Norton
2000
A Hard Night's Day
About This Album
When this elemental band signed to Mercury in March 1973, they headed into New York's Planet Studios and, tape rolling, ran through one-take versions of their repertoire to that point. All 23 songs were set down (15 originals and eight covers) to give both Mercury and their eventual producer, Todd Rundgren, a good idea of what to select from the abundance for a first LP. That night's work of instant demoing is what is released on A Hard Night's Day. Demo LPs are rarely a big deal. Usually they're too similar to the known versions, only not as good. But this is an entirely different animal. For one thing, the mix on Rundgren's The New York Dolls was too muddy, whereas Hard Night's is extremely clear -- even clearer than the legendary girl group producer Shadow Morton's better work on the later Too Much Too Soon. But the performances are sloppy! That was, of course, one of the fundamental charms of the Dolls in that horrible era of bloated '70s rock, but it's really strange that the later LP versions would seem so tight in comparison! So this great-sounding, super-loose artifact is like a totally different band, and it's a fine pleasure. The songs are familiar: 18 of these 21 would end up properly recorded for those albums.
Track List (try tracks 8,10,12,17 and 19)

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