Live at Max's Kansas City is a live album by The Heartbreakers. Recorded at a "reunion"/"farewell" show on September 16, 1978 at the famous Max's Kansas City nightclub, the album's performance — loud, sloppy, and laden with bawdy introductions and/or lyric changes to many of the familiar songs from their only studio album, L.A.M.F. — further cemented the band's live reputation. A classic of early punk rock, the album has been called "probably the best official document of any New York band of the era."
History
The Heartbreakers had broken up in late 1977, after the failure of the L.A.M.F. album. Co-lead singer/co-lead guitarist Johnny Thunders remained in England and recorded his first solo album, So Alone, during the summer of 1978. His fellow ex-Heartbreakers Walter Lure and Billy Rath had participated in some of the sessions for the album, and after finishing the album, all three decided to play some gigs in New York "for old time's sake" and some "chump change." With drummer Jerry Nolan reluctant to backtrack his steps after quitting the band over L.A.M.F.'s poor sound, the Thunders/Lure/Rath triumvirate recruited other local drummers to fill in. The band's first reunion gigs, billed as farewell shows, were at Max's on August 18 and 19 with drummer Lee Crystal. These shows went poorly - the Village Voice described them as a "depressing debacle" and said that Thunders had "given up the ghost." Nevertheless, the band returned to Max's on September 15th and September 16th with Ty Styx on drums, playing sets that included most of L.A.M.F. along with a few songs from So Alone and occasional covers. Both sets on the 16th were recorded; fortunately, the performances were up to the band's usual standard. The band had continued to play occasional shows in New York throughout late 1978 and early 1979, and Jerry Nolan eventually returned to the drum throne. Released on Max's Kansas City Records and in England on Beggars Banquet Records through a logo deal with Max's Kansas City, the album was an immediate success upon its release in July 1979. As Robert Christgau put it, "This captures the boys in all their rowdy, rabble-rousing abandon, and I know that when I feel like hearing them I'll be pulling it off the shelf." The success of the album was enough to warrant a second live recording done at the same venue. By that time, however, the band were all struggling with their various addictions, with Thunders' own heroin habit escalating. The first two nights of the three-night stand resulted in very little if any usable material, but by the last night, the band were in rare form, with Thunders and Lure delivering their usual witty introductions between songs. After playing five songs, Thunders suddenly left the stage, claiming he had to "tune up" — never to return that evening. Ironically, two songs earlier, the band had played their semi-autobiographical "Too Much Junkie Business". Several years later, the five songs from the second recordings were remixed, along with the original album, in preparation for a long-awaited reissue of the original Live at Max's album with the "new" recordings appended to it. Walter Lure and Billy Rath participated in the mixing. Thunders was unable to participate due to other commitments, but was played the results, and gave them his full endorsement, requesting only that the 1979 recordings were released "just the way it is, including the talk." The reissue would not be released until 1995, a few years after Thunders' death. Both the original album and the later recordings were rereleased in 2015 on vinyl as "."
Track listing
Side one
#
*This recording of air raid sirens, battlefield sounds, and military chants was the band's usual intro music.
"Milk Me"
*Also known as "Chatterbox" and "Leave Me Alone"
"Chinese Rocks"
"Get Off the Phone"
"London Boys"
*Thunders dedicates the song to "Joe Bummer" - Joe Strummer of the Clash. Members of the Clash, including Strummer and Mick Jones, were in New York at the time mixing their 2nd album Give 'Em Enough Rope, and Jones played guitar in Sid Vicious' backing band for a gig at Max's later that month. It's not known if Strummer was actually in the audience that night.
"Take a Chance"
* Thunders says before the song, "Yeah, we love the Yankees. They won today again." The Yankees that day to increase their lead in the American League East to 3.5 games.
**
"One Track Mind"
Side two
"All By Myself"
*This song was deleted from the 1995 CD reissue and replaced with the version from the later shows with Jerry Nolan on drums. It was restored on the 2015 vinyl reissue.
*Lure acknowledged in the liner notes of the 2002 reissue of L.A.M.F. that he actually wrote the song himself but gave Thunders co-writing credit since it was basically his life story. Thunders would often introduce the song onstage by saying that Lure had written it with Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley. The song title parodies Berry's "Too Much Monkey Business" and the music pays homage to Diddley's "Pills".
"Don't Mess with Cupid"
"So Alone"
Personnel
Johnny Thunders - Guitar, vocals
Walter Lure - Guitar, vocals
Billy Rath - Bass
Ty Styx - Drums
* These may have been the only gigs that Styx played with the Heartbreakers. The band played at Max's on August 18th and 19th with Lee Crystal on drums. Styx joined the band for the two gigs in September that resulted in the live album, but by the time the band next played at Max's on November 18th, Tony Machine had replaced him on drums. Tony Machine continued to play with the band until Jerry Nolan returned in March 1979.
