Back catalogue: All genres

Review: Ahead of their time? Ruined by excess and ego? A difficult act to market? New York Dolls are one of those stories about the fickle nature of industry and listeners, and the risks of hedonism. Emerging from The Big Apple in 1971, the group had a thoroughly modern sound for the time, combining hard and what was then a very fresh glam rock sound with early punk prototypes, years before people would learn what that means. New York Dolls was the spectacular self-titled debut from the band, put out by Mercury in 1973. Although a commercial failure, it's often cited among the greatest rock 'n' roll records of all time, but despite critical success it did little outside the US, where sales weren't great as it was, and the outfit would only last another few years - with various lineup changes - before calling time. This rare release charts what came before all that, including collector's item demos from their time playing as Actress.