Johnny Thunders - "Who's Been Talking?" Live DVD Review (MVD Video)

With the release of the New York Dolls’ DVD Looking Fine on Television, I went back to check out some of the Dolls/Thunders releases that I’ve missed over the years. These first of the discs that I dropped on was Johnny Thunders Who's Been Talking which is a live DVD of one of Johnny’s last concerts. This show was filmed at Club Citta in Osaka, Japan on April 3, 1991 and this is the last known recorded show that Johnny played as he was found dead in New Orleans on April 23rd. The music on Who's Been Talking will be familiar to long-time fans as a portion of this show was released on the 2CD set Add Water and Stir and the full show was released on the two volume Japanese set Saddest Vacation – Last Live in Japan. What makes this release a treat is that it is the first full concert video of Johnny playing with the Oddballs as, outside of 10 minutes of bootleg footage from the Cat Club, I haven’t seen anything else out there.

This show is neither the barn-storming, ball-busting rawk of the Heartbreakers nor the troubadour-style acoustic sets that Thunders was playing around NYC prior to his death but contains elements of both. With the addition of Allison’s Gordy’s prominent backing vocals (she takes lead on the torch song “I Can’t Go On Without You”) and Jamie Heath’s saxophone, the show has more of a “Buster Poindexter” style flair than Johnny’s typical stage show. Johnny takes on a “showman” role for this concert but his illness has him obviously moving at a slower clip. He rarely plays guitar while singing but guitarist Stevie Klasson plays some nice leads with Johnny adding in some of his immediately-recognizable licks when he isn’t singing. The drug-fueled sloppiness may be gone but Johnny stays true to form by getting both the name of the city wrong (he gives a thank you to “Tokyo” at the end of the set) and improvising some dirty lyrics to “Hang on Sloopy”.

The setlist spans both the Dolls and Thunders back catalogues and Johnny plays some material (“Society Makes Me Sad” and “Disappointed in You” that was new at that time (and "Disappointed in You" was ultimately released on the 1993 Totonka bootleg Sticks & Stones which was later re-released by Cleopatra). It is an interesting and eclectic set list as Johnny skips “Chinese Rocks” and “You Can't Put Your Arm Around A Memory” from his ‘traditional’ set and includes covers of “Hang on Sloopy” and “You Can Walk My Dog” (which are in addition to the standard covers in the set list of “Pills”, “Louie Louie”, and “Stepping Stone”).

Here is the complete (and corrected) set list:

1. In Cold Blood
2. Hit The Road Jack > I’m Not Your Stepping Stone
3. Blame It On Mom
4. Disappointed In You
5. Sad Vacation
6. You Can Walk My Dog
7. Pipeline
8. I Can't Go On Without You
9. Louie Louie / Hang On Sloopy
10. Society Makes Me Sad
11. Too Much Junkie Business > Pills
12. Just Another Girl
13. So Alone
14. Personality Crisis

Encore: (w/ Kiyoshiro Imawano on harmonica and backing vocals)
15. Born To lose
16. I Wanna Be Loved

The disc runs for 66 minutes and also contains a bonus feature which is a short bio write-up by Betty Chienne. The audio quality is solid and on-par with any of Thunders’ previously released live shows but the video is a bit hazy. The video editing shows some ‘amateur’ camera jerks and rough edits but it is very watchable and there is a lot worse –looking Thunders footage out there. While video only shows a single camera angle, the show was filmed with multiple cameras so you get to see different visual perspectives of the whole band in action along with close-ups of the members.





Long-time Johnny Thunders fans will want to check out this disc if they haven’t already picked up a copy.

Links:
Johnny Thunders

New York Dolls - "Lookin' Fine on Television" DVD Review (MVD Video)

"The legendary and infamous New York Dolls at their best! Amazing rare live clips and interviews filmed by Bob Gruen and Nadya Beck in the heady days of the band's ascension in the 70s. Footage from early shows in NYC all the way to the TV studios, clubs and swimming pools of Los Angeles. Black and white film was never so colorful! Includes ripping versions of "Personality Crisis," "Who Are the Mystery Girls?" "Babylon" and more. See the incredible early days of the band that influenced generations of punks and rockers." -- Press Release

I'm the wrong person to write a review of the latest archival DVD from the New York Dolls, Lookin' Fine on Television, as my expectations likely don't match that of a casual fan. To back up, I've bought pretty much every NY Dolls release that I could put my hands over the last twenty years so I have a (too) large collection of the band's commercial releases, quasi-legitamate releases and bootlegs. As such, my expectations are high for any new archival release and Lookin' Fine on Television is a "good" but not "great" addition to the band's catalogue.

This new DVD consists of live audio tracks (likely from the '73 era of the Dolls) over which Gruen and Beck over-layed cut together live footage of the band playing that song from a number of different shows. The footage used came from a variety of shows which include local shows at Kenny's Castaways and Max's Kansas City as well as footage from the band's late '73 West Coast tour. Some of the footage includes clips of the band with Peter Jordan on bass, with Arthur (with his arm still in a cast) looking on, very brief clips from the band's Red Patent Leather era and some great shots of the Dolls' Halloween show at the Waldorf Astoria. As complete performances of songs from some of these shows were released on All Dolled Up, I keep hoping that the full performances will be released so I was a bit disappointed that the cut-together shots on Lookin' Fine on Television end up feeling more like a MTV-style music video than a live performance.



On a positive note, there is some cool interview footage sequenced between the songs. The disc starts with an impromptu interview with the full band who are relaxing on a meadow overlooking the City (and there are some brief shots of future Dolls Peter Jordan and Tony Machine during the interview). There are various clips from a poolside interview with David Johasen which was filmed in Los Angeles and there is also news footage coverage of the Dolls' 1973 Halloween bash.

The disc ends with a bonus clip that is absolutely priceless - this is a 1976 clip of David Johansen interviewing journalist Lisa Robinson on the street outside of CBGB and the taping is 'crashed' midway by a very mod-looking Johnny Thunders.

Links:
New York Dolls

Dee Dee Ramone - History on My Arms DVD Review (MVD Visual)

"History on My Arms" is a reissue of Lech Kowalski's 2003 documentary "Hey Is Dee Dee Home" with two additional video vignettes and a bonus audio CD.

I would assume that most readers are familiar with "Hey Is Dee Dee Home" so I won't go into great detail on the main feature. "Hey Is Dee Dee Home" contains interview footage with Dee Dee that was shot in 1992 for the still-unreleased Johnny Thunders bio-pic "Born to Lose". As such, the main subject of the interview is Johnny Thunders, The Heartbreakers and the almost-super group Whores of Babylon (which included Johnny, Stiv Bators and Dee Dee). Dee Dee is candid and honest about his drug habit and his relationships with Joey (stole his TV), Richard Hell (used to cop together) and Johnny (who he seems to respect but not particularly like). The main feature is a bit sad as Dee Dee seems fairly proud of his healthy living and that he doesn't have track marks on his arms anymore. He even asks the film crew to get him vitamins when they go out for coffee.

"History on My Arms" is the first of the vignettes and, while it is somewhat interesting, its non-essential. The first ten minutes shows Dee Dee riffing around on a guitar while the film crew sets up. The film then goes into an uninterrupted narrative of Dee Dee explaining the history behind each of his tattoos. While its kind of cool to see Dee Dee tell the 'history on his arms' uninterrupted, most of this footage is used in different parts of the main feature (with some different camera angles). The only thing to note though is that the continuous rolling of the camera brings out more of Dee Dee's personality and gives him a lovable charm.

I found "Vom in Paris" to be fascinating as I've read "Please Kill Me" (which spends some time talking about the "Whores of Babylon" recording sessions) and keep waiting for the full "Whores of Babylon" sessions to be released. Vom Ritchie was the drummer for the band and he reaccounts a significantly different version of the Dee Dee/Johnny Thunders falling out and the incidents that transpired that got Dee Dee sent back to NYC. I won't be a spoiler so I'm going to stop here.

"Dee Dee Blues" is a 40 minute bonus CD which is the 'diamond in the rough' of this release. This is a raw, lo-fi document of Dee Dee riffing on his guitar (seemingly dancing around the melody for "Can't Put Your Arm Around A Memory" at times), playing covers and talking to his cat. As a long-time bootleg collector, I think this footage is priceless.

If you are a Dee Dee Ramone fan, you need this release. If your reference point for Dee Dee is "Blitzkrieg Bop", this release probably isn't a good place to start.

New York Dolls: Advance Tracks from 'Cause I Sez So (Atco Records)

STREAM: New York Dolls - 'Cause I Sez So (First Six Tracks)

The New York Dolls' new disc 'Cause I Sez So is coming out May 5th on Atco Records. This is the band's second studio album since reuniting in 2004 and this disc reunites the band with producer Todd Rundgren, who produced the Dolls 1973 debut. David Johansen said "[i]t was amazing working with Todd again, and I think we were able to evoke the special sound of our first album and drag it by the hair into the present".

The new disc features 11 new songs and along with a new version of "Trash". The title track, "Cause I Sez So", is currently available as a single from iTunes and below is the complete track listing for the disc.

1. 'Cause I Sez So
2. Muddy Bones
3. Better Than
4. Lonely So Long
5. My World
6. Ridiculous
7. Temptation To Exist
8. Making Rain
9. Drowning
10. Nobody Got No Bizness
11.Trash
12. Exorcism Of Despair

Links:
New York Dolls Website

New Walter Lure (Heartbreakers/Waldos) CD Released on Nicotine Records

Waldos mainman and long-time foil/guitarist for Johnny Thunders, Walter Lure, has released his first new disc in years. (I think the last Waldos disc was 1995's Rent Party CD).

Walter has been a long-time figure on the NY punk scene, having played with the original Heartbreakers, added his classic guitar sound to a number of Ramones discs and he also sang the final song (along with CJ Ramone) at the last night of the original incarnation of The Continental.

The new disc, Live In Berlin, was recorded in April '07 and here is the track list:

01 One Track Mind
02 Sorry
03 Never Get Away
04 Cry Baby
05 Get Off The Phone
06 Busted
07 Let Go
08 London Boys
09 Take a Chance
10 I Wanna Be Loved
11 Born To Lose
12 Chinese Rocks
13 Too Much Junkie Business
14 Do You Love Me?

The new disc is 10 Euros and is available via mail order from Nicotine Records. There is also a vinyl version of this release that is available on Italy's Tornado Ride Records.

Here is a live video of The Waldos recorded at Ace of Clubs last Spring: