Johnny Thunders - "So Alone" Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue, 1978/2014 (Drastic Plastic Records)

It's hard to separate the image of Johnny Thunders, the very model of him, and his music.  When I listen to a Thunders recording, whatever it's a Heartbreakers or New York Dolls, the image of the Junkie is very well defined in our world.  Which is a shame, because it hides the fact that Thunders is an outstanding songwriter.  One should never bury their vices, but when it becomes the only subject matter when it comes to Johnny Thunders, you're losing the full motion picture and sound.

"So Alone" is the first 'solo' album from Thunders, and he's backed from Steve Jones and Paul Cook from the Sex Pistols, and more interestingly Peter Perrett and Mike Kellie from the band The Only Ones.  Another semi-tragic songwriter of sorts, Perrett is a perfect mirror image of the Thunders angst and pleasure.  The root of Thunders is, of course, The New York Dolls, which is a band that is about the history of rock n' roll, Rhythm n' blues, and various girl groups from the 1960s.  And of course a touch of The Kinks circa 1964/1965.   Thunders don't move from this core on his solo recording, because this is the music that he breaths in and out throughout his life. "So Alone" is a fantastic album, because, at the time, it cuts all of his interest on one disc.  

The album is co-produced by Steve Lillywhite, who worked with a lot of great British artists in the post-rock years of the late 1970s such as Peter Gabriel, XTC, early Ultravox, Siouxsie & the Banshees, and of course U2.   Lillywhite captures the Thunders magic, by not doing anything slick or mechanical and frames the Johnny aesthetic as if it was a retrospective than just an album.  The music covers NY Dolls, Heartbreakers, and choice covers to give a portrait of Johnny, at his most muscular stance to honoring not only his songwriting but the aesthetic that goes with his territory.  The first two New York Dolls, and the early Heartbreakers, and then "So Alone" is an excellent package to get. A vital artist who stated not only the image of rock n' roll but also the poetic almost dandified stance that goes with that (Thunders') world. 

Chet Baker - "It Could Happen To You" LP, Album, Reissue, Vinyl, 1958/1987 (Riverside)

I studied this album cover as if it's a coded message from another world.  For some reason, and you can't see it here due to the sticker, but Baker is wearing light boat tennis shoes, with the heaviest sweater possible.   Which brings to mind it is probably not winter, but spring or summer time when this photograph was taken for "It Could Happen To You."  An album, if you listen to it carefully enough, it will cause the sound of zippers opening and slips/underwear dropping to the floor.  

Chet Baker is the Johnny Thunders of Jazz.  A hopeless drug addict with the looks of a more dangerous James Dean.  His young beauty matching his soft whispering vocals must have been a hard combination to avoid with respect to a sexual adventure of some sort.  The other amazing thing is his music sounds exactly the way he looks.  His lyrical trumpet playing is soulful, and when he opens his voice, it is like the sound of a thousand pillows being puffed up. 

This is the only album I have of Chet's singing.  There are others, but I can't make a comparison, but the focus on this album is, of course, songs from the great American songbook.   Rodgers and Hart, the Gershwin brothers, and Kern/Mercer all have a presence on this album.  It's Baker's voice that conveys the desires and the angst of being in love, or in the pursuit of earthly romance. 

Backed by an excellent band with Kenny Drew on piano throughout the album, and also the magnificent drummer Philly Joe Jones and others make the musical landscape the perfect vehicle for Chet's seductive stance within the vinyl grooves.  It is also interesting to hear or compare the trumpet playing by Baker, and then how he uses his voice.  He based his vocals on the trumpet, perhaps in the same manner as Frank Sinatra being influenced by Tommy Dorsey's horn playing.  So in a sense, Chet's vocals is an instrument as well, in this exquisite landscape of romance, music, and god knows what else. 

New York Dolls - "A Hard Night's Day" CD, Album, 2000 (Norton Records)

Perfection.  Paul Nelson when he signed the New York Dolls to Mercury he brought the band to a studio, and in one night recorded 21 songs as demos, to be picked upon by producer Todd Rundgren, at a later date.  These recordings are the best representation of the Dolls.  The band is sloppy in parts, but it is also part of their genius in that they had amazing songs, and their covers they did at the time, represented their trashy aesthetic and love for vintage rock n' roll.  It's interesting to note that the Dolls must have liked British Invasion bands like early Who or The Kinks, yet all their covers are American, based on the blues, or Atlantic Records-era rock recordings, or Chuck Berry.  So in a nutshell, the ultimate American rock band.

When I first heard the Dolls, which was their first Mercury album, I thought to myself, 'yes.'  At the time, The Stones were creatively spent, and there was a need for a younger band with great songs.  The Dolls were it.  On the other hand, the commercial music world disagreed with me.  Still, history will show that The Dolls were very much part of their decade, and the songs they wrote "Trash," "Personality Crisis," "Frankenstein" and others, were rooted in their social lives at the time.  It's a great snapshot of New York City subculture at work.  And "A Hard Night's Day" is very much that photograph or series of photos conveying the energy, sound, and genius of that time.

The Dolls wrote songs that were observational.  In that sense, they resemble Ray Davies of The Kinks.  Or even early Bowie.  David Johansen is a brilliant lyricist and through his solo career one can see that he is also a great music historian, but the same can be said for Johnny Thunders and Sylvain Sylvain as well.   And the rhythm section of Jerry Nolan (great drummer) and Arthur Kane were extremely important to their overall sound.  So to me, a perfectly balanced band.  

Paul Nelson captured the excitement much better than the official two studio Mercury albums.  This album is an important document but beyond that journalistic/studying approach, this is music to celebrate an independence that was greatly needed at the time.  

Johnny Thunders "Hurt Me" (10" vinyl album) Munster Records

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.