Poisoned Heart: I Married Dee Dee Ramone

This is the first post in the new Books category for the blog. Ramones books aren't rare, but most are from family, friends, or biographers/scholars. Aside from Monte Melnick's On the Road with the Ramones, and the upcoming book Johnny was writing prior to his death, you know what you'll be getting isn't directly from any of the members of the group.

Poisoned Heart: I Married Dee Dee Ramone oozes of the family and friends category to a fault. Vera Ramone, Dee Dee's first wife, writes about her long, troublesome relationship with the the band's most unstable member in a conflicting dichotomy throughout the whole book. In one side, her relationship with Dee Dee is full of lovely anecdotes of Dee Dee being goofy and an amicable husband, but the other side is pure horror. The horror is all based on his barely controlled drug use and his deteriorated mental condition, and how it leads to the brutal stories of domestic (physical and psychological) abuse that trumps some of the stuff that I've read in Pattie Boyd's Wonderful Tonight or John Lennon's biographies. The problem with the two opposing sides and the book in general is that, after writing about those impressionable moments, it all feels as it's swept under the rug with her unabashed love for the man. It's a battered wife story that unfortunately is common in life and in rock, and it never comes off well when it all sounds excused. It's great that this is not a hagiography of one of punk rock's infamous pioneers, but it's off-putting either way.

If you're looking for new bits of non-Dee Dee related Ramones dirt or stories, you won't find much here other than expanded information on older tales (The day when the band realized Johnny and Linda were together, some stuff on Joey's personal life). Her opinions on the band members and those around them coincides with what others have written about (Johnny Ramone is cold and distant, Joey was a romantic, etc..). If there's one story that unfortunately sticks to mind about the band in general, it's the 7-11 incident in Texas where Dee Dee savagely assaults Vera in front of the band, and no one but Monte gets involved.

I recommend the book to Dee Dee fans who want more information on his personal life and stories behind some of his later Ramones work, and I also recommend it to those that want to confirm stories and character portraits as Vera doesn't paint in broad strokes. However, her overall attitude about Dee Dee creeps me out, but...

Her book says enough to make my own opinion.

(On a side note- Is there anything outside of that Too Tough To Die Tribute DVD where Johnny Ramone doesn't come off as an asshole?)

Ramones: It's Alive 1974-1996 Review

After a plethora of album retrospectives, it's time to go into other forms of Ramones media!

Ramones: It's Alive 1974-1996 is a 2-DVD live show set that sets out to be the ultimate retrospective of the band's many live performances. This is a collection of fan recorded footage (primitive era recording!), actual film footage of the famous 1977 It's Alive concert (thus this collection's name), and other recorded concerts and international TV show appearances. As much as it wants to be the ultimate retrospective, this DVD collection feels like someone is dangling a bigger collection of concert footage above you, only to take it away when you try to reach for it. It's a good, albeit incomplete retrospective of the band's concert run.

The available footage is good as you do get a retrospective of the band's progress and evolution from playing "Blitzkrieg Bop" in CBGB to headlining at River Plate Stadium in Argentina. The early fan footage on Disk 1 is the hardest to watch and listen as it was recorded with early camcorders and the tape those shows were on had aged significantly. It's also unfortunate that only one piece of footage was included from their initial year, as everything else on the disk (1976-77) has been well documented and represented. Setbacks aside, it's fun to watch the fan footage and the TV clips of the guys.

The compilation's marketed pièce de résistance is the 1977 It's Alive concert that was only seen in 30-second clips on numerous documentaries and Ramones related programs. I've written about the qualms I've had with the live album that was recorded from this concert, and I can unfortunately also write the same sentiments about the film footage. Yes, you are seeing the band play on stage in front of a live audience in England but you are not listening to the actual music that was played that night, and at this point you probably wont listen to the actual recording of the show's audio unless you dig deep somewhere. Again, I have to reference the Mark Prindle interview with Marky Ramone and the discussion about It's Alive's re-recording. The footage is also far from complete, but some of the missing songs have appeared on Youtube, and the footage itself appears to have been sped-up in some points.

Disk 2 jumps between different band eras, from the start of Marky's run all the way to CJ replacing Dee Dee and the end of the band's incredible run. The footage is better as most of it was professionally recorded and none of it is damaged. It's always great to get some bits of the brief time Richie was with the group (more would have been gladly accepted), as it always feels as if he's an unperson when it comes to Ramones merchandise. The songs vary greatly compared to the last disc, but it's fine to see how "Blitzkrieg Bop" became an experiment in speed playing.

While the rest of the footage is good, there's two great bits of footage missing: The rest of the River Plate Stadium concert, and the We're Outta Here footage. Again, you can see this footage on Youtube so there probably was a rights issue or a timing constraint that prevented the rest of the footage to come out. It puts a bit of a damper on things as those two concerts were a big deal for the band and need to be seen.

This DVD looks to be out of print, but you can get it for as low as $8 online on a few sites. It's a bargain price for what you're getting and I gladly recommend it for fans and even newcomers. Casuals listeners may be annoyed by the thirteenth version of "Blitzkrieg Bop", but you're getting a ton of music and history for a cheap price.

NEXT: Probably a book...

For my review of the It's Alive live album and its comparison to NYC 1978, click here!

We're Outta Here Addendum

We're Outta Here Box Set

When the album was first released in 1997, some copies were bundled with a "Ramones Film Crew" VHS. It's reported to be a long documentary about the final concert with interviews and prior concert footage in between. I own it but I haven't seen it due to not owning a reliable VHS player (Mine is older than the documentary). It hasn't been re-released in the US, but it's available in Europe on DVD (It's possibly PAL and Region Coded, so importers beware).


The Final Update?

No, this is not the final update. There's still a ton of Ramones products that I've yet to purchase and there may even be new releases to pick up. I still don't own the You Don't Come Close live CD, Weird Tales of the Ramones, and tons more. I might not get to it all in a weekly or even monthly basis, but I'll still review the stuff as soon as I get it.


"Blitzkrieg Bop"
This is the final Blitzkrieg Bop performed by the four Ramones, and it comes in at one minute, 36 seconds. Compared to the 2:13 original, the band eliminated 37 seconds of slowness! Quality-wise it's subjective, but the impact is amazing. If you are really picky about it, there's a two second intro to this song, making it about 1:34 seconds. Yes, it's that fast!

Album Info

All times are from my iTunes tracklist.

Album Length: 1 hour, 4 minutes
# of Tracks: 32
Shortest Track: "Gimme Gimmie Shock Treatment" - 1:16
Longest Track: "Any Way You Want It" - 3:17
Length of "Blitzkrieg Bop": 1:36 (-37 seconds from original studio cut)


NEXT: WHO KNOWS??

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.