Archive for the ‘The Heartbreakers’ Category

The Heartbreakers

Monday, February 8th, 2010

HeartbreakersBornPS, The Heartbreakers, Walter Lure, The Ramones, Johnny Thunders, Track,

Listen: Born To Lose / The Heartbreakers

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The Heartbreakers were in London, playing The Marquee around the last week or so of March ‘77. It was luckily during a fortnight visit, seeing a band every night type trip, right at the height of punk. The Roxy was in it’s brief existence and having missed them there in order to see The Damned and Johnny Moped at the LSE, I was anxious to get in early. It’s funny when you go 3,000 miles to see a band that’s from your own backyard. They were both everything New York yet perfectly invented for England too. Recalling the show that night still gives me the shakes.

HeartbreakerOneTrackPS, The Heartbreakers, Walter Lure, The Ramones, Johnny Thunders, Track,

Listen: One Track Mind / The Heartbreakers

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To prove the point about England, they signed to a reactivated (I think just for them) Track Records. Seemingly dormant since the very early 70’s, suddenly Kit Lambert and Chris Stamp were dug up and cleaned off – good as new.

In ‘67, when the label began, those two must have been a real threat with both The Jimi Hendrix Experience and The Who on a roster that overnight put Track in the uh-oh we’re all in trouble now league. Thunderclap Newman and The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown didn’t help, while Marsha Hunt, John’s Children, The Eire Apparent and Cherry Smash made stubbornly difficult to find, must-have flops.

‘One Track Mind’, The Heartbreakers second single, had me thinking they could take over the world. My crystal ball obviously needed new batteries. But the guitar tones of Johnny Thunders and especially Walter Lure were a wall of sloppy sound live and for a brief moment I couldn’t get enough.

Walter played for years on The Ramones albums. His signature sound is a giveaway on TOO TOUGH TO DIE, and a perfect foil to Johnny’s.

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Posted in Cherry Smash, John's Children, Johnny Moped, Johnny Ramone, Johnny Thunders, Marquee, Marsha Hunt, Roxy, The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown, The Damned, The Eire Apparent, The Heartbreakers, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, The Ramones, The Who, Thunderclap Newman, Track, Walter Lure | No Comments »

De La Soul / Steely Dan

Sunday, November 8th, 2009

delasoul, De La Soul, Steely DanBig Life, Tommy Boy

Listen: Eye Know / De La Soul

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steelypeg, De La Soul, Steely DanBig Life, Tommy Boy

Listen: Peg / Steely Dan

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When I worked at Island in the late 80’s, the whole UK office were nuts about Hip Hop, most of them that is. When they’d visit New York for CMJ, or maybe it was called the New Music Seminar then, it would be straight to lower Broadway to buy sneaks and the East Village to see bands, all the while thinking they were steeped in Hip Hop culture. Pretty funny. Grass is always greener (I was just as guilty of Acid House, or Brit Pop as it cringingly got coined). De La Soul was top of the list for them all. They’d go on about De La this, De La that, like De La clothes and De La haircuts. It was a bit embarrassing. I suppose the lure of ghetto life was no different then than my attraction to it ten years earlier, whether it be Blaxploitation or Funk. So fair enough.

I tell you what, my effort to avoid them failed, and De La Soul became a bit of a guilty pleasure. A double pleasure really, as it got me to lower my guard against Steely Dan. During their heyday, I was way more interested in The Buzzcocks or The Heartbreakers than all their polish. Taste changes with age, mine widens in fact. Because of ‘Eye Know’ I suddenly realized my affection for the sampled hook from ‘Peg’.

And I found I do love a nice UK pressed Steely Dan 7″, especially the promos.

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Posted in Big Life, Blaxploitation, CMJ, De La Soul, Island, New Music Seminar, Steely Dan, The Buzzcocks, The Heartbreakers, Tommy Boy | No Comments »

J. J. Cale

Sunday, June 22nd, 2008

Travelin' / JJ Cale

Listen: Travelin’ Light / J. J. Cale

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Harkening back to the winter ‘77 visit that Corinne & I made to England, finally meeting Howard Thompson and be shown the town by him nightly for 2 solid weeks (seeing every exploding band that mattered: The Damned, The Jam, Eddie & The Hot Rods, Ultravox, The Sex Pistols, The Heartbreakers, Sham 69, Siouxsie & The Banshees, so many I’m blank), we would start each evening in a happening pub with a happening jukebox. Howard introduced me to Andrew Lauder on one of these nights, and the three of us huddled over the box at The Hope & Anchor. This was playing. It made a lasting impression, mostly because I loved it, and still do. On further analysis, it was released by Shelter, Denny Cordell’s label, another plus. And it was probably a single simply to allow the B side, the very hip ‘Cocaine’, availability, as it was a true anthem of the drug culture. J. J. Cale wrote ‘Cocaine’ and Eric Clapton covered it a few years later. Still it’s this A side, ‘Travelin’ Light’, that I can play endlessly still, and never tire of.

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Posted in Andrew Lauder, Denny Cordell, Eric Clapton, Howard Thompson, J. J. Cale, Sham 69, Shelter, Siouxsie & The Banshees, The Damned, The Heartbreakers, The Jam, The Sex Pistols, Ultravox | No Comments »