1970s and virtually created punk rock with their sleazy train-wreck rock n’ roll. They held it together long enough to make two albums, before disbanding in 1975. Guitarist Johnny Thunders died of a drug overdose in 1991. Drummer Jerry Nolan passed away a year later. Bassist Arthur “Killer” Kane died in 2004 of leukemia. Now only guitarist Syl Sylvain and frontman David Johansen remain. The reformed Dolls released One Day It Will Please Us To Remember Even This in 2006, which seemed like a fitting end to The Dolls’ recording career.
Cause I Sez So is a classic example of a once great band outstaying their welcome. There is nothing explicitly bad on the album; it’s just the Dolls going through the motions. The title track sounds like classic Dolls, with a Stonesy guitar riff and Johansen mincing like Mick Jagger’s illegitimate son, but something is missing. You could make the argument that Thunders was the spark of the band, but there was a lot of fire in their last album. Producer Todd Rundgren tries to recreate the loose feeling that he produced back in 1973, but largely fails.
You can play the sleaziest three-chord riff possible, but you can’t get beyond the polish. The Dolls are much older, so the edge has worn off. It happens. Johansen is showing the most strain, especially on the ballads. “Temptation to Exist” is pretty much a rewrite of “Lonely Planet Boy” with a more acoustic touch. Johansen’s voice is a deep baritone, but that’s not what you want from a Dolls album. The shouting and barking is conspicuously absent, and “Temptation” suffers because of it. Singing does not belong anywhere near a New York Dolls album. On “Making Rain,” he sounds like Bob Dylan, which is really odd. The rain sound effects are adorable, but completely unnecessary.
The album closes with two completely odd tracks. The first, “Nobody Got No Bizness” sounds like Johansen’s alter-ego Buster Poindexter mixed with Archie Bell and the Drells. Johansen has a couple monologues similar to “Showdown,” only not as tough or cool. He mugs through the whole thing, and sounds like Bowzer from Sha-Na-Na. The second is a reworking of their classic “Trash,” reworked as a reggae song. The original is threatening, sleazy and you need a shower after hearing it. This version is a squeaky clean love song. It’s an insult to Thunders, Kane and Nolan. When Johansen asks “How do you call your loverboy?” he sounds like an old drag queen. Wait, he is an old drag queen.
With Because I Sez So, the New York Dolls have messed up their virtually perfect batting average. One Day It Will Please Us to Remember Even This worked because they had something to prove. Because I Sez So is just a cheap cash-in. It’s a shame, because the Dolls had a perfect batting average. As mediocre as this record is though, nothing can devalue the visceral power of the Dolls first two records. The next time you want to have a sleazy good time, pick them up. You might want to get some protection first though.