Johnny Thunders
Sticks & Stones
Cleopatra Records

"Is that Johnny Thunders singing about hugging kids?," the voice behind me boomed. My heart sank. I knew I shouldn't have been playing this record in public. Yes, as it turns out, Johnny Thunders, junkie icon, glam godfather, New York Doll, was in fact singing "Children Are People Too." And maybe it did advocate treating kids like, well, people. Lord knows, at this late point in his storied career, Thunders wasn't getting treated that way. Broke, ripped off, strung out, he'd seen his ideas appropriated all the way to the bank by the likes of the Clash in the 70s and then LA glam-rockers like Guns N'Roses in the 80s, while his own audience just seemed to want him to overdose onstage, prefereably during the second verse of "Chinese Rocks." Why not try a little "We Are The World"-style social commentary?

Why not try a little of everything? Even though the aforementioned track and "Help the Homeless" are positively cringe-inducing, there are some fine songs to be found on this collection of recordings from 1991, a year before his untimely death, and here touted as "the lost album." "Disappointed in You" and "Familiarity Breeds Contempt" are great, devastated ballads. The songwriting well was far from dry. Thunders was dealing in a more pop-friendly, doo-wop and blues-inflected sound for the uptempo numbers and then delving deep into spare, twilit folk for his instrospective pieces. Rounding out this collection, making it a rather richer sonic experience but a more confusing work thematically, is a lo-fi, acoustic studio set from 1982, which includes a gorgeous take on solo standard "You Can't Put Your Arms Around a Memory." But wait, there's more—was the compiler wearing a blindfold?—there's a covers-heavy live set from Max's Kansas City with no date information but the droll subtitle, "Dawn of the Dead." Thunders has a blast ripping through "Like a Rolling Stone," "Pipeline," "These Boots Are Made for Walking," before climaxing with the New York Dolls "Personality Crisis." It's a fun listen, but ultimately mismatched.

Let's face it, any Johnny Thunders solo album past So Alone is bound to be a mixed bag. Since his estate and contracts were in such a terrible mess after his equally messy death in New Orleans, everyone and his dog has put out a quickie Thunders rarities comp. So maybe Cleopatra Records did the best they could with the tapes they had available, and there are some incredible highlights on this album that NEED to be heard with so much of his work currently out of print, but Thunders utltimately deserves better.

Essential Listens:

New York Dolls. New York Dolls. (Island/Mercury, 1973)
Johnny Thunders and the Heartbreakers. L.A.M.F. (Freud, 1977)
Johnny Thunders. So Alone. (Sire/London/Rhino, 1978).
Johnny Thunders & Patti Paladin. Copy Cats. (Freud, 1988)