The Heartbreakers “What Goes Around…”

The Heartbreakers “What Goes Around…” 1975/1991 Bomp! Records. Today July 15th is Johnny Thunders birthday (b. John Anthony Genzale, Jr. 1952 d. 1991). Thunders played guitar for the New York Dolls and then in 1975 formed The Heartbreakers, along with Dolls drummer Jerry Nolan, bassist/singer Richard Hell of Television and Walter Lure from the Demons. This LP is a live recording from a July 7th 1975 show at CBGB’s and a November 16th 1975 performance at Mothers, NYC and showcases the early sounds of gritty NYC punk.

On the back cover of this LP there is a review and history, of sorts, by Alternative Press Magazine’s Tim Stegall. He writes of Thunders, “[he] had gained a rep as THE prototype Seventies garageslop guitar slop player, lifting Keith Richard’s wasted, cig-dangling persona and most Berrychucked riffs and charging ‘em with the attitude and rocketfuel of the MC5′s Kramer/Smith tag team (which was easier to capture than their fretboard dexterity!).”

The album contains one track that would eventually go on to appear on The Heartbreakers only studio album “L.A.M.F.” – “Pirate Love.” However, many other classics appear like“Stepping Stone” as well as “Love Comes in Spurts” and “Blank Generation” (later recorded by Richard Hell and the Voidoids).