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What can I say about L.A.M.F ? One of the greatest albums ever made in my opinion. But as those of us who know the bad luck story of The Heartbreakers will know, the original release suffered some kind of fault on its 1977 release, that gave the Vinyl pressing a "muddy" sound, - although the cassette version sounded fine. After many re-mixes to try and sort out that fault (everyone was unsuccessful), the original mix of the album was lost to the midst of time, as when manager Leee Black Childers liberated the tapes from Track Records' soon to close office, there was NO MASTER of the eventual mix.
Johnny Thunders was to take copies of the surviving tapes to re-mix in 1984, released as "L.A.M.F REVISITED", but he gave them a more clean, pop music mix, and the album suffered even more. That was until 1994, when Jungle Records' Alan Hauser acquired the tapes from Childers, and sifted through over 190 different mixes of the 14 songs, and released "L.A.M.F: THE LOST '77 MIXES" - which appears as CD 1 in this 4 disc set. This was a revelation. Sharp, Punchy, Raw, full of energy, This is the album L.A.M.F should have been, I would even say it has a better sound than Sex Pistols' Never Mind The Bollocks album, and to come from me, that's saying something! Also of note, is this is the only CD in the set credited to JOHNNY THUNDERS & THE HEARTBREAKERS, all others are just credited as HEARTBREAKERS.
But now, as well as that version, for the first time ever, a Vinyl master has been re eq'd and restored. Now we finally get to hear that original 1977 release without the mud. quite a revelation, as classics like CHINESE ROCKS, I LOVE YOU, and the brilliant GOING STEADY sound as the band wanted. When played against the original vinyl copy, you can really hear the difference, even the Cassette version is now redundant (these are now HIGHLY PRICED collectors items.). The only downside to this second disc in the set, is the vinyl master does reveal its limitations, particularly on the noisier rockers like LET GO, with slight sound distortion, but this is a minor quibble.
Onto Disc 3, we have "THE DEMO SESSIONS", 13 excellent Demo recordings from the various studios, including 4 tracks (I WANNA BE LOVED, PIRATE LOVE, GOIN' STEADY and FLIGHT) recorded when Richard Hell was in the band. It sure does make a difference hearing his bass playing rather than Billy Rath, and i must admit, I dont like it. Its just not as driving as Billy Rath's playing. GOIN' STEADY has to be the pick of these four, FLIGHT having been the only previously released track (issued on Jungle's DOWN TO KILL set). Tracks 5-10 are 1976 demos, taped on a 4 track machine in Staten Island, including great versions of CANT KEEP MY EYES ON YOU and the brilliant Jerry Nolan classic, TAKE A CHANCE WITH ME, (later covered by Sid Vicious, for all you trivia fans). The final 3 tracks here come from Essex Studios in London, as a precursor to the L.A.M.F sessions, again, great versions of LET GO, CHINESE ROCKS and BORN TO LOSE that literally crackle with life.
Disc 4 is titled "L.A.M.F: THE ALTERNATE MIXES". 21 Tracks from the Various studios and mixes in the UK that the different members tried to correct the Muddy mix of the original (which turned out to be a mastering fault). Some of these tracks appeared on the Bonus disc included with the original issue of "THE LOST '77 MIXES", but here are taken from the masters and left in the original mixes, so subtle differences to that disc are in abundance. As the Booklet states, now you can choose your very own version of the album, and put it together as you wish, from all the various takes Jungle has issued so far. All Cd's are presented in Cardboard replica's of the Original album sleeve, with recording details for each track.
To already add to the superb sound of this package, Jungle have included a set of 4 Button Badges (pins), two L.A.M.F, and two Born To Loose. Also, a 44 page booklet, contains many photo's of the tape boxes, a "Making of L.A.M.F" by Nina Antonia, (who appears to get her Monty Python films mixed up!), an Interview with Walter Lure, A Heartbreakers timeline, by Alan Hauser, and an even more detailed run down of info on each track on each CD. All this comes housed in a brilliant deluxe clam shell box. It really looks brilliant.
To cap all this off, the set is retailing for under £20 in the U.K., so it is a fantastic bargain for any fan, AND its still a worthy addition if you have every other version issued since 1977 like myself. do yourself a favor and grab a copy today.
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