The First Ramones Album

As I mentioned on my introductory post, Ramones is the first album I bought from the Ramones, and it is also the first album they made.

I bought it in early January 2008, almost 32 years since it was released, with high expectations. This was as big to me as listening to Abbey Road or Blonde on Blonde, as this album is considered a landmark in rock n' roll and the band's magnum opus. Reading album reviews didn't help lower my expectations, as reviewers often repeated the same information about its length, style (Three Chords and the Truth), and historical importance. Even at the time of this post, there is so much information on this album alone that it gives the impression that the Ramones could never do any better.

The Ramones did release 13 studio albums after this one, so I will save my opinion on what I consider their best until I finally reach the end of looking back at their albums.

Ramones is a great album, one that has enough ear worms and idiosyncrasies to leave you mesmerized after listening.

For one, the production on this album is different from any of their albums in that:
 1. Johnny and Dee Dee are playing in different channels (I think that's the correct terminology), with only Joey and Tommy coming in from both sides. It reminds me of  Beatles albums where you can actually listen to any instrument you want if you know what speaker it's coming from. This even works well in my headphones, where I can block Johnny's playing for one song or ignore Dee Dee's bass playing in the next.


2. The sound in general comes off as Spartan, with almost no special bells and whistles. There is only the singer, a distorted guitar, bass, and drums at all times and all of them sound a bit low. Every album after this sounds louder and obviously cleaned up, but Ramones has the distinction of sounding as if the four guys were the only ones in the studio.

As for the songs, every song on the album is catchy and brief, with a frequently repeated verse and chorus with all instruments continuously playing until the next song. The band wastes no time with solos or long instrument breaks (except in I Don't Wanna Go Down to the Basement", which happens to be the album's longest song at 2:40 and "Let's Dance", a cover song.) The topics are funny and still fresh, with songs like "Chain Saw" and "Beat on the Brat" alluding to horror films and childhood violence respectively. They even have saccharine love songs such as "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend" that boggle my mind in their juxtaposition with the Nazi imagery of "Today Your Love, Tomorrow the World! The songwriting is surprisingly impressive for a debut; it's the album's best facet and the reason I enjoyed it the most.

(One misconception that I got from reviews is that the band only played the same three chords per song, but that's not true. Just take a good listen to "Let's Dance" or "53rd & 3rd".)

If there is one thing that bothered me about this album, then it is the speed in which the songs are played.  I thought everything was good when I first heard the album, but the further I listened to their catalog, the more it seems as if their playing is constrained in Ramones. "Blitzkrieg Bop" sounds fiercer and faster in live albums, but the album's cut sounds slower. It could be that this was the speed in which they first performed, and future albums were faster due to the gained ease of playing through the years.

Overall, this album fulfilled my expectations. It's a fun, happy thirty minutes (45 if you have the expanded release), filled with some of the most so-simple-it's-genius writing and playing that is still as good today as it was 34 years ago. The band would eventually tighten their playing and studio experience, but this is still a great debut and a fine album to buy.

Next : Leave Home, Rocket to Russia, and a jump in time!