So Alone (album)

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

So Alone
Studio album by
Johnny Thunders
ReleasedOctober 6, 1978
RecordedJanuary–June 1978
GenrePunk rock
Length46:32
LabelReal Records (UK)
Sire Records (US)
ProducerJohnny Thunders
Steve Lillywhite
with special thanks to Steve Jones and Peter Perrett
Joe McEwen, Ira Robbins (CD reissue)
Johnny Thunders chronology
L.A.M.F.
(1977)		 So Alone
(1978)		 Live at Max's Kansas City
(1979)

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" (done with Thunders on the opening verse, Phil Lynott on the 2nd and Steve Marriott on verse 3), and 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 (1977) a year earlier, in which they attacked Thunders' band New York Dolls for being rip-offs.[1]

Reception
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[2]
Classic Rock[3]
Mojo[4]
Q[5]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[6]
Select5/5[7]
Spin Alternative Record Guide8/10[8]
Uncut[9]

Trouser Press called So Alone "Thunders at his best."[10] Music critic Robert Christgau named the album one of the few import-only records from the 1970s he loved yet omitted from Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies (1981).[11]

Track listing

All tracks written by Johnny Thunders, except where indicated.

Side one
  1. "Pipeline" (Bob Spickard, Brian Carman)
  2. "You Can't Put Your Arms Around a Memory"
  3. "Great Big Kiss" (George "Shadow" Morton)
  4. "Ask Me No Questions"
  5. "Leave Me Alone"

Side two
  1. "Daddy Rollin' Stone" (Otis Blackwell)
  2. "London Boys" (Billy Rath, Walter Lure, Thunders)
  3. "(She's So) Untouchable"
  4. "Subway Train" (Thunders, David Johansen)
  5. "Downtown" (Thunders, Johansen)
CD release bonus tracks
  • Tracks included on 1992 CD reissue:
  1. "Dead or Alive"
  2. "Hurtin'" (Henri Paul Tortosa, Thunders)
  3. "So Alone"
  4. "The Wizard" (Marc Bolan)

Personnel
Technical
  • Peter Gravelle – photography
  • Molly Reeve-Morrison – project coordinator
  • Lee Herschberg – remastering
  • Ira Robbins – producer, liner notes
  • Bill Smith – art direction, design
  • Joe McEwan – producer

References
  1. http://www.punk77.co.uk/punkhistory/imitationsfromnewyork.htm
  2. Claps, Andy. "So Alone – Johnny Thunders". AllMusic. Retrieved July 3, 2015.
  3. Fortnam, Ian (July 6, 2016). "Johnny Thunders – So Alone album review". Classic Rock. Retrieved November 20, 2020.
  4. Cameron, Keith (August 2016). "Johnny Thunders: So Alone". Mojo. No. 273. p. 108.
  5. "Johnny Thunders: So Alone". Q. No. 104. May 1995. p. 134.
  6. Evans, Paul; Scoppa, Bud (2004). "Johnny Thunders". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). Simon & Schuster. pp. 814–15. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
  7. Perry, Andrew (November 1992). "Johnny Thunders: So Alone". Select. No. 29. p. 96.
  8. Simmons, Doug (1995). "New York Dolls". In Weisbard, Eric; Marks, Craig (eds.). Spin Alternative Record Guide. Vintage Books. pp. 269–70. ISBN 0-679-75574-8.
  9. "Johnny Thunders: So Alone". Uncut. p. 124. So Alone is a narcotic Neverland, starring ex-New York Doll Thunders at his most defiantly derelict.
  10. Robbins, Ira. "Johnny Thunders". Trouser Press. Retrieved November 20, 2020.
  11. Christgau, Robert (1981). "The Guide". Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies. Ticknor and Fields. ISBN 0-89919-026-X. Retrieved March 30, 2019 – via robertchristgau.com.
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