Guitarist Mick Rossi has never hidden his devotion to lamented ex-New York Dolls guitarist and former Heartbreaker Johnny Thunders.
Originally coming to our attention with Slaughter And The Dogs (who found room on their Do It Dog Style debut for the New York Dolls’ Who Are The Mystery Girls?), Rossi makes a fair fist of fulfilling JT’s vacant role as he tours Japan alongside the legendary last Heartbreaker standing, Walter Lure.
This characteristic set (largely based in, but not exclusively restricted to, the Heartbreakers’ LAMF debut) from November ‘19 would prove to be Lure’s last recording (he died in August), and consequently, despite serious technical shortcomings, it’s been nursed back to bootleg-quality near-health for release.
Predictable crowd pleasers are interspersed with originals and covers more readily associated with Walter’s Waldos (Crazy Kids from Thunders flick Room 37’s soundtrack, Harlan Howard’s Busted) and Rossi’s Dogs (Situations from Cranked Up Really High, Lou Reed’s I’m Waiting For The Man). The audience is in raptures, Lure’s charm unmistakable and the atmosphere positively crackles.
Waldo never really got his due. His contribution to the Heartbreakers was invariably overshadowed by Thunders’ charismatic reputation, but it’s an undeniable fact that many of what posterity tells us are Johnny Thunders’ finest solos were actually played by Walter Lure.
