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A buyers’ guide to David Johansen

NEW YORK DOLLS NEW YORK DOLLS MERCURY, 1973

The Dolls’ Todd Rundgren produced debut is like MC5’S Back In The USA meets The Rolling Stones, with Johansen writing or co-writing every track bar one cover. Teenage alienation, identity, flamboyance, sex and violence feature heavily. Several of these songs feature in Personality Crisis: One Night Only, including classics “Trash” and, of course, “Personality Crisis”. Underrated follow-up Too Much Too Soon has too many covers but remains essential.

DAVID JOHANSEN DAVID JOHANSEN BLUE SKY RECORDS, 1978

Johansen had always sung with his tongue partly in cheek, and his debut album opened with a prime example, “Funky But Chic”, a Sylvain Sylvain co-write that rocks a disco strut. Cleaner and tighter than his work with the Dolls, it’s a fine recording – still glammy rock but with a move towards more mature moments such as “Frenchette”, which he revives successfully during his show at the Carlyle.

BUSTER POINDEXTER BUSTER POINDEXTER RCA VICTOR, 1987

Johansen recorded four albums as Buster Poindexter, including one themed around alcohol and another around parties. These presented another example of Johansen’s general approach to performing, taking something silly but playing it straight as he performs jump blues like “Smack Dab In The Middle”. There’s also a solid take on “House Of The Rising Sun” and a cover of his own “Heart Of Gold”, which originally appeared on Johansen’s 1981 album Here Comes The Night and is performed on Personality Crisis.

DAVID JOHANSEN AND THE HARRY SMITHS DAVID JOHANSEN AND THE HARRY SMITHS CHESKY RECORDS, 2000

One of two albums Johansen recorded with The Harry Smiths, the LP sees Johansen tackling classic blues with a band that included long-time collaborator Brian Koonin. Features songs by Mississippi John Hurt and Lightnin’ Hopkins as well as traditionals “Delia”, “Poor Boy Blues” and “Oh Death”. Like Buster Poindexter, the set was honed on stage before being taken to the studio, but it’s a fundamentally more serious undertaking, with Johansen demonstrating the gravitas to pull it off.

NEW YORK DOLLS CAUSE I SEZ SO ATCO, 2009

The Dolls’ second post-reformation album was – like the ’73 debut – produced by Todd Rundgren. By now the original members were reduced to Johansen and Sylvain, but the pair collaborate effectively on a series of reflective and introspective numbers, such as the tumbling neo-gothic “Temptation To Exist”, which is beautifully recreated during the Personality Crisis set at the Carlyle.