Call them hard rock, call them proto-punk, call them glam-punk or a combination of the three, but when The New York Dolls burst onto the downtown Manhattan scene in 1971, they were unlike any other band in town - or perhaps on the planet.  The Dolls - lead vocalist David Johansen, rhythm guitarist Sylvain Sylvain, bassist Arthur "Killer" Kane, lead guitarist Johnny Thunders and drummer Jerry Nolan (who replaced the late Billy Murcia) - might have emerged as a response to the studied musicianship of so-called progressive rock and the bright, sanitized sounds of bubblegum pop, but their primal, savage and uninhibited style was descended from any number of influences.  Motown, blues, doo wop, soul, rockabilly, and especially Brill Building-era girl groups all figured into the Dolls' sound.  Though the original band only released two albums in its heyday, Cherry Red has recently compiled Personality Crisis: Live Recordings & Studio Demos 1972-1975, a 5-CD box set celebrating the band's deliciously trashy brand of rock-and-roll.

The first two discs of this set, housed in a compact clamshell case, compile the demos recorded by the band at New York's Blue Rock and Planet Studios in June 1972 and March 1973, respectively, and at the U.K.'s Escape Studios in October 1972.  These36 tracks were all recorded prior to the band's signing with Mercury Records, where they released a pair of albums in 1973 and 1974.  During the early, pre-Mercury days, the band's fiery live performances were attracting the likes of Lou Reed, John Cale, Alice Cooper, Mick Jagger, Paul McCartney, and David Bowie, and it's their raw onstage sound that's captured in these demos of both original songs and eclectic oldies (Bo Diddley's "Pills," Sonny Boy Williamson's "Don't Start Me Talkin'," Willie Dixon's "Hoochie Coochie Man," Archie Bell and the Drells' "(There's Gonna Be A) Showdown," Gary U.S. Bonds' "Seven Day Weekend," The Shangri-Las' "(Give Him A) Great Big Kiss").  Though the demos can't capture the band's raunchy drag look, they do preserve the Dolls' raw and unfiltered sensibility.  Some consider the Planet demos (numbering 22 here) to be the band's finest hour, even more so than the original albums produced at Mercury by Todd Rundgren and George "Shadow" Morton.

The third disc of Personality Crisis pulls together live performances from the period after the July 1973 release of the debut New York Dolls: December 1973 in Paris and Detroit, and April 1974 in Long Island.  In addition to songs like "Lone Star Queen" which would never see release in a studio version, the band tackled a number of songs in Detroit that would be included on their sophomore LP, the prophetically titled Too Much, Too Soon (released in May 1974).  The Detroit show was broadcast on WABX radio and then bootlegged.  Morton's productions incorporated strings and horns, but the Dolls' live versions showcase these songs in their most authentic state sans the glossy studio embellishments.

The fourth disc has selections from three more 1974 shows - April in Long Island (as broadcast on WBAB radio), June or July (information is conflicting) in Vancouver, and September in Dallas.  The fifth disc continues the Dallas show before picking up with a 12-song hometown set from New York in 1975.  This performance features songs and covers (including Otis Blackwell's "Daddy Rolling Stone," Eddie Cochran's "Something Else," and Clarence "Frogman" Henry's "Ain't Got No Home") earmarked for the Dolls' abortive third album.  The original songs performed onstage would be reclaimed by Thunders, Johansen, and Sylvain as solo artists.  In April 1975, the band split, though competing factions continued to perform for a short time.

By 1977, the band was through.  The two Mercury records, however, inspired everyone from The Smiths to Guns 'n' Roses, and so a reunion might have been inevitable.  Johnny Thunders died of a drug overdose in 1991, and Jerry Nolan passed from a stroke the following year.  But despite these setbacks, Johansen, Sylvain and Kane - the three surviving members - came together in 2004.  Yet there still was a cloud over the band.  Suffering from leukemia, Kane passed in July of that year.  But the following year, Johansen and Sylvain regrouped.  Between 2006 and 2011, the "new" New York Dolls released three albums including 2009's Cause I Sez So which also reunited them with Todd Rundgren.

The material on Personality Crisis has been released in various forms before, both officially and via bootleg, though this set is the first to bring it all together in context.  The Blue Rock demos were presented in 1981 as Lipstick Killers - The Mercer Street Sessions, and nineteen of the Planet demos were issued in 1992 as Seven Day Weekend.  The live shows, heard here in variable audio quality, will also be familiar to longtime Dolls devotees.

The box set contains a 28-page booklet with a detailed essay by compiler David Wells, and it has been remastered by Fluid Mastering.  Personality Crisis: Live Recordings & Studio Demos 1972-1975 is a potent reminder of the New York Dolls' debauched musical merriment.  It's available now at the links below!  (Do note that the Amazon track listing is erroneous, listing additional tracks on Disc 2 that are not included on this set.  Please refer to the correct track listing below.)

New York Dolls, Personality Crisis: Live Recordings & Studio Demos 1972-1975 (Cherry Red CRCDBOX52, 2018) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

CD 1: Studio Demos 1972-1973

1. Bad Girl
2. Looking for a Kiss
3. Don't Start Me Talkin'
4. Don't Mess with Cupid
5. Human Being
6. Personality Crisis
7. Pills
8. Jet Boy
9. Frankenstein
10. Personality Crisis
11. Looking for a Kiss
12. Bad Girl
13. Subway Train
14. Seven Day Weekend
15. Frankenstein
16. Who Are the Mystery Girls?
17. (There's Gonna Be A) Showdown
18. Back in the U.S.A.

Tracks 1-9 recorded at Blue Rock Studio, June 1972
Tracks 10-13 recorded at Escape Studios, England, October 1972
Tracks 14-18 recorded at Planet Studios, March 1973

CD 2: Studio Demos 1973

1. Endless Party
2. Jet Boy
3. It's Too Late (False Start)
4. It's Too Late (Full Version)
5. Bad Detective
6. Lonely Planet Boy
7. Subway Train
8. Private World
9. Trash
10. Human Being
11. Don't Start Me Talkin'
12. Hoochie Coochie Man
13. (Give Him A) Great Big Kiss
14. Vietnamese Baby
15. Babylon
16. Bad Girl
17. Pills
18. Personality Crisis

Tracks 1-18 recorded at Planet Studios, March 1973

CD 3: Live (Paris, December 1973 / Detroit, December 1973 / Long Island, April 1974)

1. Trash
2. The Milk Man
3. Puss 'n' Boots
4. Intro/Personality Crisis
5. Bad Girl
6. Looking for a Kiss
7. Who Are the Mystery Girls?
8. Stranded in the Jungle
9. Human Being
10. Pills
11. Trash
12. The Milk Man
13. Puss 'n' Boots
14. Babylon
15. Lone Star Queen
16. Don't Start Me Talkin'
17. Puss 'n' Boots
18. Looking for a Kiss
19. Trash
20. Stranded in the Jungle
21. Personality Crisis
22. Bad Girl
23. Pills

Tracks 1-3 recorded at the Bataclan, Paris, December 23, 1973
Tracks 4-16 recorded at the Michigan Palace, Detroit, December 31, 1973
Tracks 17-23 recorded at My Father's Place, Long Island, April 14, 1974 (WBAB Radio)

CD 4: Live (Long Island, April 1974 / Vancouver, July 1974 / Dallas, September 1974)

1. Hoochie Coochie Man
2. It's Too Late
3. Chatterbox
4. Human Being
5. Hoochie Coochie Man
6. (Give Him A) Great Big Kiss
7. Don't Mess with Cupid
8. Chatterbox
9. Babylon
10. (There's Gonna Be A) Showdown
11. Who Are the Mystery Girls?
12. Jet Boy
13. Human Being
14. Intro/Personality Crisis
15. Vietnamese Baby
16. Bad Girl
17. (Give Him A) Great Big Kiss

Tracks 1-4 recorded at My Father's Place, Long Island, April 14, 1974 (WBAB Radio)
Tracks 5-13 recorded in Vancouver, c. June/July 1974
Tracks 14-17 recorded in Dallas, September 1974

CD 5: Live (Dallas, September 1974 / New York, 1975)

1. Pills
2. Frankenstein
3. Lone Star Queen
4. Don't Start Me Talkin'
5. Red Patent Leather
6. On Fire
7. Something Else
8. Daddy Rolling Stone
9. Ain't Got No Home/Dizzy Miss Lizzy
10. Girls Girls Girls
11. Down Down Downtown
12. Pirate Love
13. Pills
14. Teenage News
15. Personality Crisis/Looking for a Kiss
16. Stranded in the Jungle

Tracks 1-4 recorded in Dallas, September 1974
Tracks 5-16 recorded in New York, 1975