I haven't played this LP in quite some time. I'm playing it now and this is really a GREAT record. This is one of the few times where he really had it together. Johnny could have really been one of the great ones if he could have cleaned up his act. This record, Heartbreakers L.A.M.F. Revisited and The NY Dolls records really show he was a hell of a guitarist. It's too bad that the several times I saw him live he was a mess.

I saw Johnny back in 1985 in NY with the rest of the Dolls for a reunion. He was on top that night and it remains one of the best shows I have ever seen.

I saw him a number of times when I lived in New York (both in concert and a couple of times just walking the streets, probably looking to cop). When he was on, he was ON. When he was off, well . . . there’s enough live documentation of that.

I published a short review of So Alone for an Internet music-review site a while back. I think it’s one of the bona fide classics of the punk era, albeit a largely undiscovered one. You’re right: The album was one of the few occasions JT got it right on wax. Most of the time he was too stoned or apathetic to care about how his albums sounded. But he wanted to make a statement of what he could do solo, and he did with So Alone. Too bad he didn’t follow it up with other equally consistent efforts.

BTW, the cast he assembled for the album reads like a who’s-who of rock legends: Phil Lynott, Peter Perrett, Chrissy Hynde, etc. That speaks volumes about the respect Johnny commanded in his prime.

The inspiration for my SN.:thmbsp:

The first time I saw him was in '79, just after I became aware of The Dolls and their growing influence on music. I subsequently saw JT about a dozen more times over the next 12 years.

But to me, seeing Thunders that first time, in a dingy little bar, on a freezing cold night in northern NJ was a musical revelation. He wasn't really 'on' that night, but he was on enough to show some glimpses of brilliance beneath the mess.

The next day I went out and got So Alone, Live At Max's Kansas City, and The Dolls records. I still play these almost daily, almost 30 years later.
I still love So Alone to this day. To me that record will always be timeless.
It does such a deft balancing act between referencing all that was great about early rock n roll, and yet at the same time showing a way to it's future.:thmbsp:

IIRC, I had read a quote somewhere, that stated: 'If Pete Townsend is the grandfather of punk rock, then Johnny Thunders sired the child". Or something to that effect. I think that about sums up Johnny's place in music history quite nicely.

I saw Johnny back in 1985 in NY with the rest of the Dolls for a reunion. He was on top that night and it remains one of the best shows I have ever seen.

Was that April 1, at Irving Plaza?