★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
I know the New York Dolls existed, but I haven't listened to anything by them, and I only knew this guy by his name. I'm astonished to find that his voice is a high, fluttery, almost babyish falsetto. His acoustic guitar has a rich, fat sound. Yes, it’s mostly acoustic, but this is rock, baby. This is the same spirit that drives Lou Reed and Syd Barrett. This is androgyny and anger and drugs and loss and a do-whatever-you-want attitude. This gave birth to the Violent Femmes and Daniel Johnston. Does Thunders include just the first two lines of Dylan's "It Ain’t Me Babe" as its own twenty-second track? Or just two minutes of Dylan’s execrable, eleven-minute "Joey," made into a poppy little ditty called "Joey Joey?" Yes, why not. Favorite tracks: "You Can’t put Your Arms Around a Memory," "Eve of Destruction," "Sad Vacation.”
