Thirty years later, Dolls live up to punk legacy

The New York Dolls were always a bit of a laugh and a lark, cheap thrills wrapped in trash-glam chic and rouged cheek. Though the band's definitive lineup only existed for a few years and a pair of albums, its music -- a raw, ramshackle mix of junior-league Stones, '60s girl groups, and adolescent high jinks -- was, in hindsight, credited with nothing less than almost single - handedly kick-starting 1970s punk (in stacked heels, at that ).
That's a lot of legacy to live up to, and pretty weighty stuff for a band that never took itself that seriously in the first place -- especially if one decides, 30-plus years later, to: 1) reassemble a group that's lost all but two of its original members to drugs and disease; 2): record a new album; and 3): (gulp) tour the world.

But that's exactly what Dolls cofounders David Johansen (singer) and Sylvain Sylvain (guitar) have done, and with credible, satisfyingly seedy results. This year's splendid "One Day It Will Please Us to Remember Even This" stakes brash new claim to the old name. And Monday night, as the headliners of Little Steven's touring caravan of pencil-thin outcasts with rooster-cut hair, the old drag queens acquitted themselves memorably.

And they did it, thankfully at this stage of the game, without the drag.
No matter, because the music was just as garish as ever, and sleazy old faves like the opener, "Looking for a Kiss," and the metallic "Jet Boy" were dressed up in glittery, diamond-hard guitar riffs. (Sylvain's new foil, lead guitarist Steve Conte, had mastered his Doll parts well.

) They sat seamlessly alongside new indulgences like "Fishnets Cigarettes" and "Dance Like a Monkey." The 50-something Johansen, poured into midriff-baring top and obscenely tight trousers, was all mouth, crotch, and mane, vamping with a crude, craggy voice that matched the Jagger-esque caricature of his expression.
Sylvain's tender vocal turn on the wistful "You Can't Put Your Arms Around a Memory," a tribute to the Dolls' late guitarist , Johnny Thunders, was a poignant glance back.

The band segued the tune's bittersweet melody into the Thunders-era Dolls classic "Lonely Planet Boy" before bringing themselves, and us, back to the here and now with a fresh blast of noise. You can't put your arms around a memory, it's true. But on this night, if only for a moment, the Dolls came awfully close.

Among the supporting acts, veteran neo-garage outfit the Chesterfield Kings delivered perhaps the night's finest performance, expertly mining the sonic sneer of the circa '66 Stones and Pretty Things with a mixture of fetishistic precision and aggressive abandon. The Supersuckers followed with their blistering blend of supercharged roots rock, and earlier Boston's own Charms were a charismatic, retro-pop treat. Red Invasion, also from Boston, delivered a solid, tone-setting opener of glam-punk.