It seems so strange when shows that I attended four decades ago make their way into the market as re issued or debut issued 'new' releases, but if ever there was the time for Johnny Thunders and The Heartbreakers to be celebrated, it's now. The interest in John and the band never really waned, but in the past year or so, it has risen to new heights, spurred on by the "Looking For Johnny" film and the promise of a non-documentary film about Thunders. Alan Hauser at Jungle Records has done a brilliant job of keeping the fan base happy over the years, but this year saw the long awaited issuance of the "Heartbreakers Live At Max's Kansas City" album in a double record set that included the 'useable tracks' from what would have been the Vol.2 set that never saw the light of day.

"Heartbreakers Live At Max's" hit the street on Record Store Day and was an immediate smash hit; the multi swirl colored vinyl was quickly snatched up, but vinyl is still available, as well as a CD version, courtesy of Jungle. Almost all the "L.A.M.F." favorites are here, and the band are in fine form, while Thunders delivers the goods in classic fashion.Walter Lure, the late Billy Rath and Ty Styx on drums comprise the line up of the original album, while the iconic Jerry Nolan shows up on the previously unreleased "Volume 2" recordings, with only "All By Myself" repeated from the 1978 sessions.. the Volume Two tracks were recorded in 1979, those tracks being "Pirate Love", "Too Much Junkie Business", "Don't Mess With Cupid", and "So Alone". Needless to say , these tracks are being welcomed by completists who thought that none of the Volume 2 recordings would ever surface..

Adding to Heartbreakers mania is 'Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers L.A.M.F. Live at The Village Gate 1977", a legendary performance which had never surfaced as a 'live' recording until now.The Village Gate was a well respected venue in downtown NYC, 'in the Village", and I actually was assigned to cover this gig by Kurt Loder (yes, that Kurt Loder) who was my editor at the time for Long Island's Good Times Magazine, a publication that I still write for. Of course, I would have gone to this show anyway. Johnny Thunders was one of the three NYC city based punk pioneers that I always went to see, as a fan and a friend (the other two being Cherry Vanilla, and Jayne when she was still Wayne County), so 'having' to see The Heartbreakers was a pleasure disguised as 'work'. I must say that the sound on this recording, which was not an official record label recording, is great, vibrant and loud, exactly as it should be.Brooke Delarco deserves high praise for having mixed and recorded the finished product, as well produced with the fab Phyllis Stein.

This is truly "L.A.M.F." performed 'live', the crowd is receptive, and Thunders, Walter Lure,Jerry Nolan and Billy Rath respond in kind."Chinese Rocks","Pirate Love","Get Off The Phone", "All By Myself","Let Go", "Can't Keep My Eyes On You","One Track Mind","Take A Chance With Me", "Born To Loose", and "I Wanna Be Loved" are all here. So too is the cover of "Do You Love Me" and the refurbished "Chatterbox' from the second NY Dolls album, with a bonus of "Boppin The Blues" where the Breakers are joined by Sylvain Sylvain of The NY Dolls, and the newly solo Robert Gordon, who was the best thing about the original Tuff Darts, a band that, with Gordon, really should have been huge, but sadly, we didn't have MTV yet.