(It's been a while since I last promised the complete Adios Amigos review. I never expected the review to go past 2010, but it's better late than never.)
What about the other three members's input (Joey, CJ, and Marky)?
Joey brings two great songs in the mix, starting with the T.Rex homage "Life's a Gas". It's a sentimental song, and while it drags for a song that repeats its verses and chorus, Joey sounds like he believes every word he sings. (It's probably the best time to mention that Joey is in great form on most of this album.) It's a deep cut gem, and one that Joey fans shouldn't pass, His other contribution is "She Talks to Rainbows", a song about unrequited love for someone with a mental disorder, and another song whose mood is so thick that it's depressing. This is one of the best tracks on the album, and one of the best songs that Joey wrote for the band in general.
CJ has two songs of his own, "Scattergun" and "Got Alot to Say". Both are not as strong as Joey's input, but they have their own moments of joy. "Got Alot to Say" is a humorous song about someone who really doesn't have a lot to say, and its short length makes it a tight and quick affair. "Scattergun" is slower and sounds like something that would have fit nicely in Mondo Bizarro as it's akin to "Main Man". It's not my cup of tea, but it's better than some of Dee Dee's work on this album.
With Joey and CJ bringing in most of the active member input, Marky wrote one song, "Have a Nice Day". It's similar to his previous work, "Anxiety", in that both are short and both follow the classic Ramones song structure from their earlier albums. It's a good song, but Joey sounds a bit rough on this one (probably trying to match the speed on it).
Before I finish this up, I would like to mention that "I Love You" is a boring cover in the same vein as most of the Acid Eaters album - an almost note-by-note copy with nothing new except for Joey's horrible vocal performance.
The three Ramones's output brings in one classic song, a great one, and three good ones. Does that mean that they were more than capable of working without Dee Dee? No, but it does mean that the rest of the band were better songwriters by the end. It's possible that Dee Dee sold them the songs and they ran with it instead of making more of their own tracks. They had the potential to make a fun album here, and it's mostly a successful effort. Buy it and enjoy it outside of its historical value. The deep cuts are worth a listen.
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Monday, November 8, 2010
¡Adios Amigos! Part One
For a member of a band to quit and continuously contribute songs to which half of band's final album consists of this ex-member's material, and half of those songs are covers of his previous solo albums, not only speaks about the level of respect and importance this member is to the band, but it also speaks of the position in which the band is in that requires that member's aide.
Adios Amigos is a strong album, but there is an unavoidable shadow that looms on this album - Dee Dee's material. About half of the songs on this album are Dee Dee's, making it the most Dee Dee filled album since Brain Drain. If you put in Mondo Bizarro as the only other post-Dee Dee album filled with original material, it still feels as if Dee Dee never left the band. This would not have been so problematic if it wasn't for two things:
1. Dee Dee's talents had eroded considerably since his early days with the group. Compare the simplicity of Rocket to Russia's "Locket Love" to the abstract writing in Too Tough To Die's "I'm Not Afraid of Life". It appeared that Dee Dee's mental well-being affected his songwriting. Some of my favorite Dee Dee-written tracks on the later albums ("Bop Til' You Drop", "I Wanna Live") have moments where the lyrics are just plain wretched and abstract and/or his focus wasn't strong enough to be on topic for a whole song. Also, Dee Dee had a habit of writing way too many songs about his problems which plagued the later albums, and some of them were also filled with the abstract lyrics. He still had a gem or two in every album, but you would have to sit through the rest of his material to get into any of it.
2. Three of the songs he contributed were already available, and there is almost no difference between those versions and the Ramones covers. It all comes down to whether or not you prefer to listen to Dee Dee sing.
Dee Dee's material, quality-wise, is all over the place. Starting with the worst song on this album, and in all of the Ramones discography, comes "Cretin Family". It's the laziest songwriting and musical arrangement of any Ramones song with the "Psycho Therapy" hook completely ripped off that song and pasted here as if no one would notice, combined with the saddest attempt at remaking an anthem in the vein of "Cretin Hop", "Blitzkrieg Hop", and the already mentioned "Psycho Therapy". It's insulting that they would try to pass this off as something fresh and new when they continuously played those anthems for most of their careers, with fans memorizing every lyric, hook, and chord change. What were they thinking?
In the middle lie "Making Monsters For My Friends", "It's Not For Me to Know", and "Take the Pain Away". "Making Monsters For My Friends" is a goofy song with Dee Dee's abstract lyrics about something that's not entirely based on the title. It's not a bad song, but it is puzzling that they allowed this one on the album. The next two share the "Dee Dee's problems" theme, and it sounds as if they were meant to be on Brain Drain or Halfway to Sanity instead of Adios Amigos.
Dee Dee's best are "The Crusher" and "Born to Die in Berlin". Music-wise, "The Crusher" is not as different compared to the version on the Standing in the Spotlight album, but CJ's enthusiasm and the focused lyrics of wrestling in Madison Square Garden make it a winner. "Born to Die in Berlin" is similar to the "problems" themed songs, but it's a focused song, the band doesn't sound as bored as they did in prior work, and this might sound strange, but this song has a feeling of unfortunate fatalism and the narrator's allowance of it that works well with the album itself. Unlike Motorhead's "Ace of Spades" in which the narrator plays with his fate, "BtDiB"'s narrator accepts the fate but is helpless in attempting to fix them. It's a surprisingly strong effort from Dee Dee at this point and one of the highlights from the album.
To say that this album would have been better without Dee Dee is not entirely wrong, as all but two songs were more of the same material that has appeared on all post Subterranean Jungle albums. Still, you'd have to take into account the rest of the material on the album to get a full picture. Was the band better off writing their own material?
NEXT: PART TWO!!!
Adios Amigos is a strong album, but there is an unavoidable shadow that looms on this album - Dee Dee's material. About half of the songs on this album are Dee Dee's, making it the most Dee Dee filled album since Brain Drain. If you put in Mondo Bizarro as the only other post-Dee Dee album filled with original material, it still feels as if Dee Dee never left the band. This would not have been so problematic if it wasn't for two things:
1. Dee Dee's talents had eroded considerably since his early days with the group. Compare the simplicity of Rocket to Russia's "Locket Love" to the abstract writing in Too Tough To Die's "I'm Not Afraid of Life". It appeared that Dee Dee's mental well-being affected his songwriting. Some of my favorite Dee Dee-written tracks on the later albums ("Bop Til' You Drop", "I Wanna Live") have moments where the lyrics are just plain wretched and abstract and/or his focus wasn't strong enough to be on topic for a whole song. Also, Dee Dee had a habit of writing way too many songs about his problems which plagued the later albums, and some of them were also filled with the abstract lyrics. He still had a gem or two in every album, but you would have to sit through the rest of his material to get into any of it.
2. Three of the songs he contributed were already available, and there is almost no difference between those versions and the Ramones covers. It all comes down to whether or not you prefer to listen to Dee Dee sing.
Dee Dee's material, quality-wise, is all over the place. Starting with the worst song on this album, and in all of the Ramones discography, comes "Cretin Family". It's the laziest songwriting and musical arrangement of any Ramones song with the "Psycho Therapy" hook completely ripped off that song and pasted here as if no one would notice, combined with the saddest attempt at remaking an anthem in the vein of "Cretin Hop", "Blitzkrieg Hop", and the already mentioned "Psycho Therapy". It's insulting that they would try to pass this off as something fresh and new when they continuously played those anthems for most of their careers, with fans memorizing every lyric, hook, and chord change. What were they thinking?
In the middle lie "Making Monsters For My Friends", "It's Not For Me to Know", and "Take the Pain Away". "Making Monsters For My Friends" is a goofy song with Dee Dee's abstract lyrics about something that's not entirely based on the title. It's not a bad song, but it is puzzling that they allowed this one on the album. The next two share the "Dee Dee's problems" theme, and it sounds as if they were meant to be on Brain Drain or Halfway to Sanity instead of Adios Amigos.
Dee Dee's best are "The Crusher" and "Born to Die in Berlin". Music-wise, "The Crusher" is not as different compared to the version on the Standing in the Spotlight album, but CJ's enthusiasm and the focused lyrics of wrestling in Madison Square Garden make it a winner. "Born to Die in Berlin" is similar to the "problems" themed songs, but it's a focused song, the band doesn't sound as bored as they did in prior work, and this might sound strange, but this song has a feeling of unfortunate fatalism and the narrator's allowance of it that works well with the album itself. Unlike Motorhead's "Ace of Spades" in which the narrator plays with his fate, "BtDiB"'s narrator accepts the fate but is helpless in attempting to fix them. It's a surprisingly strong effort from Dee Dee at this point and one of the highlights from the album.
To say that this album would have been better without Dee Dee is not entirely wrong, as all but two songs were more of the same material that has appeared on all post Subterranean Jungle albums. Still, you'd have to take into account the rest of the material on the album to get a full picture. Was the band better off writing their own material?
NEXT: PART TWO!!!
Thursday, September 2, 2010
About Adios Amigos
I started writing the review in August, but it seems that every time I write it, I find something new that I have to write more on, and it seems that this will take me longer than I thought. Hopefully, I'll finish this by next week.
Adios Amigos Addendum
Extras
Th extra on this album is either the hidden track "R.A.M.O.N.E.S." or "Spider-Man", and the addition of those tracks depends on what region you bought the album from and/or which album printing edition it is. My copy, a North American CD, doesn't have "Spider-Man" nor "R.A.M.O.N.E.S.". Captain Oi! Records has their version with "R.A.M.O.N.E.S." on it and the CD also includes liner notes by Monte Melnick.
"R.A.M.O.N.E.S." is easily available live with Lemmy as a guest on We're Outta Here, as a bonus studio track on Greatest Hits Live, and it's also on numerous compilations.
The version of "Spider-Man" on Adios Amigos is the elusive studio cut that's currently only available on the complete Weird Tales of the Ramones box set. This cut is not available as a stand-alone MP3 purchase.
Album Info
All time references are based on my iTunes tracklist.
Album Length: 33.9 minutes
Shortest Track: "Have a Nice Day" - 1:39
Longest Track: "Life's a Gas" - 3:34
No "Blitzkrieg Bop" on this album.
This post wraps up my album reviews, as there are no more studio albums after this one. The last two major releases during the band's active life were the live albums Greatest Hits Live and We're Outta Here.
UP NEXT: GREATEST HITS LIVE
Th extra on this album is either the hidden track "R.A.M.O.N.E.S." or "Spider-Man", and the addition of those tracks depends on what region you bought the album from and/or which album printing edition it is. My copy, a North American CD, doesn't have "Spider-Man" nor "R.A.M.O.N.E.S.". Captain Oi! Records has their version with "R.A.M.O.N.E.S." on it and the CD also includes liner notes by Monte Melnick.
"R.A.M.O.N.E.S." is easily available live with Lemmy as a guest on We're Outta Here, as a bonus studio track on Greatest Hits Live, and it's also on numerous compilations.
The version of "Spider-Man" on Adios Amigos is the elusive studio cut that's currently only available on the complete Weird Tales of the Ramones box set. This cut is not available as a stand-alone MP3 purchase.
Album Info
All time references are based on my iTunes tracklist.
Album Length: 33.9 minutes
Shortest Track: "Have a Nice Day" - 1:39
Longest Track: "Life's a Gas" - 3:34
No "Blitzkrieg Bop" on this album.
This post wraps up my album reviews, as there are no more studio albums after this one. The last two major releases during the band's active life were the live albums Greatest Hits Live and We're Outta Here.
UP NEXT: GREATEST HITS LIVE
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