Tuesday, March 15, 2011

We're Outta Here! (the album)

We're Outta Here is the live recording of the Ramones's final concert that took place on August 6, 1996. The band was finished after the River Plate Stadium event in Argentina earlier that year, but they were offered a spot in Lollapalooza and thus their retirement was halted for a while. This halt gave us the final product that was made when the band was active - We're Outta Here!.

What separates this recording from the rest of their live albums (besides the historical value) is the guest stars that appear. We get Lemmy from Motorhead playing his own song "R.A.M.O.N.E.S", Tim Armstrong and Lars Fredericksen of Rancid on "53rd & 3rd",  Chris Cornell and Ben Shepard of Soundgarden on "Chinese Rocks", and Ramones Fan Club member Eddie Vedder (of Pearl Jam, of course) on the final track, "Any Way You Want It". Before I forget, Dee Dee Ramone makes a surprise return on "Love Kills", but Dee Dee screws it up and...it's a Dee Dee thing. The inclusion of all these guests is strange, as the Ramones didn't have many guests on their albums (outside of singles, "Go Lil' Camaro Go" on Halfway to Sanity and the few tracks on Acid Eaters), but they add their own touches here and there (My favorites were Lemmy and the guys from Rancid. Eddie sounded a bit off.).

The setlist is the same as what a full Greatest Hits Live would have been, with live cuts of that album's bonus tracks included ("R.A.M.O.N.E.S.", "Any Way You Want It"). The only qualm that I found in it was that there is very little breathing space between the songs as one song starts right after the other with no cuts in between. I don't think the band was able to pull off this feat at the end, when Joey's singing was not as it used to be and we get that strange style where he stresses words out to fill in parts.

Unless you're a completionist, this is the definite second live album to obtain. It's the band's final product while they were active, and at a 32 song length, this is a good value as well. Not as great as NYC 1978, but better than Greatest Hits Live or even Loco Live.