For a bunch of demos, this collection of the Doll's tracks, assembled by the indie label Roir, sure does sound good. 'Lipstick Killers' is apparently the earliest known recordings of the band,recorded in the summer of 1972. Even the group's ORIGINAL drummer Billy Murcia is on here. The tunes that I found myself looking forward to on repeated plays of the CD are "Looking For A Kiss", "Don't Mess With Cupid", the Doll's signature song (?) "Personality Crisis" and "Frankenstein". Might want to keep in mind that 'Lipstick Killers' is pretty much aimed at New York Dolls completists.

Not as in the editorial reviews January, this one was done in the summer of '72 at Blue Rock Studios in NYC. It captures all the energy of the Dolls at their peak when they were the darlings of the Mercer Arts Center Glitter Rock Scene.

I am a long time fan of the Dolls, and have all of the releases by the New York Dolls, David Johansen, Johnny Thunders, Sylvain, and The Heartbreakers, in various forms. I know the Dolls music as well as any hard-core Dolls fan, because I am one. I have seen Johansen, Thunders, and Sylvain perform solo in their various bands several times. The original recording of New York Dolls - Lipstick Killers - The Mercer St. Sessions, was a cassette-only release by ROIR (Reach Out International Records) in 1981. I have one of the original red cassette tapes of this release. The recording is fantastic quality for a cassette, recorded on BASF tape, and I had always loved the raw sound of the band on this cassette compared to the "New York Dolls" and "Too Much Too Soon" releases on Mercury. I give much credit to the Rundgren production on their 1973 debut, but the Lipstick Killers 1972 recording has much more "punk" sound and I could never call it "glam" as the self-titled '73 debut is often described. I would say the music really grinds, the songs being performed much slower than on the Mercury releases. It is really what the band sounded like after being together only 4 1/2 months.

I had just transferred my Lipstick Killers cassette, in fantastic shape considering how much I have played it, to CD. I used my 1982 top of the line Akai GX-F91 cassette deck ($750 in '82). These decks are going for $1000 used today. This deck and the Nakamichi 1000 are considered the best cassette decks ever made, and one would be hard-pressed to identify a copy made on this deck from the original without a high end system. In many cases the copy is not discernible from the original even on a high-end system. The deck has quartz lock speed control so it's speed is dead accurate.

I was debating purchasing this CD release, but after comparing it to my 1981 original cassette from ROIR, I am really disappointed. I had downloaded some time ago what is a rip of this CD, because the track times are the same as what is listed for the CD here on Amazon. My download is the same as this CD, I listened to the previews here on Amazon, and they are the same. I played my original 1981 ROIR cassette side by side with the CD download I had of "Bad Girl", and the CD version is noticeably thin, the midrange and bass are really lacking - definitely a different mix. What really surprised me was how slow this CD version is. The CD version is even slower than the "slow" version on the original ROIR tape. Johansen's voice didn't sound like that, it is audibly slow and lower pitched. The song "Bad Girls" comes in at 3:34 on the original cassette, the CD is 3:45, that's 11 second difference, or 4.9% slower. If you have a variable pitch turntable, slow it down 5%, you will see how substantial a change it is.

If you are able to somehow get a good original cassette on ROIR from 1981, you should get it. The mix and slow speed on this CD is just unacceptable in my book. The artwork on the original cassette is black, white, and pink ONLY, not anything like the 2000 and 2007 CD releases artwork. Discogs states there is a yellow master version cassette and a also a white cassette of the 1981 ROIR release. As I mentioned, mine is a red ROIR release and it is also from 1981 'cause that's when I got it, and that's the date on the cassette. I enjoy all of the Dolls releases, but the ROIR Lipstick Killers cassette has always been my favorite.

I normally agree with most reviews by Allmusic, but Jack Rabid's review is WAY off the mark. He obviously is not a long-time fan. I love Nolan's drumming, but Billy Murcia is great on this only recording he performed on. He was drumming with the Dolls during a brief tour of England in 1972. He was invited to a party where he passed out. After trying to revive him by putting him in a bathtub and force-feeding him coffee, he was asphyxiated and died. Jack Rabid says "Murcia was half the drummer of his eventual successor, Nolan". Give me a break. The song "Don't Mess With Cupid" by Steve Cropper / Eddie Floyd / Deanie Parker can only be found being performed by the Dolls on Lipstick Killers. The only version other than this Doll's version was performed by Otis Redding on "The Dock of the Bay" album. Allmusic only give Lipstick Killers 2 1/2 stars. For me, the original ROIR cassette rates 5 stars, and that is saying something. I seldom rate anything 5 stars other than the classics of popular music, which the 1981 ROIR cassette Lipstick Killers certainly is. At the time I wrote this review there were 2 used cassettes from $7.00 - $7.98, and 3 collectible cassettes from $10.00 to $17.99, available from sellers on Amazon. Buy these, a STEAL!