What is the perfect album? What album in your collection do you think could not possibly be improved? Would it be one that is so badly mixed, that it was reissued several years later with an alternative mix? Would it be one that there is no discussion amongst fans that doesn't speculate on 'the good mixes'. Of all the 1977 punk bands and all of the albums, in some ways LAMF by the Heartbreakers is the most interesting of all. The band were at the very heart of the emergence of the New Yourk punk scene. Johnny Thunders and Jerry Nolan were members of the New York Dolls, who gave Malcolm McClaren the blueprint for the Pistols. Original bassplayer Richard Hell is credited with inventing the punk look. By the time LAMF came out, Hell was long gone.
Unlike British punk bands, the Heartbreakers were never interested in politics, anarchy or chaos. They were a brilliant rock and roll band, who only really lived to inject themselves with smack. Ironically, they signed to Track records. Apparently the recording and mixing process did not go smoothly, and from day 1, it was criticised for it's 'lacklustre mixes'. The album appeared in November 1977. I got off a 221 bus, returning from FCHS and I saw the album in the window of the record shop (where the Bridge Tavern is now). I loved the cover and bought it on the spot. I went home, put it on and was blown away. It didn't occur to me that it was a dodgy mix. I just loved it. I played it five times in a row. I only had four punk albums in my collection. Puremania by Vibrators, The Damned's first album, The Ramones two albums and this. Albums were expensive and my sole source of income was my paper round. I also had to go to gigs. I knew almost nothing of The Heartbreakers and their heroin addled life. I was fifteen years old and knew nothing of the meaning of Chinese rocks, One track mind or any of the other drug references. What I did know was that the band knew how to play rock and roll. They instantly became my favourite band.
As to the album
Side 1
For the previous episodes of this series, I've gone through the tracks and given my thoughts. I am inclined not to do this for LAMF. I think every number is brilliant. There are none where I make the tea or go for a wee during. I don't have a side I prefer. From the opening chords of Born to Lose through to the end of Let Go, where Johnny Thunders says "Is that alright", I always have a sense of ecstacy.
It is quite odd, I've heard versions that are 'mixed properly' and to me, they just sound wrong, too perfect. It sort of reminds me of when I was on the bus home with my ex bandmate Pete. There was a girl who went to St Michaels that he mentioned he fancied. I commented that she had a lazy eye. Pete replied that he found it sexy and irresistable. He said that girls that were too perfect were never really sexy. That is the secret of LAMF.
I don't know how many times I've played LAMF, but it always sounds fresh. It needs to be played loudly, on vinyl, it doesn't work properly in any other setting. When The False Dots started, the drummer in our proto line up let slip that LAMF was his favourite album. That was the moment that he was in. I've always judged people of a punk rock persuasion on their reaction to LAMF. If they say "It's badly mixed", then to me, they are not really punk. If they say it's amazing then I will love and respect them forever. The songs are great, the guitar is great, when Johnny sings, it tugs your heartstrings in a way that no one else can.
The more I learned about the band, the less empathy I had with them. I'm no fan of junk culture. I saw the Heartbreakers and Johnny Thunders many times. It was always a lottery as to whether they would be brilliant or terrible. They performed some of the very best gigs I ever saw (The Marquee was a highlight), they also performed the worst, The Lyceum where a live album was recorded. Thunders was off his head for the gig and spend half of it slumped on the floor. I have the live album, it sounds far better than what I recall. There is a video of it somewhere, I've never watched it. Too many lllusions were destroyed. The live album has probably the most offensive song ever recorded on it. It is so offensive that it is cringeworthy. I could forgive them anything apart from destroying my rock and roll dreams. But LAMF will always be the top of the pile.
Perhaps the song that best sums up The Heartbreakers is actually a Ramones song (Johnny and Richard Hell apparently wrote the middle eight). Chinese Rocks has the best middle eight breakdown ever recorded IMHO. In it Thunders sings
There was never a truer lyric. The baand should have been the biggest rock and roll band in the world. Having seen The Heartbreakers and listened to LAMF, I've always found supposed Rock and Roll bands such as Guns and Roses a bit naff and a bit too stilted. In many ways, they ruined rock and roll for me, by just being a bit too good at the whole thing. They are all dead now. Walter Lure was the last to go.
I doubt anyone who wasn't a teenager in 1977 and loved punk would understand any of this. But this album to me is the pinnacle of human development. It has never been surpassed. It never will be. Nothing truly compares.
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Without LAMF I don't think I'd have formed a band. Last week, we filmed a video for our new single, "we all love a party" coming out in April. We have a gig on Sat 23rd at The Beehive in Bow. Here is a short trailer for the video, which we will be releasing soon.
