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JOHNNY THUNDERS So Alone Warners ***

The New York Dolls were the initial blueprint for punk's ripped and torn strategies, and from that pioneering band singer/ guitarist Johnny Thunders became an icon of sorts - an elegantly wasted, often tragic figure, a Keith Richards for the Blank Generation. First released in 1978 (and now receiving an update with extra, previously unreleased tracks) Thunders's debut solo album is probably the only genuine evidence (outside NYD's self-titled 1973 debut) of any lasting talent. There is one bona fide rock ballad classic - You Can't Put Your Arms Around a Memory, in which too much junkie business is poignantly acknowledged - and a selection of louche rock'n'roll that, depending on taste, atmosphere or memory, is either too loud and too sloppy, or just the right and ragged side of glorious. Beefing up the sound are Sex Pistols labourers Steve Jones and Paul Cook, and Thin Lizzy's Phil Lynott.

Tony Clayton-Lea