In concert New York 1982 |
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These guys come on like gangbusters in case you haven’t gotten the picture yet. And kid, you better get the picture! Once it’s showtime, they move brother, so stay outta the way and watch them wage war against time as they churn out songs faster ‘n you can say 1-2-3-4! You’ll get a chance to come up for air and catch your breath every two minutes or so but who wants to wait?
These guys come on like gangbusters in case you haven’t gotten the picture yet. And kid, you better get the picture! Once it’s showtime, they move brother, so stay outta the way and watch them wage war against time as they churn out songs faster ‘n you can say 1-2-3-4! You’ll get a chance to come up for air and catch your breath every two minutes or so but who wants to wait?
(Once at CBGB there was a quartet of false starts before they kavoomed into one of their very best rave-ups, «Judy Is A Punk.» The feeling of repressed excitement was almost unbearable. I echoed lead guitarist Johnny’s sentiments: «C’mon, c’mon hurry up!»)
The overall feeling of seeing this rock out roar is like driving your car with the radio blasting, accelerator to the floor goin’ down the straightaway, and after every mile a red light come down outta nowhere so you stand up, brake it hard and stop on a dime.
I swear by all that’s unholy, you can’t believe how incredibly invigorating it is to watch the Ramones run rampant in two minute bursts, as each song kicks the energy level higher and higher, as you pray that the next song won’t be the last. They always leave you hungry for more and their first album, «Ramones,» on Sire Records has gone a long way toward satisfying my appetite.
Once and fro all let it be said that the Ramones; songs do not all sound alike except for the fact that they all take off from the same set of chords; kinda like variations of one great powerhouse theme. For the first time in years, here is an album where every song is good, most of them great. And like I said, each one can stand alone, all fourteen of them, with «I Don’t Wanna Go Down To The Basement» clocking in as the LP’s longest at 2:35 and «Judy Is A Punk» being the shortest at 1:30.
Whatever their lengths, each one is chock full of eternal makes-you-wanna–jump –and-shout feeling. You’ll be dying to commit ‘em all to memory after just one listen. «Blitzkrieg Bop», the opener, will be their first killer single, hopefully the first in a long line of scorching 45’s.
«I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend» is – they’ll kill me for this- pop-pretty, while «Let’s Dance» equals the spirit of the original and surpasses it in drive. There’s an overall feeling of wild enthusiasm on this record that can’t be denied, It’s the fifties energy level of Little Richard re-born as the seventies sound of the Ramones.
Producer Craig Leon has done a fantastic production job here in capturing the greatness of the Ramones on record. SO has photographer Roberta Bayley whose black and white cover shot of the group is fantastic. Kudos and more kudos to all involved in the making of this unbelievably wild record.
And now a word or two about each of these four fly-by-nights: Johnny is a whirlwind guitarist, full of pout and lunge, chording like his life depended on it; Dee Dee shakes is head ‘n’ hair hard, always playing a pile-driving bass, Tommy slams into the drums with flair and frenzy, coolly pursing his lips or baring them back into Bogart grimaces; and then there’s long lead singer Joey (call ‘im Snake, he’ll love you for it) who loudmouths out the vocals in a snarling croon. When the band rails into one of their one second explosions on a note, smashing down hard on everything, he moves like a cobra going for a concerned rat, i.e. wham!
Sorry there’s no interview with the review. The one I tried to do went like this: Me: So what’s your favorite color? Ramones: Redbluegreenyellow! Me: Slow down, boys, slow down, this is a thirty minute cassette.
See what I mean? Forgiv ‘em they say it all on stage anyway in a blowtorch voice that speaks more clearly to me than mere words could ever hope to express. They’re the mood elevators of 1976 and I hope they take it to the stratosphere, And you (yes,you!) better watch out because the Ramones are gonna smash your jaws completely and succinctly, and slam you up against the wall screaming for more. Yes it’s true, their mothers were all frightened by the same machine gun; and may all their bops be blitzkriegs. To paraphrase something Phil Spector said along time ago, they’ve got the best BLAM BLAM. To which I can only add badadadadadadadadadadadadada WHOOM!!
Craig Zeller |
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