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1977
Back on this day 25 years ago...........MONDAY OCTOBER 3rd 1977
1977
DATE INDEX
NOVEMBER
DECEMBER
Punk classicJOHNNY THUNDERS - Lead Guitar, Vocals
WALTER LURE - Lead Guitar, Vocals
BILLY RATH - Bass Guitar
JERRY NOLAN -Drums

Produced by SPEEDY KEEN & DANIEL SECUNDA
Cover Graphics - TONY PAITON GRAPHICS
Cover Photography - ROBERTA BAILEY
Fingerprints by Courtesy of LEEDS POLICE DEPT.

I couldn't find no original reviews from the Muddy session but here's a  couple of reviews from the rereleased and highly superior version.

HEARTBREAKERS 'LAMF': The Lost '77 Mixes (JUNGLE  CD )
"L.A.M.F." (Jungle Records) is the best of the Heartbreakers' original recordings, engineered at Greenhouse Studios in London at the height of the Punk Revolution in 1977. Johnny Thunders, Walter Lure, Jerry Nolan and Billy Rath were the vanguard of the first NYC Punk Tour in England, and they took the opportunity to lay down tracks (on vinyl for a change) that became their rock and roll legacy of a spastic career.
I remember a gig at the Peppermint Lounge in NYC where they were booked to open for John Cale. The double-tiered hall was packed, yet John Cale eventually came out to play the gig with Johnny an MIA after over an hour. Word on the street was that the HB's were tying off somewhere and weren't gonna make it. Cale played an incredible set, mesmerizing the SRO audience; the only fix us Heartbreakers fans got was at home on the turntable with "L.A.M.F.".
Obviously their studio work doesn't have the muscle that the live CD's do, which is why record labels stick to churning out endless rehashes of bootleg recordings of Thunders, the Pistols, and countless other punk bands. Still, you get lots of songs that the groups omitted from club gigs, often because their bread and butter depended on giving their jaded followings what they paid to see and hear. "Baby Talk", "Going Steady" and "It's Not Enough" are all NY Dolls-type songs that are worth adding to any Heartbreakers collection, only Johnny and the gang were too busy experimenting with covers to spend much showtime on them. He was waxing philosophical towards the end, throwing in more than a few ballads that didn't get the response these lost cuts might have.
Johnny Thunders was a cultural icon on the punk scene, memories being either bitter or sweet, seldom in between. Many remember him as being well-dressed, soft-spoken, with enigmatic charm that won him more fans offstage than on. Others remember a liar, thief and druggie that left behind malodorous incidents that most only grudgingly remember. Thing to remember is that Johnny's music came from the heart, both in lyrics and music. "L.A.M.F." is almost a self-portrait painted on vinyl, and thankfully the music industry has preserved his memory on CD for future generations to admire.
This is a punk classic that should be part of any serious rock collection. It's good dance music, too. Play it at your next party and see what happens.
(Annonymous ??)

HEARTBREAKERS 'LAMF': The Lost '77 Mixes (JUNGLE  CD )
The Heartbreakers-snotty, ex-New York Dolls deadbeats - gatecrashed the London punk scene in late 1976. Capitalising on their heroic proto-punk legacy, Johnny Thunders and Jerry Nolan played straight-ahead rock'n'roll fast enough for the Roxy crowd, releasing LAMP (stands for Like A Mother Fucker) within a year. The record was a botch, scuppered by a notoriously muddy mix (marginally improved in this edition) and some stodgy studio-tamed performances. Although standouts like Dee Dee Ramone's junkie anthem Chinese Rocks still swagger.The Heartbreakers' most significant bequest to punk posterity remains their delivering of the Sex Pistols to twin evils Nancy Spungen and heroin.
(Matthew Lees Q Magazine)
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