The 1981 Listening Post - The Ramones - Pleasant Dreams

 The Ramones - Pleasant Dreams

#343

July 20 1981

The Ramones

Pleasant Dreams

Genre: Ramones

Allen’s 2015 rating: 4 out of 5

Allen’s 2021 rating: 3.75 out of 5

Highlights:

The KKK Took M y Baby Away

She’s a Sensation

Come On Now

This one got dropped by a Listening Poster who got avalanched by a work load and, when it came time to assign it I thought…wait a minute. You gave this record 4 stars 5 years ago when you KNOW that listening to Ramones albums is an exercise in diminishing returns. Why did you rate it so high when other outlets put it straight in the middle of the band’s oeuvre? (Christgau not withstanding).

For one thing it starts off in a rather alternative way with a guitar pattern that seems almost alien to Johnny and the band’s style. The nearly syncopated back strokes on “We Want the Airwaves” is dissimilar from, say, “I Wanna Be Sedated” or even “Rock and Roll High School” almost seeming to vault from the sped-up-50s of past records to a more 60s psychedelic garage and then we get to the nearly sublime Power Pop/Garage of “The KKK Took My Baby Away” and I am reminded of the fact that these guys are…not lefty. You know? I mean, politically Johnny was a pretty hardcore Reagan conservative and, while he didn’t write it, it’s the single here. It’s also not lost on me that the song is written by Joey who also wrote an ode to Maria Bartiromo before he died and, dammit, Maria is a pretty hardcore right wing State TV staple, yes? So, the incongruity is…weird and confusing and also punk. Very punk.

The album is almost like a grown up version of a Ramones record, which…is not what the world really needs. You know? I still think End of the Century is the better record. 

But it’s chock full of darn good songs. Not enough to have earned that original ranking.

https://music.apple.com/us/album/pleasant-dreams/850037840

The 1980 Listening Post - The Ramones - End of the Century

The Ramones - End of the Century

#44

Reviewed by Chris Jackson

February 4 1980

The Ramones

End of the Century

Genre: Formerly punk? Garage rock?

Allen’s Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Chris’s Rating: 2.25 out of 5

Allen’s Highlights:

Do You Remember Rock and Roll High Radio?

Rock and Roll High School

Chris’s Highlights:

“Baby, I Love You”

“Rock ‘n’ Roll High School”

I have a confession to make that I am sure will be met with much teeth-gnashing and shocked pearl-clutching by many of my musical friends: I’m not much of a Ramones fan. To my ears, they’re one-trick ponies and if you weren’t overly impressed with that one trick in the first place, well…

But let’s approach this with an open mind: perhaps this attempt by producer Phil “Hair Bear” Spector to push them into more refined territory production-wise and a poppier direction might win me over? No, as it turns out, not so much.

If you removed the phrases “LET’S GO!” and “Whoah-oh-oh!” from every Ramones song, you’d be left with mostly silence. They sprinkle them throughout this release, as well, but it fails to generate excitement. In fact, over half of the record drags and lacks any real energy save for a handful of tracks on the second side. 

The singles from this were “Do You Remember Rock ‘n’ Roll Radio?” and “Baby, I Love You”. The first of which seems like the band was being forced to do something they didn’t want to do, which, by many accounts, is an accurate description of the creation of this album. I’m not the biggest fan of what they normally do, but this just doesn’t sound like what they normally do or what they even want to be doing. “Baby, I Love You” is the best track on the album and it’s the only one they didn’t write, which I guess is a bit telling. When covering a Ronettes song, they might have felt the freedom to have a bit more fun with it since they didn’t “own” it like they did all of the others that they wrote. 

The other well-known track from the record is “Rock ‘n’ Roll High School,” which is also a standout. It’s near the end of the album, but it’s catchy, surfy and has some “oomph” to it. The song is rather derivative and nothing we haven’t heard done better by others, but at least they sound like they’re somewhat enjoying themselves.

https://open.spotify.com/album/0QMXeMF3OAF41q35GJvKiR?si=3rseXIgzTiWWRP1mx4DKAQ

The 1986 Listening Post - The Ramones - Animal Boy

The Ramones - Animal Boy

#178/1343

May 19 1986

The Ramones

Animal Boy

Genre: Rock

3.75 out of 5

Highlights:

Somebody Put Something in My Drink

Crummy Stuff

Something to Believe In

What a weird thing. The last record was thick and dense and I loved it. Part of that was the arrival of “Richie Ramone”, the new drummer. He keeps up that dark, ominous feel with the opening track, “Somebody Put Something in My Drink” which he wrote and Joey sings in a low tone growl that belies anything I’ve heard from his before. So it doesn’t sound like traditional Ramones and yet it sounds JUST like The Ramones. 

But this is just an uglier Ramones record bereft of the energy and lunacy we’ve come to expect from the guys. (“Apeman Hop”? Really????). 

https://music.apple.com/us/album/animal-boy/847943104

The 1984 Listening Post - The Ramones - Too Tough to Die

The Ramones - Too Tough to Die

#253
October 1 1984
The Ramones
Too Tough to Die
4.25 out of 5

Highlights:
Mama's Boy
Too Tough to Die
Howling at the Moon (Sha La La)
Daytime Dilemma


Take The Ramones, force them to listen to the Cramps for a week, put them in the studio and you get "Mama's Boy" & "Afraid of Life" and even the title track.
It's hard to say they are back when Subterranean Jungle was really the only misstep in their catalog to this point.

I remember when this came out. My roommate, Alex, who became the bassist for Raging Slab, had it. He wouldn't stop playing it. Extolling it. I didn't get it. And then I heard a bunch of the tracks on the Anthology and boy did I get it.
This is the first time in a while that the boys seem to be having a good time ("Chasing the Night", "Howling at the Moon) and world aware "Daytime Dilemma (Dangers of Love)", with it's almost too cute attempt at a piano glide. Like when I tried to play harmonica on a Sparky track. Alllllmost good. But the effort is the reward.
Right about the end of the second side the boys run out of steam, but that's always the case. 75% of a good Ramones record is the exact amount one needs, gets or, possibly, deserves.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/too-tough-to-die/847630406