Ramones – Ramones [Vinyl LP 180g]

Ramones – Ramones [180g Vinyl LP]

Details

• Format: Vinyl LP, Album, Reissue, Remastered, Half-Speed Mastered, Stereo
• Catalogue Number: RR1 6020 / 081227932756
• Barcode: 081227932756
• Genre: Punk / Rock & Roll
• Label: Sire / Rhino / Warner Music
• Originally Released: 23 April 1976
• Reissue Released: 9 February 2018
• Pressing: 180 Gram Vinyl
• Condition: New & Sealed

Description

Ramones is the debut album by the Ramones — released on 23 April 1976 on Sire Records — and one of the most historically significant records in the history of popular music. Recorded in 17 hours at Plaza Sound Studios in New York City for a total cost of $6,400, produced by Craig Leon, it announced the arrival of punk rock to a world that had not yet been told what punk rock was. The Ramones — Joey Ramone (vocals), Johnny Ramone (guitar), Dee Dee Ramone (bass) and Tommy Ramone (drums) — had been playing at CBGB on the Bowery in Manhattan since August 1974, refining a sound built from the wreckage of the original 1950s rock and roll that Lennon, McCartney and Richards had loved, stripped entirely of the studio sophistication and virtuoso indulgence that had accumulated around rock by the mid-1970s. The result was 14 songs in 29 minutes — the shortest major-label debut album ever recorded at the time — averaging two minutes and nine seconds per track, with no guitar solos, no extended passages, and no concessions to prevailing fashion.

The album did not chart on release in either the US or UK — it reached only number 111 on the Billboard 200 — but its cultural effect was disproportionate to its commercial performance in ways that are almost without parallel in recorded music history. Both Paul McCartney and John Lennon have been quoted acknowledging its impact; Pete Townshend described it as "the most important record of the last ten years"; the Sex Pistols, The Clash, The Jam, Wire, the Buzzcocks, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Blondie, Talking Heads, Elvis Costello and virtually every British punk and new wave act that followed all absorbed its lessons, directly or indirectly. The album is ranked number 33 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time and was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2014. "Blitzkrieg Bop" — the album's opener, with its "Hey Ho Let's Go" chant — is as recognisable a rock beginning as exists on record. "Beat on the Brat", "Judy Is a Punk", "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend" and "Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue" complete the opening side; "I Don't Wanna Walk Around with You", "Today Your Love, Tomorrow the World" and "Let's Dance" anchor the second.

This 2018 Sire / Rhino reissue presents the album sourced from a 2016 remaster and cut at half-speed by Miles Showell at Abbey Road Studios — confirmed from the matrix runout: "MILES. ABBEY ROAD 1/2 SPEED" — with additional mastering by Sean Magee. The half-speed process, in which the lacquer is cut at half the normal speed allowing the cutting head twice the time per groove, produces demonstrably cleaner high-frequency reproduction and wider dynamic range compared to standard-speed cuts, and has been applied here to one of the most sonically direct and unadorned recordings in the punk canon with considerable results. Pressed on 180 gram black vinyl, housed in a single sleeve with a printed inner sleeve reproducing the original 1976 artwork and credits. Made in Europe. The barcode and catalogue number are identical on this pressing.

Tracklist

Side A

1. Blitzkrieg Bop
2. Beat on the Brat
3. Judy Is a Punk
4. I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend
5. Chain Saw
6. Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue
7. I Don't Wanna Go Down to the Basement

Side B

1. Loudmouth
2. Havana Affair
3. Listen to My Heart
4. 53rd & 3rd
5. Let's Dance
6. I Don't Wanna Walk Around with You
7. Today Your Love, Tomorrow the World

Credits

• Joey Ramone – Vocals
• Johnny Ramone – Guitar
• Dee Dee Ramone – Bass, Vocals
• Tommy Ramone – Drums
• Craig Leon – Producer
• Rob Freeman – Engineer
• Miles Showell – Half-Speed Mastering, Abbey Road Studios
• Sean Magee – Mastering
• Roberta Bayley – Cover Photography
• Label – Sire / Rhino / Warner Music