Johnny Thunders

Just realized I'm gonna be out of town when the newer doc, "Looking for Johnny" comes to my hood

One Track Mind is such great tune.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMgYD5BgP9k

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMgYD5BgP9k

RIP Billy Rath (apparently)

RIP.

Watched the documentary last night. Not bad, not as good as the Arthur Kane documentary. Not surprised about Billy Rath--he's interviewed, and he looks to be 90. In general, the people in this film do not look good.

Syl Sylvain quotes Bob Dylan at the end as saying he wished he'd written "You Can't Put Your Arms Around a Memory." Nice end-note, if true, and I can't see someone making that up.

(Actually, Walter Lure looks very healthy.)

the thunders doc is dragged down by (apparently) not having rights to official dolls/heartbreakers recordings and videos. also, jt's story is such a downward trajectory that it's hard to sustain a compelling story arc. this guy was such a unique and influential guitarist they probably should have taken a different approach than just a chronological career survey.

That was one of the things that made the Arthur Kane documentary so interesting: the Mormon and Dolls-reunion tangents. And yes, the music was generally muffled and scattershot--and they should've used the Replacements' brilliant "Johnny's Gonna Die" somewhere.

David Johansen interviewing Johnny Thunders outside CBGBS in 1976

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQlTzpsck2s

Walter Lure, the last Heartbreaker standing, has passed away from liver cancer.

Ugh, RIP

R.I.P. :(

https://mongolcult.files.wordpress.com/2018/11/wl2.jpg

Was there a greater band that only made one album (which wasn’t even mixed right)? Those guys will be in the pantheon forever, they were untouchable.

The only one that comes to mind is the original Modern Lovers (Richman, Harrison, Brooks and Robinson), and that only works if you don't count the ostensible follow-ups with Richman changing course and fronting a new band. (Only Robinson stuck around and just for one more album.) Even then some may take issue with the fact that it's really a compilation demos. GREAT demos that sound a hell of a lot more than fine as finished recordings, so a negligible technicality in my book.

But why debate over two masterpieces? L.A.M.F. is glorious, and thanks to all of the myriad mixes and masterings, I've probably owned more versions of that album than any other.

Yeah, the Lovers album is great (and my rhetorical question was awkwardly phrased).

But my intention was more to honor the band itself — those four guys, the way they played together...

If I could go back in time and see any band on their best night, the Heartbreakers would be high on the list.

From MVD Entertainment:

Johnny Thunders - Que Sera Sera: Resurrected

35th Anniversary 3CD Box Set featuring a remixed version with extra tracks, the live version, the original album plus a 36-page booklet

Coming September 11th
In 1985 Johnny Thunders went into the studio in London, to record his third and final solo album. He gathered friends Mike Monroe, Patti Palladin, John Perry, Wilko Johnson, Henri-Paul Tortosa, Nasty Suicide, JC Carroll,Stiv Bators, Glen Matlock and others, and the resulting album was christened Que Sera, Sera.

It wasn't all plain sailing - with Johnny it rarely was. Johnny had spent the previous two years in relative stability. He'd been gigging around the world, and between tours he was filming in France. Life was a series of nice apartments and hotels shared with his constant companions - his girlfriend Susanne and his manager Christopher.

Now circumstances meant he had neither. Without a new release, touring slowed, and his high-maintenance lifestyle led him to seek friend favors for somewhere to live. The major labels that Christopher hoped would provide financial support hadn't materialized.
In a row with Susanne, she complained that Johnny had never written a song for her. Johnny obliged, and along with new songs from his live set, he recorded "I Only Wrote This Song for You." Before the album was finished, as soon as he had a rough monitor mix of the song, he flew to Sweden to attempt a reconciliation.

Those remaining at the studio were left to put the pieces together. Patti Palladin oversaw the mixing with the engineer, and found there wasn't really enough for an album. Patti added "Tie Me Up" from the b-side of her Crawfish project, and "Blame It On Mom" was found from an earlier session. The title-track was actually an afterthought; recorded as a single 16 months later.

The album was well-received, and it got Johnny touring again, but there was always a sense that it could have been better, and that the guitar was restrained - in '85 many artists were seeking mainstream crossover. Two tracks were left off - Jerry Nolan's "Countdown Love" song was unused as he hadn't yet recorded it; and "Talk About You," a lengthy blues workout that didn't seem to fit.

With those two tracks in mind as bonus tracks for a reissue, Pat Collier, former Vibrators' guitarist, was asked to mix them. When the results came through, it became obvious that Pat should remix the whole album using today's technology and viewpoint.
n the multi-track tapes a few outtakes were discovered, and last year the Resurrected version was released as a Record Store Day double-vinyl with 5 bonus live tracks. After interruptions, the CD version was reappraised and expanded to a three-disc box set. The original album is included, reinstating "Tie Me Up" and the old, familiar mixes. Three live gigs were uncovered, and they became the live version of the album as a bonus CD.

Johnny Thunders' biographer, Nina Antonia, has written new notes with interviews for the 36-page booklet. It also includes lyrics and unseen photos from the recording sessions, the cover session and from one of the featured live gigs.

TRACKLISTS:

DISC 1: Resurrected: Alone In A Crowd, Countdown Love, Blame It On Mom, Talk About You, M.I.A., Little Bit Of Whore, Short Lives, I Only Wrote This Song For You, Cool Operator, Billy Boy, Endless Party, Que Sera Sera. Extras: Copy Cat, Blame It On Mom (outtake),Taking You Up Avenue D, Short Lives (outtake), I Only Wrote This Song For You (outtake), Cool Operator (first version)

DISC 2: Live in Europe: Geneva: Blame It On Mom, M.I.A., Cool Operator, Personality Crisis, Countdown Love, Little Bit of Whore, Amsterdam: Short Lives, So Alone, Sad Vacation, Too Much Junkie Business, Little Bit of Whore, Born To Lose, Chinese Rocks, Lyon: Countdown Love, Just Another Girl, Talk About You, Alone In A Crowd, It’s Alright (Blame It On Mom)

DISC 3: The original album: Short Lives, M.I.A., I Only Wrote This Song For You, Little Bit of Whore, Cool Operator, Blame It On Mom, Tie Me Up, Alone In A Crowd, Billy Boy, Endless Party, Cool Operator (Black Cat mix), Short Lives (Heavenly ver.), Short Lives (Johnny’s remix), Que Sera Sera

More info, audio, pre-order:
https://mvdshop.com/products/que-sera-sera

I wonder where my Gang Wars is? Think it's all studio jams/song demos--an EP--but the CD/MP3 on Amazon is live (most customer reviewers pretty pleased, though one says the great show is followed by a horrible one, after Thunders' wife left him). National Record Day 9/22 will incl. vinyl debut of that:
https://recordstoreday.com/SpecialRelease/12329

Paul Tschinkel's cable access show broadcast one of their shows at Max's in 1979. Here's Lure singing his own composition "Too Much Junkie Business," but there are others on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=qUmnv0eP2Z4

So Alone seems like something that would lend itself to an expanded reissue much more than Que Sera Sera (maybe there is one, I don't know).