RAMONES

Road To Ruin: 40th Anniversary Edition 8/10

The Ramones’ fourth album was yet another near-perfect offering of pop-punk songs about love, hate, mental health and self-doubt. Fourth time lucky? Sadly not. Like its predecessors, Road To Ruin failed to break the charts despite containing great covers (“Needles And Pins”), amazing ballads (“Questioningly”) and one of the band’s catchiest songs in “I Wanna Be Sedated” – although that’s partly the fault of Sire, which only released it as a B-side to “She’s The One”. The continued lack of success was now beginning to take its toll. Road To Ruin was the first album to feature a different lineup, with Marky replacing Tommy on drums, although Tommy stayed to co-produce with Ed Stasium. Stasium oversaw this 40th-anniversary reissue, a three-disc set that features the original album, a rawer remastered version, a great second disc of alternative original mixes, including rarities such as “I Walk Out” and “SLUG” and beautifully affecting acoustic versions of “Questioningly”, “Needles And Pins” and “Don’t Come Close” – and ends with a great unreleased live show from New York on New Year’s Eve, 1979. The concert summarises the strengths and weaknesses of the band – new songs such as “Bad Brain” fit in so easily alongside debut single “Blitzkreig Bop”, they could have been recorded at the same session. Extras: 7/10. Hardback book, rare photos, alternative cover art in limited, numbered edition.