Johnny Thunders And The Heartbreakers - Live At The Lyceum (1984) RESTORED

The Heartbreakers was a name adopted almost simultaneously around 1976 by two groups based on opposite coasts of the United States. The more famous ultimately was Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, but for a while it was a close thing when the New York band, Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers, whose Punk/New Wave credentials were second to none, moved to the UK at the time of the original punk explosion.

Both singer/guitarist Thunders and drummer Jerry Nolan had left the legendary New York Dolls to form The Heartbreakers, and they were originally joined in the new group by guitarist/vocalist Walter Lure and by Richard Hell, who had just left Television after conflicts with Tom Verlaine. This line-up of The Heartbreakers was theoretically jointly led by Thunders and Hell, but desputes over who should be the main vocalist resulted in Hell splitting to form Richard Hell & The Voidoids. His replacement on bass was Billy Rath, who, like Lure, had not previously worked with any well-known bands.

The group's career was punctuated with controversy-their debut album, 'L.A.M.F.' was variously supposed to be an acronym for 'Let's All Make Friends' or 'Like A Mother-Fucker', and while their popularity in Britain especially was never in doubt, The Heartbreakers developed a reputation for unreliability due to health problems, and when their record label, Track, went out of business, the group fell into disarray. Thunders also cut a seriously brilliant solo album, 'So Alone', with help from members of the punk aristocracy such as Sex Pistols' Cook and Jones, Only Ones Perrett and Kellie, Hot Rods Gray and Nicol, plus Lure and Rath from The Heartbreakers and, remarkably, Chrissie Hynde, Phil Lynott and Steve Marriott!

By 1984, he had re-formed The Heartbreakers for a European tour, and this album resulted from a gig at London's Lyceum Ballroom in March, 1984. With material from many of his previous musical adventures, this live album is an interesting chapter in the career of Johnny Thunders, a major talent who seemingly never really wanted more than cult status.

~ John Tobler, booklet note