I’m changing these to every other week as my schedule and what I’ve been doing over on Facebook during October have kept me busy. Once again I find myself typing this after midnight.

So this weeks’ vinyl is Too Much Too Soon by the New York Dolls. The album Too Much Too Soon was released in May 1974. It was the Doll’s second album. I bought it during the Fall of 1974.

I had known about the Doll’s from Creem magazine articles of course. That magazine is where I learned about all the bands during the time I was in Puerto Rico, 1972-1976. So I was reading about the NY seen with all the glamour bands like the Doll’s and KISS as well as the up and coming punk seen – Patty Smyth, Lou Reed, etc.

Why is this vinyl of the week? Like the other albums in this blog series it invokes a memory around the time I bought it. I bought this album from a base exchange (PX) on, I believe, Roosevelt Roads Navy base on Puerto Rico. I bought it while seeing my brother who was in the hospital from complications from the mumps. He had contracted the mumps and for whatever reason it had caused other issues in his body to beak down requiring hospitalization. My brother recovered with some side affects that went on to affect his life in adulthood. Not to worry though, he is alive and well. I question his mental health occasionally but don’t we do that with all our siblings?

Every time I see or play this album those memories of that time come up and that trip down to the hospital to see my brother. It was a sad sight at the time. For that reason Too Much Too Soon by the New York Dolls is PawPaw’s Vinyl of the week, or bi-week, or every other week.