Ramones Smash You: Live '85

Loud Fast Ramones: Their Toughest Hits had a bonus disc included in the original 50,000 print run. The bonus disc is entitled Ramones Smash You: Live '85, a live show that featured Richie Ramone on the drums, thus making it the only officially released live recording with Richie on the drums! This bonus disc is basically fan territory/completion material and can be skipped by a causal fan or someone who has the complete show and doesn't care for an official partial copy.

The show was recorded on February 25, 1985 at the Lyceum Theater in England as a part of the Ramones' comeback tour following the release of Too Tough to Die. This bonus CD gives us a quarter of that show, as research has found me another blog which gives more details about this concert. (Great blog!)

The Tracklist

1. "Do You Remember Rock 'n' Roll Radio"
2. "Psycho Therapy"
3. "Suzy is a Headbanger"
4. "Too Tough to Die"
5. "Smash You"
6. "Chinese Rock"
7. "Howling at the Moon"
8. "I Don't Want to Go Down to the Basement"

It's not far-fetched to say that this tracklist is chopped up and out of order ("Psycho Therapy" was always played before "R'n'R Radio".) It's the only Richie live record out, so let's give it a listen, shall we?

The first thing that pops out is the sound as it's not crisp and a bit muddy and it's mostly audible with Joey's voice. The recording is not up to par with NYC 1978 or even Loco Live, but it's still audible and enjoyable. Joey had not reached the growling era when this concert was recorded as he sings each song well. Johnny and Dee Dee do what they do best, with Dee Dee popping every now and then to count down the next song. Of course, my main interest with this bonus is Richie, and he sounds just as good live as he did on Too Tough to Die. I really do think he shifted the band towards their later speed runs as they zipped past 8 of the lengthier Ramones songs in about 18 minutes.

(Example: "Too Tough to Die" is about 30 seconds shorter here than on the album it was named after and it's also shorter than the recording on Loco Live. "Suzy is a Headbanger" is about 35-40 seconds shorter than the Leave Home cut. "Howling at the Moon" was a four minute epic reduced by a minute and a half! PURE SPEED!)

What I find funny about this bonus being on the "Toughest Hits" compilation is that the songs for the most part are tougher than the ones on the disc, and the coolest part is that the live versions of "Do You Remember Rock 'n' Roll Radio" and "Psycho Therapy" are actually enjoyable, especially with "RnR Radio" transcending the sentimentalism that the album cut reeks of. I enjoyed all the tracks on this disk, as they really are well played and improved from the album versions in general.

Bottom line, it's a fun piece of history and fans (especially Richie fans like myself) will find this a fun sampler of the Ramones during the Too Tough to Die tour. Now if they only released this concert in full...


UP NEXT: It's Alive and NYC 1978

Loud, Fast Ramones: Their Toughest Hits

(Since I reviewed Too Tough to Die, I thought it would be appropriate to write about Loud, Fast Ramones: Their Toughest Hits and the rare bonus Ramones Smash You: Live '85 live recording. The It's Alive/ NYC 1978 live albums will be discussed next week.)

Let's get one thing out of the way: The Ramones rarely had HITS! The only big singles they had were "Baby, I Love You" (A UK-only hit), "Pet Sematary", and "Poison Heart" - and the latter two were helped by being on the soundtracks of the Pet Sematary films and only reached the Top 10 Modern Rock Charts, not the Hot 100. None of those songs appear on Loud, Fast Ramones!

Loud Fast Ramones: Their Toughest Hits is a compilation CD by Johnny Ramone that chronicles the Ramones's 30 "toughest" tracks. When I bought this album last summer, I didn't buy it for the compilation as I own every album. The reason I bought this compilation is because of the awesome bonus CD the first 50,000 copies had: Ramones Smash You: Live '85. As of this writing, it is the only official live release with Richie Ramone on the drums. Since the album sans the bonus is still in the market, I'll just go ahead and write about it.

Right away, the "Toughest Hits" moniker is suggesting that this compilation should exclusively have all the headbanging, rough tracks that show the guys at their cutthroat best, and no songs of the saccharine variety should be included (as we have enough inclusive compilations...). After all, this had the magnificent militaristic bastard Johnny Ramone doing the compilation work and not sweet Joey or the tragic Dee Dee (or CJ and the replaceable drummers). So...what did we get?

I broke this compilation down by album and the tracks that represent it. Any songs that I find that stand out negatively will be marked in red (purple means a replaceable track):

Ramones
"Blitzkrieg Bop"
"Beat on the Brat"
"Judy is a Punk"

Leave Home
"Gimme Gimme Shock Treatment"
"Commando"
"Glad to See You Go" *
"Pinhead"

Rocket to Russia
"Rockaway Beach"
"We're a Happy Family" *
"Sheena is a Punk Rocker"
"Teenage Lobotomy"

Road to Ruin

"I Wanna Be Sedated"

"I'm Against It" *
"I Wanted Everything" *
"I Just Want to Have Something to Do"
"Rock 'n' Roll High School" (Ed Stasium version found on the Expanded Road to Ruin and the soundtrack Rock 'n' Roll High School)

End of the Century
"Do You Remember Rock 'n' Roll Radio"

Pleasant Dreams
"The KKK Took My Baby Away"

Subterranean Jungle
"Psycho Therapy"
"Outsider" *
"Highest Trails Above" *

Too Tough to Die
"Wart Hog" *
"Mama's Boy"

Animal Boy
"Somebody Put Something in My Drink"

Halfway to Sanity
"I Wanna Live"
"Garden of Serenity"

Brain Drain
"I Believe in Miracles"

Mondo Bizarro
"Main Man" *
"Strength to Endure" *

Adios Amigos
"The Crusher" *

* - Denotes tracks that were not available in Hey Ho Let's Go: The Anthology.
------------------------------------------------

Ramones
"Judy is a Punk" - The song is weak compared to half of that album. "Chainsaw"? "53rd & 3rd"? Even "Loudmouth" would have worked.

Leave Home
I have no major qualms as to what was added, as Leave Home is an early example of the guys at their darkest (even toughest). You could have also added "You're Gonna Kill that Girl" and "You Should Have Never Opened that Door", as those songs aren't as well-known as those four, but I'm okay with the chosen tracks.

Rocket to Russia
"Sheena is a Punk Rocker" and "Rockaway Beach" are fan favorites and not the toughest, loudest songs on that album. How about "I Don't Care" instead of those two.

Road to Ruin
"I Wanna Be Sedated" is a Ramones classic, but I think that its inclusion on this compilation is arguable. "Rock 'n' Roll High School" is a fan favorite that doesn't show the band at their toughest. "Go Mental" is tougher. "I Wanted Everything" could be exchanged for something else.

End of the Century
This album's absence would have brought no ill will whatsoever. A live cut of "Chinese Rock" is included on the bonus disk, but it should have been added on the compilation instead."Do You Remember Rock 'n' Roll Radio?" should have never crossed the mind of anyone when discussing the track selection to this compilation. There may be bad choices on this compilation and some that I disagree with, but that song is the worst choice of them all. Is there any hint of "toughness" on that song?

Pleasant Dreams
Why exclude "We Want the Airwaves"? Everything else is skippable.

Subterranean Jungle
There isn't much to go by as "Psycho Therapy" is it. "Highest Trails Above" is swappable, and "Outsider" is more sweet than tough, but Johnny really liked that song as he often mentioned it on interviews.

Too Tough to Die
"Wart Hog" is tough, but this is criminal. When you have "Danger Zone", "I'm Not Afraid of Life", and "Too Tough to Die", is your only option "Wart Hog"? "Mama's Boy" is fine. The bonus CD includes live cuts of "Too Tough to Die" and the single from this album's recording sessions, "Smash You", both songs that crush "Wart Hog". My only guess for its inclusion is that "Wart Hog" was one of those songs that stayed on the band's set list until their retirement.

~(Too Tough to Die, Animal Boy, Halfway to Sanity, and Brain Drain are basically Ramones albums where the boys are at their TOUGHEST! It doesn't mean that the tracks are great, but the sound is rougher in comparison to most of their recordings prior and after these records.)~

Animal Boy
There was more than "Somebody Put Something in My Drink". How about "Mental Hell"?. Better yet, why didn't he add the title song!

Halfway to Sanity
While I enjoy the fact that "Garden of Serenity" and "I Wanna Live" are represented, I find it odd that "Bop Til' You Drop", a great, tough song was omitted. Then again, there were a few more that were tough as well.

Brain Drain
This album has "Don't Bust My Chops" and "Learn to Listen", songs with toughness that wipe the floor with "I Believe in Miracles" and about 50% of this compilation!

Mondo Bizarro
Mondo Bizarro suffers of being a happy Ramones album, and the songs that Johnny selected are pale in comparison to most tracks on this compilation.

Adios Amigos
I have no qualms with "The Crusher but "Born to Die in Berlin" is also great and it's not in this compilation.

--------------------------
When we talk about "tough" in the sense of word as expressed in this compilation, it probably means something that is resilient, endurable. The classics would easily fit the bill but the rest of the tracks would be put under the bus. The "tough" I though of - rough, troublesome - is probably not the definition Johnny was aiming for. However, some of those tracks are not tough in either of those definitions ("Do You Remember Rock 'n' Roll Radio", "Highest Trails Above" the Mondo Bizarro cuts, etc.)

The "Toughest Hits" moniker suggests whatever Johnny enjoyed that also was an already familiar song. Some fan favorite songs are tough, but there are some that are best left in other expansive collections where career retrospective compilations require the fan songs to be added. Yes, that even included Johnny's love for those Subterranean Jungle tracks (He really loved "Outsider").

In conclusion...



The idea that every track was closely chosen should be thrown out of the window when the majority of liner notes were copied and pasted from the Hey Ho Let's Go: The Anthology compilation, and 21 of the chosen songs are on that compilation. Where is the discussion of Johnny's decision making for this compilation? What guidelines did he put in order to pass up songs like "Bop Til' You Drop" and "Don't Bust My Chops" in exchange for "Sheena is a Punk Rocker" and the antithesis of all sorts of "tough", the horrendously saccharine nostalgic kitsch epic, "Do You Remember Rock 'n' Roll Radio?"? This was a wasted opportunity on what could have been an introduction to some of the Ramones darker, edgier, and/or roughest tracks.


Unless you are searching for the bonus CD or you are a Ramones collector, this is a major rip-off. Don't purchase it if you're new to the band or even remotely familiar with them, as there's better compilations with better track lists and bonuses.

This compilation is a joke.

UP NEXT: Ramones Smash You: Live '85!!, followed by the battle between It's Alive and NYC 1978!

TOO TOUGH TO DIE ADDENDUM!!!

Expanded Edition



After Leave Home's excellent bonuses, Too Tough to Die is the closest competitor as the extras on this album are grand. You are getting 2 singles (the excellent "Smash You" and a ripping cover of "Street Fighting Man"), 8 demos, and two unreleased tracks ("I'm Not An Answer" and "Out of Here"). The demos are way more interesting than the usual fare, as a few of these are either stripped bare-bones renditions ("Howling of the Moon" sounds different!) or Dee Dee sung tracks. Now, I've written that I'm normally not a fan of Dee Dee's vocals, but he does do a great job on a few of these, even with his monotonous singing ("Too Tough to Die" is my favorite.). I'm only disappointed that "Out of Here" has a barely audible vocal track, as that song has a great riff and the lyrics might have been interesting to listen to.

Note No.1


Only the first eight studio albums were remastered, so anything after Too Tough to Die was left untouched. I recently read an old interview with Johnny Ramone (click here) that mentioned how it was getting harder to find extra material because, after this album, he was becoming tired of making demos for executives to listen to choose from and own. Also, Johnny passed way in 2004, thereby making any any further remasters of this quality improbable. I believe that the last things he did merchandise-wise were choosing the tracks for the compilations Weird Tales of the Ramones and Loud, Fast Ramones: Their Toughest Hits, and the commentary track for Ramones: Raw, so he probably didn't get to do anything else. Also, it would be hard to only interview Marky and CJ for the liner notes, as Joey and Johnny had the most input after Dee Dee quit the band.

Note No.2

It's actually bittersweet to review this CD, as the three main band members are dead and have been for over 6 years now (Johnny was the last to go in '04) and this album title always reminds me of that. The title Too Tough to Die is ghastly as it's the music that has survived and the boys themselves did not. Only the 4 drummers (yes, I include Elvis Ramone) and CJ are left. To make matters worse, it's the heart and soul of the group that's buried. I can't listen to this album today without thinking of the depressive undertones of that title. Even the Johnny Ramone tribute DVD is named Too Tough to Die, and while they discuss him, the bands paying tribute to the group are playing Ramones music. In the end, the phrase "Too Tough to Die" isn't exactly describing the group or any one member, it's about the music. Thinking on it, it may have always been about the music as this was the album that brought them back to reality (or at least tried to). The album cover shows them as nothing more than silhouettes, with their name and the albums title more prominent than them in big, bold white lettering contrasting the navy blue background color. That is "Too Tough to Die".

Note No.3 (Added June 4, 2010)

It has come to my attention (via searching on Youtube), that Richie Ramone had done vocal tracks for the band for this album. The two tracks that have surfaced are "Chasing the Night", and "Humankind". I have not found "Humankind", but here's "Chasing the Night".


Album Length

All time references are based on my iTunes tracklist.

# of Tracks: 13 (original), 25 (w/ Bonuses)

Album Length: 36.6 min (original), 1.1 hours (Expanded)
Shortest Track: "Durango 95" - 0:55
Longest Track: "Daytime Dilemma (Dangers of Love)" - 4:32

No "Blitzkrieg Bop" on this album.


NEXT: A live album extravaganza, as I compare the famous IT'S ALIVE and its lesser known cousin NYC 1978!

TOO TOUGH TO DIE!!

Subterranean Jungle was the band at a low point. They sacrificed their earlier sound for a chance to reach the pop charts, only to find themselves in a worse position than the one they left. Going back to their loud, fast style was not an easy option, as their sound was now commonplace amongst the hardcore punks and heavy metal bands. The Ramones chose an alternate, yet necessary route: All our classic stuff but louder, faster, and put in whatever works with it!

Too Tough to Die does not necessarily mark of the return of the earlier Ramones sound but it does bring them back to what is considered to be their meat and potatoes. They play fast, loud, and some songs are actually short on this record. The solos and leads do return, and there's a 3 song stretch on the album with each song passing the 4 minute range, but it's well-executed. With Tommy Ramone and Ed Stasium back in production, the boys managed to combine their classic sound with the lessons learned from the Pop-Ramones era and Too Tough to Die is the best of both worlds.

Sound-wise, this album represents the band at its strongest. Joey voice sounds appropriately darker on this album as it has in fact matured nicely since the early days, and he could still pull of the sweetness when called for. Johnny, as usual, fiercely rips every chord and there are in fact pieces where I think he plays the lead (maybe "Mama's Boy", for one). Of course he doesn't do all the lead work because there's always someone helping him out (Walter Lure makes his return in some tracks, because I bet Johnny didn't play some of those parts in "Chasing the Night"), but it's nice to know that the guitar sound does not come off as strange or as forced as in Subterranean Jungle. Aside from his guitar work, Johnny's major contribution to the album is the only instrumental the band ever made, "Durango 95". It's a short piece piece, but it doesn't overstay its welcome and it would later be the opener for their concerts. As for Dee Dee, I never enjoyed the idea of him singing an entire song as his voice is borderline monotonous, but his singing is adequate for his "hardcore" songs. Finally, Richie Ramone makes his debut replacing Marky and he does not disappoint. He's a faster, metalesque drummer, and I think you can hear in this album the influence he brings in terms of the band's future speed runs. The only negatives I can think of are the synthesizers and KEYBOARDS on "Howling at the Moon", as I find that they make that song a bit dated and whatever that beeping noise on "Chasing the Night"'s chorus comes from is annoying. Finally, there's a piano riff on "Planet Earth 1988", which really sounds non-Ramones, but this album is really one bizarrely effective work the more I think about it.

(The boys have some great atmosphere on the tracks. The darkness of "Mama's Boy" and the tired feelings evoked on "I'm Not Afraid of Alive" really stand out.)

The songwriting on this album is stronger than previous efforts, but the lyrics have become stranger than even the song "Highest Trails Above". Dee Dee's material has the weirdest moments as he had become a bit political and aware of the world outside of the military/communism, but the stuff just go off the wall. (Some of my favorites include "Guerilla armies rule the street, no more Christmas or trick or treat." and "I see an old lady with a shopping bag, and I wonder if life's a drag."on "I'm Not Afraid of Life") "Mama's Boy" and the title track are great tracks, but what the hell was Dee Dee writing about? The first two verses on "Mama's Boy" are about an outcast and/or snitch, but then the song shifts about not wanting to work in different jobs in an abstract world. I think the lyrics on the title track were just written to get to the chorus because they too jump to different subjects without much coherence. His "hardcore" tracks are wacky, but I've read somewhere that "Warthog" was supposed to be about a rehab meeting he went to, so that makes some sense (still sucks). "Planet Earth 1988" and "Howling at the Moon" are Dee Dee's most focused works as he stays on subject and they're great because of it. I wouldn't make a big deal out of Dee Dee's work if it wasn't for the fact that it's so dominant on this album. 

Joey has fewer contributions than usual on this album, but his pieces are also entertaining. Always the romantic, Joey wrote "Chasing the Night" and "Daytime Dilemma". "Chasing the Night"  is similar to "In the Park" as it's topic is hanging out, but the song has an annoying chorus which I blame the instrumental side of things and not lyrics themselves. "Daytime Dilemma" is about some girl who fell in love and her life got unruly. It has a pretty catchy chorus and bridge, but I feel Joey was stressing his vocals a bit. Joey also wrote "No Go", the final track on the album and a fun little ditty to end the album.

(I didn't forget the Richie-penned track "Humankind", but it's lyrics are equally as bizarre as the stuff Dee Dee wrote and not as effective. If I remember correctly, he also wrote "Smash You", which is on the extras on the remaster and that is better.)

This album really is wacky, full of nonsense and pure stream of consciousness in a few areas - but it still rocks. A major, major upgrade from the wretched Subterranean Jungle by leaps and bounds, and one of the Ramones's finest moments. There may be keyboards and synthesizers, the lyrics may have expanded beyond the minimalism and humor of Ramones, and some songs are longer than the usual. Where else can you get love songs, hardcore tracks, politically aware lyrics, and an instrumental in one non-career retrospective album? All those pieces add up to a surprisingly tight album that's worthy of a listen. Plus, the Expanded Edition has a ton of added bonus that makes the album a must-buy!

NEXT: We're back to our chronological studies with IT'S ALIVE/NYC 1978!