Great Britain's venerable BGO imprint is one of the big daddies of contemporary reissues. They've been known to do entire retrospectives two albums at a time in either double- or single-CD packages. They've begun their David Johansen set with his wonderful self-titled debut album and his concert recording Live It Up, which was issued fourth. This might initially seem very strange because BGO usually issues in chronological sequence, but this was a best-of-both-worlds pairing: first, because these two recordings are well suited to one another with their rock & roll looseness; and second, the middle two albums, In Style and Here Comes the Night, are excellent as well, but they are slicker and focus on a more period-based rock & roll sound. ~ Thom Jurek
01 Funky but chic - 4:01 02 Girls - 3:38 03 Pain in my heart - 3:28 04 Not that much - 3:03 05 Donna - 4:31 06 Cool metro - 3:56 07 I'm a lover - 3:35 08 Lonely tenement - 4:13 09 Frenchette - 5:33 10 We gotta get out of this place/don't bring me down/it's my life [live] - 4:23 11 Frenchette [live] - 4:53 12 Reach out (ill be there) [live] - 3:24
13 Is this what i get for loving you [live] - 3:14 14 Donna [live] - 4:25 15 Build me up buttercup [live] - 2:43 16 Melody [live] - 3:04 17 Funky but chic [live] - 3:51 18 Bohemian love pad [live] - 2:54 19 Stranded in the jungle [live] - 3:56 20 Personality crisis [live] - 4:49