Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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39 of 39 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Unexpected Masterwork From The Classic Punk Flameout, March 26, 2001
By the time his Heartbreakers were reduced to playing the occasional gig to raise the rent money (it's anyone's guess why the quartet couldn't make it in a punk revolution which they had a hefty hand in stirring up, when they formed in the aftermath of the New York Dolls's crackup), Johnny Thunders was as renowned for his seeming determination to cripple his own faculties as for his furiously amateurish, angry-hornets-on-speed guitar playing and attitude. He might well have been the last one from whom to expect any kind of even passable solo project - but he may well have surprised himself as well as punk watchers with this 1978 gem. He didn't lack for distinguished help - Sex Pistols mainstays Steve Jones (guitar) and Paul Cook (drums) repaid the Pistols' debt to the Dolls by providing yeoman bandsmanship to Thunders's greatest post-Dolls blast (anyone who thinks the Heartbreakers - even on their own surprising "Live At Max's Kansas City" - were better than this should have their inner ears checked); Thin Lizzy mastermind Phil Lynott chipped in with some stellar bassmanship; and, above all, there was Thunders himself, spinning out lick after lick of buzzing, pinpoint controlled guitar, singing with surprising feeling for a fellow with one of the thinnest voices in rock and roll, and generally cranking out an album which in hindsight proves introspective in a way its creator probably didn't expect. The highlights: Thunders beats himself at his own game with "Leave Me Alone" (the umpteenth re-write of his underappreciated Dolls chestnut, "Chatterbox"), brings the two ex-Pistols in on the gag with "London Boys," an obvious answer to the Pistols's Dolls cop "New York," and exposes himself as a self-immolating romantic via "(She's So) Untouchable," laying back just so for a classic doo-woppish saxophone break. It probably wasn't that bright an idea for him to cover a couple of Dolls tracks; not that he drops the ball when he remakes "Subway Train" but his crunchy, stomping version isn't quite as panoramic as the Dolls's original (and he'd been the key to making the Dolls version work, with his dead-on impressionistic guitar sounding just as though it had come up from the Canarsie local). On the other hand, his take of "Daddy Rollin' Stone" (a Dolls cut that band never nailed in the studio) is now a rather haunting epitaph, if you consider that three of the five players who make that dripping cut work here - Thunders, Lynott, and erstwhile Humble Pie frontman Steve Marriott - would be dead within a decade of cutting it. And if you wonder about some of his rock and roll heart, give a nod to the leadoff track, a shattering, roaring cover of the ancient surf hit, "Pipeline". Thunders sounds like he's having real fun for one of the few times in his career, and he's infectious enough that the two ex-Pistols forget their own selves and just get lost in the ride with him. But then, there's "You Can't Put Your Arms Around A Memory," which follows immediately, ostensibly a love song but sounding as much as though Thunders was trying to gain closure on a past which made him both an underground rock legend and his own worst enemy. The edge of fear in his sensitive vocal says it only too well. Behind the glazed, diffident stage style [...], there seems to have been a lost soul scraping to find his way home, only to discover he didn't have the grip it took to reach the door once it came to within his sight, but somehow finding through the glaze and the haze an occasional ability to savour the journey without collapsing under his own dissembling weight. "So Alone" was such a finding, and it made for the most powerful recording of Johnny Thunders's career.
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30 of 31 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
an absolute classic!, February 17, 2000
You don't often get to use the word eclectic when dicussing punk rock platters...the word fits when you're talking about So Alone. This is the definitive Thunders offering. If you want to know why he's a legend, this is it! Guest musicians include: Steve Jones & Paul Cook(Sex Pistols)/Phil Lynott(Thin Lizzy)/Patti Palladin/ Paul Gray(The Damned)Steve Marriott(Humble Pie)/ Chrissie Hynde(The Pretenders) & more. There are amazing covers of Great Big Kiss, Pipeline & Marc Bolan's The Wizard. John Irish Earle's saxaphone gives a level of class on tunes like (She's So)Untouchable & Subway Train, originally a New York Dolls song. So Alone also features Johnny's finest individual effort, an amazing song called You Can't Put Your Arms Around A Memory(featured on the Bringing Out The Dead soundtrack). Daddy Rollin' Stone features excellent vocals from a trio of dead rock legends(Steve Marriott,Phil Lynott & JT), giving the song, in hindsight, a very eerie quality.. There are four bonus tracks that weren't offered on the original vinyl release. The disc also comes with six pages of liner notes by Ira Robbins, plus another four pages of credits and photos. You'll want to check out London Boys, a ferocious and funny attack on The Sex Pistols. Johnny Thunders was one of the few punk enough to get away with it. This is a wonderful cd with virtually no weak spots...a must have! JT's work with the Dolls, as well as his work on L.A.M.F., So Alone, Live At Max's, & Copy Cats are all the proof you need that the Thunders myth was not built on junkie behavior alone. There were moments of musical brilliance...this is one such moment. There are many unbearable bootlegs floating around. You should start with the aforementioned albums, his best, so that you can better tolerate the busts. Johnny Thunders deserved every ounce of his legend-status. So Alone was originally released in the Uk in October, 1978.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
More than Punk - it's pure Rock 'N Roll, April 21, 2005
Johnny is thrown in with the Punk crowd even though he never really fit into the genre's sometimes confining borders. Both his work with the Dolls and his solo stuff is much more 60's Rock and Roll than 70's Punk. When he toured England with his band, The Heartbreakers, Punk bands of the era (Pistols, Clash, etc) wouldn't be caught dead playing blues-based music. However, they ALL respected Johnny and saw him for what he was, a great guitarist who could REALLY play - read John Lydon's biog, Rotten, for info about that tour.
This album is more Gene Vincent than Johnny Rotten, with some outstanding covers of early 60's classics (Pipeline, Daddy Rollin' Stone, Great Big Kiss). Johnny was always more of a heroin-soaked blues-man than a punk guitarist.
His voice is never on key, often stumbling through verses in his trademark junkie slur. His guitar playing is sometimes sloppy. Put those two qualities together and 99 times out of 100 you'll be listening to a trainwreck, but with So Alone, Johnny pulls everything off in spades! An all-star backing band makes this his most beautiful album.
This album is almost NEVER mentioned on anyone's list of all-time great ones, but that is a big mistake. His legend is built on tales of heroin and junkie life, but to those who know his music, that stuff is only PART of his story. The real legend comes from his music, and this CD is a monument of pure Rock 'N Roll. Buy it.
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~ Damned
by Johnny Thunders 
