The Heartbreakers: The L.A.M.F. Demo Sessions (magenta vinyl) [JUNGLE]

Why you'll love it

Sixteen demos from four sessions between 1976 and 1977, the raw blueprint for L.A.M.F., on magenta vinyl with a 12" poster of a Roberta Bayley cover outtake. The printed inner sleeve carries a 2005 interview with Walter Lure by Thunders biographer Nina Antonia.

This edition

• Magenta vinyl
• 12" poster of the Roberta Bayley L.A.M.F. cover outtake
• Printed inner sleeve with Walter Lure's 2005 interview
• Limited to 4,000 copies

About the album

The Heartbreakers formed in New York in 1975 when Johnny Thunders and Jerry Nolan walked out of the New York Dolls, and Walter Lure and Billy Rath were soon on board. They became one of the hottest bands at CBGB and Max's Kansas City, then decamped to London to join the Sex Pistols' Anarchy tour, which collapsed almost as soon as it started. Stranded in England, they signed to Track Records and made L.A.M.F., their only studio album, in 1977.

The finished record became famous for a muddy mix the band spent all summer fighting over, which is why these demos matter. Here are "Born to Lose," "Chinese Rocks," "Pirate Love" and "I Wanna Be Loved" as they sounded in the room, cut at the SBS and Jay Nap studios in New York and at Essex Studios in London, plus rarities such as "Flight," "Take a Chance" and "London Boys." No fuss, no remixing committee, just a great rock and roll band playing very loudly with the tape running.

Tracklist

Listen

On Jungle Records (cat# FREUDLP135), demo recordings from 1976 and 1977.