RAMONES Vinilo y CD

Review: The Ramones had long reshaped the world of music in their beautifully twisted image by the time they recorded this, their second live album, in Spain in 1991. But the New York punks were seemingly addicted to playing live, touring relentlessly throughout the 80s and 90s, and their tightly drilled act is at fever pitch here, careering through an incredible 32 'blink and you'll miss them' tracks across four sides of vinyl. A handful of covers - there's a blistering version of The Trashmen's early rock 'n' roll stormer 'Surfin' Bird', for instance - nestle alongside timeless originals such as 'I Wanna Be Sedated', 'Beat On The Brat' and 'Sheena Is A Punk Rocker', with a healthy selection of deeper cuts from the late 80s here too. Top mayhem.

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').