So Alone (album)


So Alone is a 1978 album by Johnny Thunders, then leader of The Heartbreakers and formerly lead guitarist for the New York Dolls.

Background and content

After recording L.A.M.F. with the Heartbreakers, Thunders returned to the studio and recorded his first true solo album, So Alone. The album featured Heartbreakers Walter Lure and Billy Rath, as well as several well-known guest musicians, including Phil Lynott, Steve Marriott, Chrissie Hynde, Peter Perrett, Steve Jones, Paul Cook and Patti Palladin with whom Johnny would later record an album of duets. The album contained a mix of originals, standards from Heartbreakers live shows, and covers, including the Chantays' surf classic "Pipeline," the Shangri-Las' "Give Him a Great Big Kiss", Otis Blackwell's "Daddy Rollin' Stone", and the New York Dolls' "Subway Train."

Diss track

The track "London Boys" was an answer song/diss track from Thunders aimed at the Sex Pistols who'd recorded a song called "New York" on their album Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols a year earlier, in which they attacked Thunders' band The New York Dolls for being rip-offs.

Reception

called the album "Thunders at his best." Music critic Robert Christgau named the album one of the few import-only records from the 1970s he loved yet omitted from .

Track listing

All tracks written by Johnny Thunders, except where indicated.

Side one

  1. "Pipeline"
  2. "You Can't Put Your Arms Round a Memory"
  3. "Great Big Kiss"
  4. "Ask Me No Questions"
  5. "Leave Me Alone"

    Side two

  6. "Daddy Rollin' Stone"
  7. "London Boys"
  8. " Untouchable"
  9. "Subway Train"
  10. "Downtown"
; CD release bonus tracks
  1. "Dead or Alive"
  2. "Hurtin'"
  3. "So Alone"
  4. "The Wizard"

    Personnel

;Technical