JOHNNY THUNDERS - So Alone

JOHNNY THUNDERS  So Alone CD [Cardboard sleeve digital remastering] 2013
Pipeline / You Can't Put Your Arms Round A Memory / Great Big Kiss / Ask Me No Questions / Leave Me Alone / Daddy Rollin' Stone / London Boys / (She's So) Untouchable / Subway Train / Downtown / Dead Or Alive / Hurtin' / So Alone / The Wizard.
Produced by Johnny Thunders & Steve Lillywhite.
Johnny Thunders: vocals & guitars / Paul Gray, Billy Rath & Phil Lynott: bass / Mike Kellie, Paul Cook & Steve Nicol: drums /  Peter Perrett: vocal & guitar / Steve Jones, Henri Paul & Walter Lure: guitars / John Irish Earle: saxophone / Pat Palladin: vocals / Steve Lillywhite: piano / Steve Marriott: vocals, piano, harmonica / Chrissie Hynde, Koulla Kakoulli & Pat Palladin: backing vocals.
CD reissue of the 1978 LP: 11-14 are bonus tracks. (11 and 12 are from the singles "Dead Or Alive" and "You Can't Put Your Arms Round A Memory" (b side), 13 and 14 are unreleased outtakes.)

Following the drug-fueled implosion of the Heartbreakers, Johnny Thunders bounced back with his first solo outing, "So Alone". Featuring a veritable who's who of '70s punk and hard rock -- Chrissie Hynde, Phil Lynott, Peter Perrett, Steve Marriott, Paul Cook, and Steve Jones, among others -- the record was a testament to what the former New York Dolls guitarist could accomplish with a little focus. Much like Thunders' best work with the Dolls and Heartbreakers, "So Alone" is a gloriously sloppy amalgam of R&B, doo wop, and three-chord rock & roll. Despite the inevitable excesses that plagued every Thunders recording session, Steve Lillywhite's solid engineering job and a superb set of songs hold everything together. A cover of the Chantays' classic instrumental "Pipeline" leads things off, and is a teasing reminder of what a great guitarist Thunders could be when he put his mind to it. The record's indisputable masterpiece is "You Can't Put Your Arms Round a Memory," a wrenching, surprisingly literate ballad in which Thunders seems to acknowledge that his junkie lifestyle has doomed him to the abyss.

Songs like "Leave Me Alone," "Hurtin'," and the chilling title track continue the theme of life inside the heroin balloon. Fortunately, all this back-alley gloom is leavened by some memorably animated moments. "London Boys" is a scathing reply to the Sex Pistols' indictment of the New York punk scene, "New York." The funky "Daddy Rolling Stone" features the inimitable Lynott on background vocals, while the rave-ups "Great Big Kiss" and "(She's So) Untouchable" are terrific examples of Thunders' raunchy take on classic R&B. Sadly, Johnny Thunders never followed up on the promise of his solo debut. His subsequent records were a frustrating mix of drug-addled mediocrity and downright laziness. But for one brief moment, he seemed to put it all together. That moment is "So Alone". Allmusic.com

For his first solo LP, the legendary New York Dolls/Heartbreakers guitarist enlisted the aid of ex- Pistols Paul Cook and Steve Jones, some of the Hot Rods, the Only Ones and even old-timers Steve Marriott and Phil Lynott. Choosing material representative of all his prior musical phases, and aided immeasurably by co-producer Steve Lillywhite, Thunders turns in reasonably strong performances, perfectly employing his gutter guitar and New York sneer in a number of (musical) veins, including greasy R&B and a tender ballad. Not since the Dolls' two records has he sounded so lucid and involved — So Alone is Johnny Thunders at his best. The reissue adds two previously unissued cuts, "So Alone" and "The Wizard." Trouser Press

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