Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers Unreleased Max's Kansas City 1979 & Show # 465

Following the breakup of Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers in 1978, Johnny Thunders headed to London to record his first full length album So Alone. When he returned to the US, the band decided to reform and play a series of live gigs (something that would happen periodically until Thunders death in 1991). Original Heartbreakers drummer Jerry Nolan did not want to take part in this initial set of reunion gigs so the band recruited drummer Ty Styx. These series of shows were recorded and resulted in the 1979 release Live At Max’s Kansas City, which would be released through Max’s Kansas City’s own Beggars Banquet Records. The recordings captured the band in good spirits and in all their loud, sloppy Rock and Roll glory. The album was so well received that a follow up live album was planned. The band got Jerry Nolan on board to play drums again and three live shows were planned and recorded once again. The results this time were for the most part unusable due to a number of factors, one being The Heartbreakers escalating drug use. There were only five usable tracks from this venture according to the some sources. The reason for this is on the third night of recording Johnny Thunders walked off the stage after the fifth song stating he had to “tune up”, but he never returned to the stage. The album was aborted and these tracks would later be issued on the reissued version of Live At Max’s Kansas City as bonus tracks on ROIR.

Another live recording has surfaced from 1979, one that has been bootlegged and available for sometime. This live recording was also at Max’s Kansas City and is a great performance featuring many songs not on the original Max’s Kansas City live album. This show was recorded on April, 28th 1979. This performance is also another quality performance and was an intended release, but it never saw the light of day officially. Commonly known as Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers Unreleased Max’s Kansas City 1979, this recording showcases numerous ramped up R&B covers and songs that would later be used on future Johnny Thunders solo releases. Notable songs on this bootleg include live versions of songs that weren’t on any official studio release at the time such as “Too Much Junkie Business”, “London Boys”, “M.I.A”, “Flight” and “Copycat”. For the covers there’s “Money”, “Do You Love Me”, “Seven Day Weekend” and two songs that would windup on Johnny Thunders 1978 So Alone album. Those tracks would be a cover of The Chantay’s Surf classic “Pipeline” and “Great Big Kiss” originally by The Shangri-Las.

While this album wasn’t officially released it adds to the mystery and aura that is Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers. Many of the songs found on this live bootleg showcase the band’s catalogue of songs that were building for sometime. The songs captured are rare as they were never officially released by The Heartbreakers and showcase the band’s live energy fusing a Chuck Berry meets Rolling Stones R&B Punk sloppiness. The songs would be spread out over Thunders future solo releases and even some (“Flight”, “Seven Day Weekend”) would end up being played by Walter Lure’s post Heartbreakers band The Waldos.

This video features "Two Much Junkie Business" from the very same 1979 Max's Kansas City show:


The Play List:

1. The Individuals – I Really Do
2. Shadows – Gathers No Moss
3. Johnny Cash – I’d Still Be There
4. Johnny Cash – What Do I Care
5. Lonesome Lefty - New Cocaine Blues (Tell It To Me)
6. The Polymorphines – The Clean and The Dirty
7. Sam Coffey and The Iron Lungs – Rick James Blues
8. Booker T – 66 Impala
9. The Danks – Octaganal
10. Seven Story Redhead – Shake It Out!
11. Dan Sartain – Swap Meet
12. Wavves – Demon To Lean On
13. Papermaps – Break
14. Wire – The Commercial
15. Wire – Used To Know
16. Diamond Rugs – Country Mile
17. The Rolling Stones – Far Away Eyes (Live in Texas 1978)
18. Legato Vipers – Chocolate Milk
19. Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreaksers – Pipeline (Live Unreleased Max’s Kansas City 1979)
20. Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers – M.I.A. (Live Unreleased Max’s Kansas City 1979)
21. The Black Lips – Make It (Live At Third Man Records)
22. The Cramps - She Said
23. Buzzcocks – I Look Alone
24. Young Rival – T-Shirt and Shorts
25. Young Rival - Modern Life

To download this weeks program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and download the file for July 16. Or subscribe to Revolution Rock as a Podcast.

Rent Party! The Story of The Waldos & Show # 380

Following the break up of Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers in 1977, Walter Lure (one of the singer/guitarists in The Heartbreakers) continued to branch out musically. While most people don’t know that he wrote and sang about half the songs in the The Heartbreakers, there are a few additional interesting musical facts that some people may not be aware of. In the 80s he contributed guitar to three Ramones albums at the request of Johnny Ramone (Subterranean Jungle, Too Tough To Die and Animal Boy) in addition to this he played live in his own band that featured a revolving cast of musicians. In 1979 he released a single with a new group that he was part of called The Blessed. The single featured two tracks, “Deep Frenzy” and “American Bandstand”, but his time with the band was short lived. He would play under the name The Hurricanes and The Heroes, who released a single 1978 featuring the members of The Heartbreakers, minus Johnny Thunders which featured the songs “Too Much Junkie Business” and “Seven Day Weekend”. He eventually arrived at the band known as The Waldos.

The Waldos did not make too many recordings during their peak period as a band in the mid 80s, in 1993 they released a single titled Crazy Little Baby. In 1994 a full length album followed entitled Rent Party, which is the only full length studio album to be released by The Waldos. The band line up for this album featured Walter Lure (guitar/vocals), Tony Coiro (bass/vocals), Joey Pinter (guitar), and Jeff West on drums. The album was produced by Andy Shernoff of The Dictators and featured a collection of Walter Lure originals and a few cover songs. Rent Party features recordings of several songs which date back to Lure’s early days with The Heartbreakers, the most notable being the song “Flight”, which is a song that was never released officially with The Heartbreakers. It was however an early staple of the bands live set and a song that dates back to the earliest days with The Heartbreakers when Richard Hell was a member of the group. “Count Down Love” was another song that was actually written by Jerry Nolan (New York Dolls/Heartbreakers drummer), the other songs that have a connection to Lure’s past groups are the covers “Seven Day Weekend” originally a song by Gary U.S. Bond’s, but also a song that was played by both New York Dolls and The Heartbreakers, a sleazed up cover of Ray Charles “Busted”, and “Party Lights” a song originally done by Claudine Clark. These three songs alone have a deeper meaning, reflecting on themes that were often found in Lure’s past. One of the most poignant tracks featured on Rent Party is the Country Rock song “Golden Days”. The song, which also has an almost Pogues-like influence addresses Lure’s past in a sentimental, yet meaningful way.

Rent Party harnesses a sound and fidelity that is a not unlike his work with Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers, but one that is more fleshed out production-wise than LAMF. Listening to Rent Party one can’t help but wonder what the next album by The Heartbreakers would have sounded like if they did not break up in 1977, this is as close as you are going to get. The album features a depth that contrasts its party like atmosphere. Walter Lure proved to be a survivor of the scene he was a part of. Many of his band mate’s have fallen since the release of this album including Jerry Nolan (NY Dolls/Heartbreakers drummer), Johnny Thunders (NY Dolls/Heartbreakers), Waldos original drummer Charlie Sox, Waldos bassist Tony Coiro, and saxophonist Jamey Heath. Walter Lure has continued to play live in New York City with different incarnations of The Waldos since the release of Rent Party, in between his gigs Walter worked on Wall St. as a stock broker (he is now in the financial district). Around 2006/2007, The Waldos started playing more frequently, Walter Lure released a live CD followed in 2007 titled Live In Berlin, which was recorded as a result of a European tour. The album is a solo album and it featured Walter teaming up with Dee Jaywalker.  In 2009 and 2011, Lure reunited with original Waldos guitarist Joey Pinter, for some live shows. Currently The Waldos continue to play live (Lure also plays shows as a solo artist) and there has been an interest in a new album, but it is not sure what will materialize. As Lure said in an interview for soundcheckmagazine.net “Whatever happens, happens…. People keep asking me to write more songs and do a new album which I might do if I can write enough new songs to fill it - Who knows?” Rent Party is now somewhat of a rarity, the original pressings go for quite an expensive sum online. In 2009, Rent Party was reissued on vinyl.

More information on Walter Lure and The Waldos can be found at:

Walter Lure's myspace page
The Waldos facebook page


This Week's Play List:

1. The Pygmies - She Lied
2. The Ex-Boyfriends - Bubblegum
3. David Lynch - I Know
4. The Esquires - It's A Dirty Shame
5. Ritchie Knight & The Mid-Nights - Work Song
6. Woody Guthrie - Gamblin' Man
7. Gun Lake - Trees
8. The Tetraktys - Go Go Alice
9. James T Kirks - Paper Bags Got A Little More Soul
10. Chelsea - Urban Kids
11. The Cramps - Uranium Rock
12. The Humans - I Live In The City
13. Eric Welton - Kooler
14. Previous Tenants - Rolling In Dough
15. Little Red - Little Bit of Something
16. The Blessed - American Bandstand
17. David Bowie - Word On A Wing
18. Johnny Thunders & Heartbreakers - Flight (Yonkers 1976 Demo)
19. The Waldos - Cry Baby
20. The Waldos - Seven Day Weekend
21. Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers - One Track Mind
22. The Hives - A Little More For You

To download this weeks program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and download the file for November 29. Or subscribe to Revolution Rock as a Podcast.