Johnny Thunders all by himself. Him and his guitar. Recorded in 1983 and in the city of Paris. Mostly acoustic guitar, with a touch of electric guitar here and there. Ibe sure that there is an interesting tale about the making of this album, but alas, I don't know any. Here he covers some New York Dolls songs "Lonely Planet Boy" and "Too Much Too Soon," as well as The Heartbreakers. Also, a cover of my fave Stones song "I'd Rather Be With The Boys." Very low-fi in sound and spirit, it's an interesting document of a superb and very much underrated songwriter. Thunders is known for his love of narcotics and the look - but I think he is much better than all of that. For one, his songs have a real heart. He's the essence of a true rock n' roll mind. Hearing him doing these songs - and most I do not even know off hand (by him), they're amazingly well-crafted, yet I suspect each one has ties to the pop history of the 20th century. I can imagine him and David Johansen being Brill Building era writers, but alas, they missed the decade, yet they have honored it throughout their and Thunders (short) career. An album for those who collect Dolls material, but more than that, it's a beautiful snapshot of Thunders spending that October and November 1983, in a studio, in a world of his own making.
No comments:
Post a Comment