RAMONES Vinilo y CD

Review: Originally released in 1978, Road To Ruin would serve as the fourth full-length from leather jacket-clad punk pioneers The Ramones. While a rejected, mitigated flop upon release due to the band's swing for the radio fences (or airwaves) complete with sonic elements at the time alien to the punkosphere such as acoustic guitars, lead guitar solos and 60s pop ballads, in the near five decades since release, the project has been reevaluated as a bold successor to 1977's iconic Rocket To Russia (although that album did place 50 places ahead on the Billboard 200 at the time of release). Marking (no pun intended) their first effort to feature drummer Marky Ramone, who replaced Tommy Ramone after his departure due to the inability to keep up with the rigors of touring and lack of residuals from their previous record; the album's glossy, clean production has slowly morphed from malaise to praise over the ensuing decades, while offering up some of their most timeless and essential bangers including 'Needles & Pins' and 'I Wanna Be Sedated' (which if Spotify metrics are anything to go by, is the band's most popular song after, of course, 'Blitzkrieg Bop').

Review: This Ramones album - one of their very, very many - is packed with relentless guitar energy and a proud punk ethos. Originally released in 1987, it captures their raw spirit and is packed with gritty rock licks and infectious melodies. Featuring standout tracks like the opener 'I Wanna Live' and the guttural vocal bite of 'Garden of Serenity' it showcases the band's evolution while staying true to their signature sound, during what was a pivotal moment in the US punks' lengthy career, a decade or so on from their explosive arrival.

Review: Are The Ramones now best known for being on t-shirts worn by people who have never heard the band? Maybe. But either way, Too Tough To Die, which was released 40 years ago, is often seen as a return to form. Really, it deserves a more radical categorisation. Released in the mid-1980s, the album felt out of step with the era, not in a negative way, but in how it captured the contradictions of its time. Made without a clear direction, its incongruity became its defining feature. As Joey Ramone noted in a 1988 interview, "Around '84, the world was changing drastically... Things were getting scary. So, our songs started changing." This shift in tone marked a new chapter in their musical evolution.

Review: Originally released in 1981, the recording of the sixth full-length Ramones' album was anything but Pleasant Dreams (get it?) as their label Sire opted to push producer Graham Gouldman into their sessions in order to garner hype from a big name. With the brothers Ramone unhappy with this decision as well as their own internal strife due to alcohol and drug dependency, as well as Johnny starting a relationship with Joey's girlfriend, conflict poured over into the material with a creative stalemate as to whether to pursue a more pop-punk direction with an increased prioritisation on melody, or to 180 into feral hard rock, and with this being the Ramones, of course no agreement or compromise was reached, with the tracklist veering wildly between these two frenetic approaches constantly. Boasting some of the highest production values of any album in the Ramones canon as well as one of their best singles in 'The KKK Took My Baby Away', while offering up very un-punk yet undeniable anthems such as the aptly titled, 'We Want the Airwaves', and, 'She's A Sensation', Pleasant Dreams may have somewhat flopped upon initial release, but has grown to become an unlikely fan favourite in the decades since.