THE PASTELS レコード& CD

Review: RECOMMENDED
While New York Dolls are widely considered one of the earliest names on the Big Apple punk scene, revisiting tracks like 'Personality Crisis' proves just how much change took place between 1973 and the later years in the decade. The original version is rooted in a traditional barroom rock 'n' roll aesthetic which, at the time, would definitely not have sounded so traditional.

Breaking from this, dons of wall-of-sound stuff Sonic Youth opted for a lo-fi garage-y interpretation that successfully breathed new life into the song when this interpretation landed in 1993. Flip it to find 'Lonely Planet Boy', which back in the 70s was a piano and guitar workout defined by a somewhat laidback vocal delivery. A wonderful contrast to the A, in 1987 The Pastels offered up a much bigger take on said track that still retained the original's air of cool. Proof, if it were needed, that great music evolves in the right hands.