Cause I Sez So | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | May 5, 2009 | |||
Studio | Utopia Sound Studio | |||
Genre | Garage rock | |||
Length | 46:26 | |||
Label | Atco | |||
Producer | Todd Rundgren | |||
New York Dolls chronology | ||||
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Cause I Sez So is the fourth studio album (and second after their reunion) by the New York Dolls. It was released on May 5, 2009, by Atco Records. The album was produced by Todd Rundgren, who also produced their self-titled debut album. One of the songs, "Trash", is a reggae-style remake of a song that originally appeared on their debut album. [1] The album peaked at number 159 at the Billboard 200.
Aggregate scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
AnyDecentMusic? | 5.3/10 [2] |
Metacritic | 73/100 [3] |
Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [4] |
The A.V. Club | B+ [5] |
The Austin Chronicle | [6] |
Boston Phoenix | [7] |
The Daily Telegraph | [8] |
MSN Music | A− [9] |
PopMatters | 7/10 [10] |
Record Collector | [11] |
Rolling Stone | [12] |
Spin | 5/10 [13] |
Cause I Sez So was met with generally positive reviews. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, it received an average score of 73, based on 17 reviews. [3]
Michaelangelo Matos of The A.V. Club found the album "life-affirming" overall, [5] while The Daily Telegraph critic Andrew Perry said the Dolls are "in rude creative health" on their "tidiest [album] ever, and their most contemplative". [8] The Boston Globe 's Jonathan Perry regarded it as "classic New York Dolls" full of "heart, soul, and swagger", and concluded, "Johansen's bowery rasp still has the texture of old shoe leather, but against improbable odds and the ravages of time, it somehow works beautifully." [14] While surprised at the band's newfound appreciation for "a range of rock styles so disdained by punk", Andy Gill of The Independent believed the album is "far better than we had any right to expect". [15] Writing for MSN Music , Robert Christgau conceded it is the first of the Dolls' albums that is "less than epochal", but ultimately observed redeeming qualities:
Not all the tunes are surefire. Its garage-rock derivative is several degrees bluesier than the permanently exploding protopunk they reprise on the closing 'Exorcism of Despair' just in case you forgot the thrill. And the Buddhism is more overt: post-flagellant culture, existence as a temptation, 'Offering the modern crowd an absolute/Worthy of its nothingness.' Just in case you forgot the frame of reference, however, there's also a skanking remake of 'Trash.' And in the end David Johansen's lyrics somehow combine extreme skepticism, metaphysical despair, romantic agony, rock-solid agape and luv l-u-v. [9]
Steve Kandell from Spin was more critical, disregarding Cause I Sez So as "all fun and harmless garage blooze ... ultimately as trifling as their '73 debut was essential". [13]
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "Cause I Sez So" | David Johansen, Sylvain Sylvain | 3:06 |
2. | "Muddy Bones" | David Johansen, Sami Yaffa | 3:00 |
3. | "Better Than You" | David Johansen, Steve Conte | 3:22 |
4. | "Lonely So Long" | David Johansen, Sylvain Sylvain | 4:05 |
5. | "My World" | David Johansen, Sylvain Sylvain | 3:26 |
6. | "This Is Ridiculous" | David Johansen, Steve Conte | 3:15 |
7. | "Temptation to Exist" | David Johansen, Sami Yaffa, Steve Conte | 4:02 |
8. | "Making Rain" | David Johansen, Sylvain Sylvain | 4:06 |
9. | "Drowning" | David Johansen, Sylvain Sylvain | 3:32 |
10. | "Nobody Got No Bizness" | David Johansen, Sylvain Sylvain, Steve Conte | 2:58 |
11. | "Trash" | David Johansen, Sylvain Sylvain | 3:52 |
12. | "Exorcism of Despair" | David Johansen, Sylvain Sylvain | 4:17 |
13. | "Lipstick, Powder & Paint" (iTunes bonus track) | Jess Stone | 4:17 |
Total length: | 46:26 |
New York Dolls
Chart (2009) | Peak position |
---|---|
UK Albums (OCC) [16] | 188 |
US Billboard 200 [17] | 159 |
New York Dolls were an American rock band formed in New York City in 1971. Along with the Velvet Underground and the Stooges, they were one of the first bands of the early punk rock scenes. Although the band never achieved much commercial success and their original line-up fell apart quickly, the band's first two albums—New York Dolls (1973) and Too Much Too Soon (1974)—became among the most popular cult records in rock. The line-up at this time consisted of vocalist David Johansen, guitarist Johnny Thunders, bassist Arthur Kane, guitarist and pianist Sylvain Sylvain, and drummer Jerry Nolan; the latter two had replaced Rick Rivets and Billy Murcia, respectively, in 1972. On stage, they donned an androgynous wardrobe, wearing high heels, eccentric hats, satin, makeup, spandex, and dresses. Nolan described the group in 1974 as "the Dead End Kids of today".
New York Dolls is the debut album by the American hard rock band New York Dolls. It was released on July 27, 1973, by Mercury Records. In the years leading up to the album, the Dolls had developed a local fanbase by playing regularly in lower Manhattan after forming in 1971. However, most music producers and record companies were reluctant to work with them because of their vulgarity and onstage fashion as well as homophobia in New York; the group later appeared in exaggerated drag on the album cover for shock value.
Sylvain Mizrahi, known professionally as Sylvain Sylvain, was an American rock guitarist, most notable for being a member of the New York Dolls.
David Roger Johansen is an American singer, songwriter and actor. He is best known as a member of the seminal proto-punk band the New York Dolls. He is also known for his work under the pseudonym Buster Poindexter, and for playing the Ghost of Christmas Past in Scrooged.
Robert Thomas Christgau is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most well-known and influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and later became an early proponent of musical movements such as hip hop, riot grrrl, and the import of African popular music in the West. Christgau spent 37 years as the chief music critic and senior editor for The Village Voice, during which time he created and oversaw the annual Pazz & Jop critics poll. He has also covered popular music for Esquire, Creem, Newsday, Playboy, Rolling Stone, Billboard, NPR, Blender, and MSN Music, and was a visiting arts teacher at New York University. CNN senior writer Jamie Allen has called Christgau "the E. F. Hutton of the music world – when he talks, people listen."
Arthur Harold Kane Jr. was an American musician best known as the bass guitarist for the pioneering glam rock band the New York Dolls. Kane was a founding member of the Dolls in 1971 and remained an integral part of the band until he was forced out in 1975, shortly after the departure of Johnny Thunders and Jerry Nolan. In 2004, after decades of estrangement from Dolls singer David Johansen, Kane rejoined the surviving Dolls to rehearse and play a reunion concert in London, which was the subject of the 2005 documentary New York Doll. In addition to his bass playing, Kane was known for his subculture fashion sense and for uttering original aphorisms in his uniquely toned voice.
ATCO Records is an American record label founded in 1955. It is owned by Warner Music Group and operates as an imprint of Atlantic Records. After several decades of dormancy and infrequent activity under alternating Warner Music labels, the company was relaunched by Atlantic Records in early 2020.
So Alone is the debut solo studio album by Johnny Thunders, then leader of the Heartbreakers and formerly lead guitarist for New York Dolls.
David Johansen is a 1978 album by the rock musician David Johansen and his first solo album following his tenure as lead singer of the New York Dolls. The album was released on Blue Sky Records, a sub-label of Columbia Records that was associated with Johnny and Edgar Winter. David Johansen also features fellow New York Doll guitarist Sylvain Sylvain, who was a member of the David Johansen Band at that time. Sylvain co-wrote four of the songs with Johansen. The single from the album was Johansen and Sylvain's "Funky But Chic", backed with "The Rope ", which has been included as a bonus track on the CD. David Johansen was voted the tenth best record of 1978 in the Pazz & Jop, an annual poll of American critics published by The Village Voice.
Too Much Too Soon is the second album by the American hard rock band New York Dolls. It was released by Mercury Records on May 10, 1974, and recorded earlier that year at A&R Studios in New York City. Dissatisfied with the recording of their 1973 self-titled debut album, the Dolls' lead singer David Johansen enlisted veteran producer Shadow Morton to produce the sessions. Morton, who had been disenchanted by the music industry, found renewed motivation in the band's energy and undertook the project as a challenge.
Lipstick Killers – The Mercer Street Sessions 1972 is a 1981 album of demos by the New York Dolls. The album's songs were later re-recorded for New York Dolls, except for "Don't Start Me Talking" and "Human Being" which were later re-recorded for Too Much Too Soon and "Don't Mess with Cupid", which was never re-recorded.
Red Patent Leather is a live album by the American rock and roll group New York Dolls, released in 1984. It was recorded in New York a decade earlier, in March 1975, just a month before the group broke up while on tour in Florida.
One Day It Will Please Us to Remember Even This is the third studio album by the American hard rock band New York Dolls. It was the group's first release of original material since their 1974 album Too Much Too Soon. The album was produced by Jack Douglas and written mostly by band members David Johansen and Sylvain Sylvain.
Rock'n Roll is a 1994 compilation album by the New York Dolls. It features every original song from their first two albums, New York Dolls and Too Much Too Soon, along with four additional tracks. The cover of "Stranded in the Jungle" appeared on the second LP, and the other three tracks had been previously unreleased: "Courageous Cat Theme", recorded for a commercial during the sessions for the second album; and two demos - one of an original titled "Lone Star Queen" and a cover of Otis Redding's "Don't Mess With Cupid."
In Style is the second solo album released by (then-)former lead singer of the New York Dolls, David Johansen. It was released in 1979 on Blue Sky Records.
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Dancing Backward in High Heels is the fifth and final studio album by the New York Dolls, and the third since their 2004 reunion. Released on March 15, 2011, on 429 Records, it contains covers of the 1946 Leon René standard "I Sold My Heart to the Junkman," and "Funky But Chic," originally from David Johansen's 1978 self titled album.
"Trash" is the debut single by American hard rock band the New York Dolls. It was recorded for their 1973 self-titled album and released as a double A-side with the song "Personality Crisis" in July 1973. "Trash" did not chart upon its release, but has since been hailed by music critics as an anthemic glam rock and proto-punk song. In 2009, the band recorded a reggae-styled remake of the song for their album Cause I Sez So.
Christgau's Consumer Guide: Albums of the '90s is a music reference book by American music journalist and essayist Robert Christgau. It was published in October 2000 by St. Martin's Press's Griffin imprint and collects approximately 3,800 capsule album reviews, originally written by Christgau during the 1990s for his "Consumer Guide" column in The Village Voice. Text from his other writings for the Voice, Rolling Stone, Spin, and Playboy from this period is also featured. The book is the third in a series of influential "Consumer Guide" collections, following Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies (1981) and Christgau's Record Guide: The '80s (1990).