New York Dolls "Too Much Too Soon" CD

What I wouldn't give to hear the 1974 recordings of these last three songs, ESPECIALLY "Too Much Too Soon" which is just a beautiful moving song that should've been on the album.

 

Slightly off topic, does anyone know if those tracks on 'Red Patent Leather' are available either as studio demo recordings or if not, in better quality?

 

No studio recordings, unfortunately and every copy I have heard of Red Patent Leather sounds about the same.

 

Thanks. It is unfortunate. Some great songs on it.

 

Yep, the only extant recording is Johnny's lovely acoustic version on Hurt Me album I presume.

 

In Nina Atonia's book, Too Much, Too Soon [same place I got the short list of demo songs], Sylvain said something about Shadow Morton ignoring his songs and only paying attention to Thunders' & Johansen's... [therefor, Teenage News & Too Much, Too Soon getting passed over]
His only credit on the LP is "Puss 'n' Boots" [which was a co-write with Johansen], so there might be something to that.
I would love to hear the Dolls' version of TM,TS...from the snippets that Johnny has played it sounds like a very beautiful song...

 

It is not a needle drop & it's an outtake from the LP sessions, not a demo recording as I had assumed/remembered...

 

Yeah, that's the rarer one. Only previously on LP (and cassette). I've never heard it. Just have the demo version heard on A Hard Night's Day.

 

There was one tentatively planned years ago - Clinton Heylin did some initial work on it and refers to it in his updated edition of From the Velvets to the Voidoids. Unfortunately, as Heylin has reported, the project was eventually shelved.

I still prefer the original CD - later CD reissues were squashed to hell. The original recording is a little bit on the bright and thin side to begin with - not terribly so like the MC5's second album, but don't expect something thicker or more muscular like, say, the demo compilation A Hard Night's Day, which includes earlier (and often times better) recordings of most of the tracks on Too Much Too Soon.

 

Great Big Kiss:

 

Too bad those shows weren't better recorded or given an official release, they really played well the night I saw them, even if Jerry Nolan and Arthur Kane were sidelined. Would be nice if a label like Numero could unearth the tapes from both weekends and put them out.

 

if you've ever heard/seen the "All Dolled Up" DVD, Bob Gruen's video's of those shows sound better than whatever tape Sylvain used to produce "Red Patent Leather"

 

Thanks. First time I've ever heard that version.

 

Yep, the mix on the video between instruments is far more balanced. Syl's is straight from the board; the guitars are buried and David's vocals have too much of the delay. I tried for like half a second to make a matrix of the two but it was over my pay grade as an amateur engineer. When I want to listen to the Hippodrome show I listen to the sound I ripped from Bob's full video version of the show.

 

Is this available somewhere or are you just a lucky guy?

 

Both, actually. I did get my copy from Bob, but there are also full DVD's out there of Dolls gigs that leaked from the time when they were editing All Dolled Up. You didn't hear it from me!

 

I did hear about that but have never found any. Thanks for the reply.

 

They're obviously lossy but I'm recently thinking the MFiT versions of the first two albums sound pretty good, and are most likely the masterings from the Millenium Collection/Hip-O Too Much Too Soon and unreleased but done at the same time remaster of the debut. Pretty balanced and not very compressed.

 

My guess is they are the same as the HDtracks. Too Much HDtracks isn't the same as the Hip-O. I like the Hip-O a lot but don't care for the HDtracks. It's not bad, just something doesn't sound right to me. The debut HDtracks is my favorite digital but it's not perfect. EQ is pretty bright and a little smiley face, IIRC.

 

Found a Hip-O on E-Bay for $25. Should have bought it when it came out. I just figured my regular CD w as good enough at the time....
Also, thanks to this discussion, I've went from 1 copy of TM, TS to 3 copies... in roughly 2 weeks...
I need to stay off the internet, ha ha

 

That kind of thing happens to me all the time...

 

I only have the original cd from the 80's and I second the opinion that it sounds bright and thin. I have no other to compare though.

 

I had always figured they were the same as the HD. Check out the MFiT samples if you get a chance. They don't sound particular bright to me, though I may get what you're saying about less low-mids on the debut. Of course with the dark master tape EQ of the debut and the brighter than bright follow-up, it's often hard to tell, especially if the mastering engineer is tasked with trying to split the difference.

 

I remember I thought Too Much had something odd about the sound. I couldn't place what it was, but I didn't like it. The Hip-O sounds just right to me. It wasn't that the debut HD was too bright in general, just compared to the dark sound of the original vinyl that I like. I would've preferred something closer to the vinyl's tonal balance. The early Japanese CD (with most of Too Much) comes real close with the tonal balance, but it sounds kind of weak. I like the HD better despite not totally liking the EQ. Yeah, the recessed mids are probably the biggest issue for me. I may try to re-EQ it one day.

I'll check out the iTunes samples when I get a chance.

 

Also, when I got that TM, TS SHM CD, I decided I needed it's counterpart from the same series, the debut, so yeah, almost $80 spent, thanks to this topic...
Oh well, ha ha