Production matters - Phil Spector should have been on trial for murder years ago. Murder of an entire band s appeal. I m a pretty big Ramones fan, and I ll be the first to admit their later work is totally lame, but the blood of this record is on Spector s probably alreadly bloodied hands. (I mean, chances are, right?) Don t get me wrong, his wall of sound works some places - - pretty much of all of his work with The Righteous Bros. is quality i.e. Unchained Melody, but End of the Century is totally flat. Even still, the music on it is only OK. If someone somewhere pulled a Let It Be...Naked on this album I would at most give it 2.5 stars. Anyway, save your money. Personally, I wouldn t even check this out at the library.
bad production can t ruin good songs - Controversial.. blah blah.. You already know the story.Phil Spector s production on this album is awful. The sound is muddy, the group s instruments are buried under layer after layer of god knows what, and if there s one band that has no need for friggin echo, it s the Ramones. All that said, there are some great songs here. It s the same 50s and 60s influenced Ramones of earlier albums. It s just unfortunately muted a bit by the production. My favorite song on the album is Danny Says. It s a really nice Velvet Underground homage (who themselves often paid tribute to the same type of music that the Ramones obviously loved). Danny Says is also the only song on the album which doesn t seem to suffer from Spector s overproduction. In fact, Spector may well have been the best producer the song could have possibly had.If you re a fan of the Ramones, you ll probably like the album. Whether you love it or not will probably depend on WHY you like the band.
One of My Favorite Albums Ever - I just don t get the negative comments about this great album by the self proclaimed critics and all of the so-called controversy . I just remember that whenever it was played at a party back in the day, the party was brought to life and everyone to their feet dancing. OK, it does not have the head banging of some of their more old school material. But I admit, I really enjoy the version of Baby I Love You. The album really makes me sorry that these guys are gone. I just bought this CD because I could not locate my old album. The only problem is that now my 15 year daughter and her friend have taken claim of it.
Has Its Moments, But the Production Stinks - With nothing much to lose - their dreams of a radio hit fading into the ether - The Ramones, much to Johnny s chagrin, looked to troubled genius Phil Spector (whose best days were clearly behind him) for guidance on End of the Century, much like the young Luke Skywalker looked to Yoda for spiritual enlightenment. But without the bad rug. And for those with attention deficit disorder, the liner notes read A Phil Spector Production: Produced by Phil Spector. Any questions? Spector had some great ideas, but was apparently more concerned with getting tanked, head games, forcing Johnny to endure countless retakes of Rock `n Roll High School s opening power chord, and flashing firearms at Dee Dee to realize he d completely botched the production and mix, which muted most of the band s buzzing power behind multi-layered acoustic guitars, strings, and saxophone, session yes men, and enough bells and whistles to confuse a 1970 s stereo salesman. The songwriting and arrangements are clearly there, but there just isn t enough separation between the instruments. It s downright muddy at times. While Spector may have forced the band to think outside of the box, its truly rabid fan base was more comfortable with the presence of sides and a lid. Do You Remember Rock `n Roll Radio? may be a rhetorical question, but Marky s lock-step drums, Joey s Rock it, rock `n roll radio mantra, and spot-on lyrics directed at an easy target make things swirl and swing in fits and starts. Despite the main riff being carried by sax instead of the fastest right hand in rock, it s one of a handful of songs here where Spector actually gets it right. I m Affected, This Ain t Havana, All the Way, I Can t Make It on Time, and The Return of Jackie and Judy (a sequel to Judy Is a Punk from the first album) all taste and smell like Ramones songs, but barely achieve lift-off - let alone soar like all great Ramones songs do - after Spector s through with them, wetting their wings with echo, overdubs, and his greasy fingerprints. Dee Dee finally gets a whack at Chinese Rocks, er, Chinese ROCK, a song that s been passed back and forth between The Ramones and Heartbreakers more times than a syringe at a Bowery shooting gallery, authorship here collectively credited to the bruddahs, but previously claimed by Dee Dee alone. It thunders (no pun intended) ominously, just like any song about chasing the dragon should - Ooohh, aaahh..., girlfriend crying in the shower stall - very dark indeed, even for these guys. Despite backing strings which give new meaning to sappy and drums by session hack Jim Keltner, the cover of The Ronettes Baby, I Love You isn t nearly as bad as you ve been led to believe, Joey living out his pop star dreams with a vocal that is one of the best he ever laid down. Spector takes a crack at Rock `n Roll High School with even more Wall of Sound tinkering like crowd noises, a school bell, and an explosion at the end, but can t really touch Ed Stasium s original from the soundtrack. Let s face it: even Bob Rock couldn t ruin a song this great, but Spector s heavy hand on the knobs doesn t really do it any favors. The bonus tracks are historical as far as Ramones lore goes in that they include Stasium s first demos for the band, completed just prior to the band heading out to Hollywood for the Spector sessions, as well as the Rock `n Roll High School soundtrack version of I Want You Around, also produced by Stasium. Although End of the Century would ultimately be the band s highest charting album (#44 on Billboard), it fell on deaf, dumb ears as far as radio goes, Johnny dedicating himself from that point forward to keeping the band solvent, filing any pretensions to stardom or music biz acceptance in file drawers marked myth and pipedream. They still had a lot of GREAT music in them and plenty to say, but would no longer be held in thrall to cracking the Top 40. But apparently Joey didn t get the memo, demanding the airwaves a few years later on Pleasant Dreams. Some dreams die hard.
My opinion on the Ramones - End of the Century CD order - The CD was really impressive and I received this CD in less than a week from when I ordered it.