Ramones - Road to Ruin (Dlx)
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Free Music Notes for Road to Ruin (Dlx)
Free Music Review: This was the beginning of the end!
Hit: 5 Stars
I eagerly awaited the release of the "classic' Ramones album, "Road To Ruin" way back in the day. When it came out, I was surprised by the "slick" cartoon-like album cover, first of all. AND, who was this "Marky" guy, anyway?
I opened up the album, slapped the vinyl (yes, VINYL) onto my cheap $20 turn-table, and book! Here it was!
Okay, first of all, the production was arguably the best of the first four Ramones albums. We got a slight taste of it with the then import only live album "It's Alive", produced by the classic soundmaster Ed Stasium. Stasium had a bit to do with "Rocket To Russia" as well, but the credit for that album goes mostly to Tommy Ramone. Anyways, before I rate the songs, I should note that "Road To Ruin" is absolutly crunching when it comes to the guitar sounds, and the drums are hard hitting and heavy. So THAT's who "Marky" is, I thought to myself!
Now to the actual album. "I Just Wanna Have Something To Do" is pure genius, pure Ramones. The simple yet stunning lyrics ("Hangin' out on second avenue; eatin' Chicken Vindaloo"), the steady beat, this song is the epitomy of the Ramones "sound". And songs like "I Wanted Everything", "I'm Against It" (with the classic line; "I don't like Burger King, I don't like anything"), "Bad Brain", etc, were good stuff. BUT, there was the strangly inappropriate "Questioningly", with it's COUNTRY steel guitar (which of course everyone knows that Jonhnny didn't play), and "Don't Come Close", well, I must admit that I was a bit frustrated at the time (little did I know that "End Of The Century" was less than a year away!). But now these songs make sense in the context of the fact that the Ramones were trying to "diverisfy" their sound in order to (perhaps) get that hit single that had so unfairly eluded them thus far.
It didn't work.
As any old time Ramones fan will tell you, the Ramones were the most unlucky band of all time. Their management either released the wrong song for a single (as was the case when WEA decided to release "I Wanna Live" from the so-so album "Halfway To Sanity", even thought it was released in mid-summer and "Go 'Lil Camaro, Go" was a classic "fun/car/girl" song that could have made a big hit for the Ramones), or they were quite simply way to ahead of their time for the mainstream to "get it". This is the case with "Road To Ruin".
The Sex Pistols got a lot of press and even album sales due to the fact that in their oh-so contrived "rage" they said the "f word" and sand about anarchy, nuclear submarines, dethroning the British Queen, and of course; abortions. And the Pistols only stayed together for 18 months, leaving us with basically one studio album (which, in my opinion, is the most over-rated "punk rock" record ever made), and a dead so-called "bass player". The Ramones were the band that INSPIRED the Sex Pistols, and theby never resorted to such shock value pap as "f words", abortion innuendo, and anarchy. Instead, the Ramones rallied all of us outsiders with the classic war cry "Gabba Gabba we accept you, we accept you, one of us!". And it was a hell of a lot more "punk rock" to sing about selling your [...] for dope money as Dee Dee penned in the immortal "53rd and 3rd". Oh well.
So anyways, "Road To Ruin" is a good "hard rock" album, striking a "punk" chord every now and again. The sound is loud, the guitars are heavy and buzzing, and Marky, when he wasn't drunk, laid down some good beats. This album is worth having, if not for the fact that it has "I Just Wanna Have Something To Do" and "I Wanna Be Sedated" on it. Also, the "bonus-tracks" on this re-issue are nothing new; the live scene from "Rock 'N' Roll High School", a slightly different version of "I Want You Around", and one newly discovered gem, that's all. The bonus tracks on "Too Tough To Die" are the REAL revalation, man!
So if you wanna "rock out", then get this album first. You'll tap your feet, drown in country music inspired beer delirium in the nasty "Questioningly", and just basically go nuts to "Bad Brain" and "I'm Against It". BUT, if you're looking for the truly definitive Ramones sound, then start with "Rocket To Russia" and gradute to the definitve "post 70's" sound of "Too Tough To Die" (wich is, in my esteemed opinion, the Ramones overall best album).
Either way, buy all fo the reissues since you jerks didn't buy 'em while the Ramones were ALIVE, so get 'em now and show that you were really "punk rock" back when you were ACTUALLY listening to Poison, Motley Crue, and Winger!
Road to Immortality
Hit: 5 Stars The best thing about CD reissues is that they offer alternate takes, live tracks and demo cuts. The worst thing about CD reissues is that they offcer alternate takes, live tracks and demo cuts.
Don't get me wrong; I'm quite thankful for the inclusion of some good live gigs and esoteric miscellany. Especially by the Ramones, of whom I can't get enough. That said, the inclusion of such additional material is often used by record companies as a come-on, as though not enough discs will sell if it's just the original album, even if remastered.
Well, suffice it to say that on "Road to Ruin" the extras are the gravy ladled atop this excellent meat and potatoes record by the Godfathers of punk in the twilight of their early days.
Joey Ramone -- requiescat en pace -- was not the Frank Sinatra of punk rock for nothing. His ideal, the Ramones ideal, of punk was a tribute to girl group, garage rock and surfer songs in cut-time, overlayed by Joey's velvet smog of a voice. This was before punk rock was "angry," the bandwagon set careening downhill at such a wild clip that even the stalwart British invasion band, The Kinks, had jumped on by 1980 with their "angry young man with thinning hair" comeback album "Low Budget."
But, let's go back to 1978 when this album came out, and punkers in the know knew instinctually that it was the Ramones, Blondie and Buzzcocks that invented and defined punk, not those poseur Johnny Rotten come latelys, the Sex Pistols, who were really the Monkees of punk.
This record was post "Never Mind the Bollocks...." but listening to the rapping of 1-2-3-4 before the tunes, to Johnny's metronome-gone-haywire rhythyms and Joey's superlative voice, you know you're hearing the real item. It opens blissfully on "I Just Wanna Have Something to Do," and before Joey even mouths the refrain, deep in your soul you're already saying "oh, yeah." It's just that kind of album that you immediately grok, to use an apt Heinleinism.
"I Wanna Be Sedated" is the most popular tune on the set, and really clues you into the fact that the Ramones aren't out to wreak havoc upon the world....they just want to get through as painlessly as possible. "Go Mental" is its sister song, and hearing Joey extend the last syllable "Go mentilllll, mentillll," always sends chills up and down my spine. Unlike any other punker, before or since, Joey understood the concept of *melody* in relating heartbreak, loneliness and alienation. His was not some ... screech of the disaffected, like the cantankerous Jello Biafra, but the wistful and sad ballad of a perenially wallflower troubador.
On the day when Sonny Bono died, and all the radio stations were playing "I Got You Babe," the college radio station in my city gave the Bobcat vest-wearing man a most fitting tribute to Bono the songwriter by spinning the Ramones' cover of "Needles and Pins." Their version had already held a soft spot in my heart, but hearing it that day was like hearing it anew, and I could hear the achingly melancholic emotions that Joey found in it that somehow eluded The Searchers in their original take.
But, lest you think that The Ramones were all serious and depressed, there is the album's true gem of social satire, "I'm Against It," which Johnny wrote as a slap in the face at the Sex Pistols and their fellow travellers, who turned punk rock from something fun, confused and searingly energetic into a mainstream marketing tool capitalizing off of disaffection with the mainstream and slick marketing. It was a sleight-of-hand that cemented the Ramones' fate as an "underground" band, but perhaps it was for the better; A quarter of a century later, the five unrelated brothers from NYC are seen as an unassailable and timeless institution, while all of their unreasonable fascimiles are remembered -- at best -- as dated anachronisms.
Free Music Review: Ramones on the Road to Ruin
Hit: 5 Stars
ROAD TO RUIN is fitting and self-deprecating title for the Ramones' fourth album. After touring for more four years at this point, the band seemed at a stand-still. Despite being loved by critics throughout America and England, the Ramones couldn't get any airplay in the age of Aerosmith, Kiss, and Fleetwood Mac. Inner turmoil afflicted the band as well: Dee Dee needed a fix, too; what was he gonna do? Joey and Johnny weren't getting along, and suddenly drummer Tommy wanted to leave and produce. Welcome Marky Ramone, who'd previously played with Richard Hell's Voidoids. These tensions and upheavals explain why ROAD is darker, meaner and had a little nastier of an attitude than their previous releases. And why not? The Sex Pistols, the world's premier punks, had had the audacity to come to America and self-destruct--the final nail in the coffin America had built for Punk Rock. So..."I Just Want to Have Something to Do," ROAD's opener, is a scorcher,..., name-checking sketchy 2nd Avenue and some strange dish known as "chicken vindaloo." Things didn't get much brighter in "I Wanted Everything," which depicts a poor kid reduced to robbing a store to survive. "I'm Against It" is a list of things Joey Ramone hates, and how he's, well, against it.
"I don't like sex and drugs
I don't like water bugs
I don't like to play ping pong
I don't like the Viet Cong
I don't care about poverty
All I care about is me
And I'm against it!"
"Bad Brain" (yes, the Bad Brains named themselves after this tune), "Go Mental" and "I Don't Want You" continue the trend of frustration and negativity. Oddly enough, however, this album also contains some stretches. It has songs over 3 minutes. The guitars chime and ring. It has a couple guitar solos--OK, the solo in "I Wanna Be Sedated" is only made up of one note, but hey, it's a solo! And it has a couple of their most touching ballads, "Questioningly" and a cover of the Searchers' "Needles and Pins." The former is particularly evocative song of a broken heart:
"But I don't love you anymore
What do you want to talk to me for?
You should have just let me walk by
Memories make us cry
When I'm going home
Whiskey bottles, movie on TV
Memories make me cry
And I'm alone just me, just me
Looked at her close
Forced her into view
"Yes," I said "You're a girl that I once may have knew
and weren't we lovers a long time ago?"
Joey Ramone's voice, in my opinion, has never been praised enough for itsability to convey heartache and longing--something virtually unheard of in punk rock. He's at his absolute best on this tune.
ROAD TO RUIN is a good starting place for Ramones' neophytes; it has some of their best-ever songs ("I Just Want to Have Something to Do," "I Wanna Be Sedated") and their most touching ("Don't Come Close," "Questioningly") and hard-rocking ("Bad Brain," "Go Mental"). Rhino's remaster of this disc is stellar; it sounds full-bodied and roars out of your speakers with conviction. The liner notes and photos are a real treat, as are the bonus tracks: live stuff from ROCK'N'ROLL HIGH SCHOOL and more.
So update your old vinyl copy, or your copy of ALL THE STUFF AND MORE VOL. 2, with this new, improved edition. You will not be sorry.
Free Music Review: The End of the Beginning
Hit: 5 Stars
Contrary to what some fans and critics believe, "Road to Ruin" is not the last great Ramones album. It is, however, the final album of the band's classic period. It's also the sound of a band trying hard to bust out of the cult basement, maybe realizing that the stripped-to-the-bones punk sound of its first three LPs wasn't going to crack the Top 40 after all.
Which is not to say that "Road to Ruin" is a sellout. Sure, there are a pair of tunes ("Don't Come Close" and "Questioningly") that veer far away from the Ramone-defining buzzsaw guitar sound. But, given the band's obvious love for bubblegum and 60s pop, even the (stellar) cover of "Needles and Pins" doesn't seem such a stretch.
And the rest of the tunes? Well, they're the kind of full-on, jet-fueled rockers you'd expect from the Ramones, but with just a dose of the grim realization that the years ahead may not be filled with limos, champagne and other perks of rock stardom. There are nods to punk boredom ("I Just Wanna Have Something To Do"), an angry kiss-off ("I Don't Want You") and rock's all-time most cryptic ode to angst and desparation ("It's a Long Way Back.") In the hands of a lesser band, such sentiments could result in a depressing record, indeed. But if the Ramones knew anything, it was how to write a catchy tune. And on "Road to Ruin," their pop sense overpowers any hint of punk negativity from start to finish. Along the way, we even get some boy-meets-girl Ramones ("She's the One") and the closest thing the band has probably ever had to a Classic Rock/FM Radio staple ("I Wanna Be Sedated"). And, like the songs themselves, the production of "Road to Ruin" foreshadows future Ramones releases. It's a more muscular sound than on the first three albums with bigger drums, louder guitars.
The Ramones did in fact have more great albums up their leather sleeves in the ensuing years, but for any fan, it's hard not to see "Road to Ruin" as a turning point. This is probably the first album on which the Ramones understood that they had become THE RAMONES - and that any respect this brought was met in equal measure with heartache, inner turmoil and the indifference of the record-buying public. It's the first album on which the band toyed just a bit with its formula in search of a hit, and the last on which the boys reasonably hoped they might go gold without resorting to more extreme, Spectorized measures. And it was probably the last album the Ramones recorded before figuring out that to make a go of this punk rock thing, they'd have to earn their bread and butter by keeping an ungodly tour schedule - a neverending series of one-nighters they'd keep up till damn near the end of their lives. Road to ruin, indeed.
Free Music Review: Its a long way back to 1978
Hit: 5 Stars
I believe "Road To Ruin" is the greatest Ramones record of all time and I believe I can prove it.I can advance my argument along some very well traveled paths. Obviously, we have the hands down most awesome album opener in rock history in the form of "I Just Wanna Have Something To Do".
I realize that's a pretty heavy claim (for those of us who take rockn'roll seriously) but I stand behind my assertion. And its in this first song that we become aware of two things simultaneously. On one hand there is the production. It becomes instantly clear to the listener that this is the first Ramones album to recieve a "proper" rock mix.
Polished production should not be used just to make something sound comercially acceptable, it should be used to bring volume and clarity. And in the expert hands of Ed Stasium the band, for the first time, reveal that they are capable of not just shreding
but being legitimately HEAVY.
And to compliment this tighter, more solid sound is the infamous darkening of the Ramones. Legs Mc Neil does a thourogh job of describing this phenomena in the generous liner notes of the expanded edition, but a capsulized example is, of course, "I wanted Everything". The lyrics display an almost chilling and certainly unsettling contrast to the lovable but goofy tales of Pinheads and Happy Families. Even stuff like "You Should Never Have Opened That Door", for all its shock value (at the time), dosent make you take it quite as seriously as the darkest material on "Road To Ruin".
Other surprises from this album include a couple of country tinged numbers, "You Dont Come Close" and Dee Dee's beautiful "Questioningly". I can still vividly recall the sensation of hearing both of these tunes, along with "Needles And Pins", for the first time seventeen years ago.The effect, at first, was jaring. But over a short period of time I was able to see the genius of their inclusion on the album.
The "Road To Ruin" is the sound of the Ramones realizing they had nothing to lose and nothing to prove. To the music industry, the burgeoning punk scene or to the critics.THAT is why this is their best album, THAT is why you need to take it as a whole. As far as the bonus songs for this edition go, they are chronologically appropriate for completionists and if ya dont like em', program your unit not to play them.
All and all a gorgeous package with the aforementioned stunning production improved slightly (if you can improve perfection)by a crisper mix. In the end, it all boils down to this: without this album you cant truly understand the Ramones and your limiting your understanding of rock itself, and you don't want to displease the almighty Gods of Rock, right?