The Ramones “It’s Alive”
Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#470 in the Series #46 in the Live Saturday Night Series) is The Ramones, It’s Alive
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame members The Ramones performed 2,263 concerts in their career. They picked one of the best to record and use as a live album and eventually a concert video. The show was New Year’s Eve in 1977. It would take until April of ’79 to get this released.
The double album contains 28 songs and there’s not a bad one in the mix. When this was recorded the band had released three classic albums, The Ramones, Ramones Leave Home and Rocket to Russia. Those three albums are represented heavily on the live discs.
They fly through these songs here with the 28 songs clocking in at just over 53 minutes. They’d finish one and then it would be .. 1, 2, 3, 4 and they’d jump into another.
The album didn’t chart. In fact, for as great
of a band they were, it’s actually quite surprising how few albums that they sold. In the United States, their highest charting album was End of the Century which reached #44 on the Billboard Top 200 Album chart while the highest ranking single was “Rockaway Beach” which only reached #66. They’ll always have that Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nod though.
It’s hard to believe that Joey, Dee Dee and Johnny have all left us, but they did leave us with some great music. Their music is still alive and well through the tons of bands that they influenced.
Do You Remember Rock and Roll Radio?
— Larry Carta
Track listing
All tracks written by The Ramones except where noted.
- “Rockaway Beach” – 2:24
- “Teenage Lobotomy” – 1:55
- “Blitzkrieg Bop” – 2:05
- “I Wanna Be Well” – 2:23
- “Glad to See You Go” – 1:51
- “Gimme Gimme Shock Treatment” – 1:37
- “You’re Gonna Kill That Girl” – 2:28
- “I Don’t Care” – 1:41
- “Sheena Is a Punk Rocker” – 2:16
- “Havana Affair” – 1:35
- “Commando” – 1:40
- “Here Today, Gone Tomorrow” – 2:55
- “Surfin’ Bird” (Frazier, Harris, White, Wilson) – 2:20
- “Cretin Hop” – 1:46
- “Listen to My Heart” – 1:36
- “California Sun” (Henry Glover, Morris Levy) – 1:45
- “I Don’t Wanna Walk Around With You” – 1:25
- “Pinhead” – 2:46
- “Do You Wanna Dance?” (Bobby Freeman) – 1:39
- “Chain Saw” – 1:29
- “Today Your Love, Tomorrow the World” – 1:55
- “Now I Wanna Be a Good Boy” – 2:03
- “Judy Is a Punk” – 1:14
- “Suzy Is a Headbanger” – 1:53
- “Let’s Dance” (Jim Lee) – 2:03
- “Oh Oh I Love Her So” – 1:40
- “Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue” – 1:18
- “We’re a Happy Family” (Joey Ramone) – 2:07
Personnel
- Joey Ramone – lead vocals
- Johnny Ramone – guitar
- Dee Dee Ramone – bass, backing vocals
- Tommy Ramone – drums
Lists
Make sure you check out this lengthy video playlist. The quality is outstanding!
This was my first Ramones album. It was a weird way to get into them, but I never looked back. Da brudders!
If I’m not mistaken I got this one on import before it came out in the US, or at least I picked the import up and looked at it over and over again before I finally bought it.
I got it as an import as well.