Ramones - Ramones (Acoustic Sounds 40 Series) Ramones

The Ramones ignited the punk-rock movement with their eponymous 1976 debut album, revitalising rock and roll at one of it's lowest ebbs with attitude, energy and a loud, fast new sound. By cutting music down to it's bare essentials — four chords; a simple, catchy melody; a sped-up tempo and irresistibly inane lyrics, the Ramones blazed the trail for thousands of bands that followed, influencing everyone from The Clash and The Sex Pistols to Green Day and The Offspring.

Although The Ramones never achieved mainstream financial success, they released 21 live and studio albums, had a devoted fan base and were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2002. Other bands, such as the Stooges and the New York Dolls, came before them and set the stage and aesthetic for punk, and bands that immediately followed, such as the Sex Pistols, made the latent violence of the music more explicit, but the Ramones crystallised the musical ideals of the genre.

Still the loudest wake-up call rock ever had.

"Analogue Productions is upping the ante by giving the group's landmark album the 2LP 45rpm audiophile treatment as part of the label's 40th anniversary. ... presenting this iconic cover on a Stoughton tip-on jacket — formatting the printed inner sleeve as a gatefold for the first time — gives it serious class. ... spreading a 29-minute album across 2 LPs at 45rpm to the point where one doesn't need a magnifying glass to see how wide the grooves are is insane!

It goes without saying that the instrumental separation-take into account the mix's radical approach of placing Dee Dee's bass and Johnny's guitar hard-panned to the left and right, respectively-is the most impressive facet of this pressing. ... Tommy's drums have a full-bodied tone that absorbs the soundstage to a stupendous degree. Joey's vocals, locked in dead center, have far better enunciation, popping out three-dimensionally when he and Dee Dee chant ‘hey ho let's go' with utmost conviction on "Blitzkrieg Bop." Subtleties like the underlying cowbell on "Havana Affair" and the pipe organ on "Let's Dance" also have more prominence. ...

Analogue Productions' edition doesn't just magnify every nuance to present the end-all be-all way to experience this album. Matthew Lutthans made this tight and compact band sound much broader and almost cinematic — a radical departure from how most people remember this album sounding." — Music 10/11; Sound 10/11 — Dylan Peggin, TrackingAngle.com.