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--- In , Richard <errant_jedi@y...>
wrote:
> Speaking of all this, does anybody have either of
> those "Ramonentures" albums?
I wouldn't say either one is fantastic. The problem with the Ramones
one is some of the vocal melodies don't translate to guitar all that
well. It's an interesting result -- "Carbona Not Glue," which is one
of my favorite Ramones songs, is pretty bland as an instro, but "Pet
Cemetary" works better (for me, at least) the way it's done on the
Ramonetures album.
Another drawback is most of the songs ("Pet Cemetary" and "Today Your
Love, Tomorrow the World" aside) are the really, really poppy ones,
like "She's a Sensation" and "Oh Oh I Love Her So."
There are some great darker songs like "Somebody Put Something in My
Drink" or "53rd & 3rd" that could have worked really well, but for
whatever reason they're nowhere to be found. (Fortunately, the C.J.-
era stuff is pretty much M.I.A. as well.)
The album as a whole is interesting the first two or three times, but
I can't say I'm not going to reach for Leave Home, It's Alive or
Rocket to Russia instead.
Having said that, two of my absolute favorite surf songs are the
versions of "The KKK Took My Baby Away" and "Rockaway Beach."
Personally, I think the X one, Johnny Walk Don't Run Paulene, holds
up much better to repeated listens. The instrumentation is a lot
more diverse (Billy Zoom plays like a gajillion different instruments
during the course of the album), and it's really interesting how they
replicated John & Exene's non-harmonies.
They're both worth hunting down if you like the original bands.
Have you tried www.gemm.com? That site's a really good last resort.
-Warren
