I discovered Johnny Thunders Heartbreakers in the 80's. I bought "Live at Max's" in the used bin at Cut Corner in Lexington. "L.A.M.F" their debut album, was the stuff of legend. It supposedly sounded terrible upon release (mastering flaws). The band broke up but proceeded to reunite about a thousand times whenever they needed money for drugs.
Never prolific as a writer, Johnny played the songs on "L.A.M.F" for the next 15 years. No matter who was in the pick-up group, these tunes shone thru and I never got tired of them. My first taste of the studio versions was the remix done by Tony James in the 80's. Jungle Records has continued to release outtakes and alternate mixes ever since. Now we have LAMF: The found '77 masters. I couldn't bring myself to run out and buy it since I already have so many iterations of the same songs. Enter APPLE MUSIC. This is actually a good place to start if you've never heard the album. It's hard to call it the definitive version, since the CD age made mastering issues for the vinyl cut obsolete. I disagree with the reviewer in "The Ugly Things" who claimed if it had come out like this it would have been a game changer. Too much junkie business in the band and the lyrics for that to ever really happen. It is the best recorded JT you'll ever hear.