RAMONES – IT’S ALIVE (SIRE RECORDS)
This was my first Ramones album and I would say if you need to get somebody into the Ramones fast this is the perfect starting place/point for any newbie.
Recorded live at the Rainbow in London on New Year’s Eve 1977 (heading into 1978) this is the classic Ramones line-up with Joey and Johnny being joined by Dee Dee and bass and Tommy on drums. This was long before the rot set in and was probably as good as it got with the Bruvvers.
The album is 28 songs long and it doesn’t even make the one hour mark, this is what it sounded like to live fast in 1977. Almost every Ramones song you could ever want to hear is present.
Opening with the threesome of “Rockaway Beach”, “Teenage Lobotomy” and “Blitzkrieg Bop” rarely in the history of rock music has there ever been such a frenetic first six minutes. Here were the definite roots of hardcore several years before the pills kicked in.
For a band that released so many live albums over the years this truly was the king of all those releases even though it was probably recorded on the least expensive equipment. Ultimately it was the organic feel of a band at their best overriding any potential limitations that technology might set them. Then again just how much in the way of intricate recording would four men sharing a surname really require?
In recent years the latest generations of alternative rock audiences haven’t really managed to appreciate the Ramones quite in the way that their elders did previously but with hooks so fat, large and wide the reality is that it takes more effort to not indulge in the fun to be had from these songs.
As things step up their version of “Surfin’ Bird” by The Trashmen improves on the original and with “Havana Affair” and “Commando” and their new kind of kicks the band display a lot more to their consciousness than their goofy, dark humour songs might suggest.
By the time you reach the “gabba gabba hey” mantra of “Pinhead” you realise that this record still packs enough punch to piss off the neighbours and make you seem like a weirdo in their eyes, ears and mind. Mission accomplished.
It all ends with “We’re A Happy Family” which history has served to demonstrate just was not true but at this time maybe, seemingly with the world their oyster and at their feet, this was when they were happy.
Thesaurus moment: dynasty.
Ramones
This was my first Ramones album and I would say if you need to get somebody into the Ramones fast this is the perfect starting place/point for any newbie.
Recorded live at the Rainbow in London on New Year’s Eve 1977 (heading into 1978) this is the classic Ramones line-up with Joey and Johnny being joined by Dee Dee and bass and Tommy on drums. This was long before the rot set in and was probably as good as it got with the Bruvvers.
The album is 28 songs long and it doesn’t even make the one hour mark, this is what it sounded like to live fast in 1977. Almost every Ramones song you could ever want to hear is present.
Opening with the threesome of “Rockaway Beach”, “Teenage Lobotomy” and “Blitzkrieg Bop” rarely in the history of rock music has there ever been such a frenetic first six minutes. Here were the definite roots of hardcore several years before the pills kicked in.
For a band that released so many live albums over the years this truly was the king of all those releases even though it was probably recorded on the least expensive equipment. Ultimately it was the organic feel of a band at their best overriding any potential limitations that technology might set them. Then again just how much in the way of intricate recording would four men sharing a surname really require?
In recent years the latest generations of alternative rock audiences haven’t really managed to appreciate the Ramones quite in the way that their elders did previously but with hooks so fat, large and wide the reality is that it takes more effort to not indulge in the fun to be had from these songs.
As things step up their version of “Surfin’ Bird” by The Trashmen improves on the original and with “Havana Affair” and “Commando” and their new kind of kicks the band display a lot more to their consciousness than their goofy, dark humour songs might suggest.
By the time you reach the “gabba gabba hey” mantra of “Pinhead” you realise that this record still packs enough punch to piss off the neighbours and make you seem like a weirdo in their eyes, ears and mind. Mission accomplished.
It all ends with “We’re A Happy Family” which history has served to demonstrate just was not true but at this time maybe, seemingly with the world their oyster and at their feet, this was when they were happy.
Thesaurus moment: dynasty.
Ramones
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