CAN YOU SHIMMY?

You can tell a lot about a band by the covers they choose. Not only is it a clue to what they're trying to convey with their own music, and who they want to tip their hat to, it's also a keen look into how serious they are about what they listen to, and how deep their tastes run. And you can tell a whole lot more about a band by how well they integrate their own identity into someone else's song, something the New York Dolls were particularly good at. (By New York Dolls, or "Dolls," I mean the original Dolls, because without Johnny Thunders they are not the Dolls, not in these parts.)

The Dolls do Bo Diddley (plus "Trash")

I thought I'd try to track down the songs they covered, as there were only five on their two original releases, and I was able to find them, albeit one is on MediaFire, and one is streaming only at YouTube. While looking for mp3s of those two, I ran into a mix that had 14, which includes songs they played live. It's a nice varied mix, from doo wop, to blues, to Philly-type soul and girl group stuff. They're all over the board, some semi-obscure, and if you know the Dolls' versions, you know that they make them all sound like Dolls songs.

While I was typing the above stuff, a live band started playing, right around the corner, in the yard that is directly behind my apartment. I went over there to check it out because they were good, kind of a Black Keys pace, without the distorted guitar, and they had at least one horn. Kind of a big ensemble for this neck of the woods. The band was Supertasty, literally that's their name. The party people were nice, and invited me over to their side of the fence, but I didn't feel like being the "who's that guy?" guy. God damn, I miss beer. Now I'm fully distracted.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Listen:
The Cadets - Stranded In the Jungle mp3 at Ace Terrier
Bo Diddley - Pills mp3 at Carnival Saloon
Sonny Boy Williamson - Don't Start Me Talkin' mp3 at MMSD Amps
Archie Bell & the Drells - (There's Gonna Be a) Showdown mp3 at 4Shared Note: Click on blue "Download Now" button, then wait about 15 seconds.
The Coasters - Bad Detective (streaming) at YouTube
The mix:
Songs the New York Dolls Taught Us - 14 songs in one file at Dr Faustroll Scroll down to comments for MediaFire download link
Related posts:
New York Dolls - Tons of stuff. It's an older post, but out of nineteen, there's bound to be a few links that are still good.
Johnny Thunders in the Heartbreakers Ditto.