Ramones - Ramones (Remastered, 180 Gram) (LP)

Limited 180gm vinyl LP pressing. The Ramones ignited the punk-rock movement with their eponymous 1976 debut album, revitalizing rock and roll at one of it's lowest ebbs with attitude, energy and a loud, fast new sound. By cutting music down to it's bare essentials - four chords; a simple, catchy melody; a sped-up tempo and irresistibly inane lyrics, the Ramones blazed the trail for thousands of bands that followed, influencing everyone from The Clash and The Sex Pistols to Green Day and The Offspring. Although The Ramones never achieved mainstream financial success, they released 21 live and studio albums, had a devoted fan base and were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2002. Other bands, such as the Stooges and the New York Dolls, came before them and set the stage and aesthetic for punk, and bands that immediately followed, such as the Sex Pistols, made the latent violence of the music more explicit, but the Ramones crystallized the musical ideals of the genre.

The Ramones' self-titled debut is a justifiably adored album--not just one of the best albums to come out of the initial New York punk explosion of the mid-'70s, but one of the greatest rock and roll albums of all time. RAMONES is one of those rare records where there is not a single weak or out-of-place song. Changeups like the bubblegummy near-ballad "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend" and the uncharacteristically harsh "53rd and 3rd" (an unsentimental song about Dee Dee Ramone's days as a teenage hustler) vary the album's sound and mood more than its detractors (and even some of its fans) maintain.

The 2001 reissue adds eight bonus tracks. Most are culled from early demos, including two songs, "I Can't Be" and "I Don't Wanna Be Learned/I Don't Wanna Be Tamed," that were never officially recorded, and two others, "You Should Never Have Opened That Door" and "I Don't Care," which eventually appeared on their second and third albums respectively. None of the demos are particularly different from the final recordings, but, interestingly, they tend to be a little slower and poppier-sounding. The cleaner-sounding, more trebly single mix of "Blitzkrieg Bop" closes the package.

The Ramones: Joey Ramone (vocals); Johnny Ramone (guitar); Dee Dee Ramone (bass); Tommy Ramone (drums).
Producers: Craig Leon, T. Erdelyi, Marty Thau.
Reissue producers: Gary Stewart, Bill Inglot.
Engineers: Rob Freeman, Jack Malken, Don Hunerburg.
Recorded at Plaza Sound, Radio City Music Hall, New York, New York and 914 Studios, Blauvelt, New York. Includes liner notes by Donna Gaines and Arturo Vega.

Digitally remastered by Dan Hersch and Bill Inglot (Digiprep).

• Genre: Rock
• Format: Vinyl
• Remastered, 180 Gram
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