4 keepers
keeper avg .333
"Like A Motherfucker" is a combination of Chuck Berry as filtered through Johnny Thunders's former band, the New York Dolls, the energy of The Ramones, and lots of drug references; but musically they remind me most of one band I haven't seen mentioned in connection with The Heartbreakers - The Damned. Johnny Thunders's versatile leads, the aggressive riffs of "Baby Talk" stomping beat and dead stops of "All By Myself," the bend-y riffs of the strutting "Pirate Love"****, the driving tom introduction of "One Track Mind", and the jagged riffs of "I Wanna Be Loved" remind me of no other band up to that time (Ramones, Sex Pistols, or otherwise), and interestingly they released their debut album a few months earlier in 1977. But Thunders's legendary "Born Too Loose"*****, like many songs on the album, is just Chuck Berry on speed and would have fit right into any New York Dolls set. Guitarist Walter Lure and drummer Jerry Nolan contributed the jokey but driving "Get Off the Phone"**** and "It's Not Enough" is the album's obligatory 60's malt shop ballad. Which brings us to the album's raging centerpiece "Chinese Rocks"******. Without getting into who wrote what - Richard Hell and Dee Dee Ramone both had something to do with it, Thunders didn't - it's still a controversial song, humorously and frighteningly documenting heroin use.
Comments