It's Alive Album • Ramones • 1979

It's Alive (Ramones album)

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It's Alive
Live album by  Ramones
Released	April 1979
Recorded	December 31, 1977
Venue	The Rainbow Theatre, London
Genre	Punk rock
Length	53:49
Label	Sire
Producer	Tommy Ramone Ed Stasium
Ramones live album chronology
It's Alive (1979) Loco Live (1991)

It's Alive is the first live album by the American punk rock band the Ramones, titled after the 1974 horror film of the same name. It was recorded at the Rainbow Theatre in London on December 31, 1977, and released in April 1979 as a 2-LP set. The album draws material from the band's first three studio albums, Ramones (1976), Leave Home (1977), and Rocket to Russia (1977). Four concerts during the UK tour were recorded, but the New Year's Eve performance was chosen because ten rows of seats were thrown at the stage after the concert and it was considered the best of the performances at the venue. The album and concert is often referred to as the band at its live peak.^{[citation needed]} The concert was also filmed and later released in a truncated form on the 2007 compilation DVD It's Alive 1974-1996.

The album was certified gold in Argentina in 1993.^[1] It is the only live album by the band that does not feature the concert intro music "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" or the outro music "The Ecstasy of Gold," both of which are from Ennio Morricone's score to the film The Good, The Bad & The Ugly.

Critical reception[edit]

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[2]
Q	[3]
Record Collector	[4]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	[5]
Smash Hits	8/10[6]
The Village Voice	A−[7]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music	[8]

Mark Deming of AllMusic, praised the album, saying that "With It's Alive, they went out in style -- it's not only the best Ramones live album, it's one of the best and most effective live albums in the rock canon, and every bit as essential as Ramones, Leave Home, or Rocket to Russia."^[9] Paul Rigby of Record Collector, said that "With their high-tempo content, manic-speed live performances, basic image and a sense of family (everyone had the Ramone surname), they let the music stand for itself."When we say that this high energy, one-hour blitz squeezes in three albums’ worth of material, you get an idea how high-octane they really were."^[10] In a retrospective review in 1995, Robert Christgau of The Village Voice remarked that the album was "Redundant when it was dropped on the punk-besotted U.K. in 1979, this concert is precious history now--seems so impossibly light and quick it makes you suspect they didn't fully sustain their live pace into their forties after all."^[11] In 2005, It's Alive was ranked number 279 in Rock Hard magazine's book of The 500 Greatest Rock & Metal Albums of All Time.^[12]

Track listing[edit]

Side one

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Original release	Length
1.	"Rockaway Beach"	Dee Dee Ramone	1977 ~ Rocket to Russia	2:24
2.	"Teenage Lobotomy"	Ramones	1977 ~ Rocket to Russia	1:55
3.	"Blitzkrieg Bop"	Tommy Ramone, Dee Dee Ramone	1976 ~ Ramones	2:05
4.	"I Wanna Be Well"	Joey Ramone	1977 ~ Rocket to Russia	2:23
5.	"Glad to See You Go"	Joey Ramone, Dee Dee Ramone	1977 ~ Leave Home	1:51
6.	"Gimme Gimme Shock Treatment"	Johnny Ramone, Dee Dee Ramone	1977 ~ Leave Home	1:37
7.	"You're Gonna Kill That Girl"	Joey Ramone	1977 ~ Leave Home	2:28

Side two

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Original release	Length
8.	"I Don't Care"	Joey Ramone	1977 ~ Rocket to Russia	1:41
9.	"Sheena is a Punk Rocker"	Joey Ramone	1977 ~ Rocket to Russia	2:16
10.	"Havana Affair"	Dee Dee Ramone, Johnny Ramone	1976 ~ Ramones	1:35
11.	"Commando"	Dee Dee Ramone, Johnny Ramone	1977 ~ Leave Home	1:40
12.	"Here Today, Gone Tomorrow"	Joey Ramone	1977 ~ Rocket to Russia	2:55
13.	"Surfin' Bird"	Al Frazier, Sonny Harris, Carl White, Turner Wilson	1977 ~ Rocket to Russia	2:20
14.	"Cretin Hop"	Ramones	1977 ~ Rocket to Russia	1:46

Side three

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Original release	Length
15.	"Listen to My Heart"	Dee Dee Ramone	1976 ~ Ramones	1:36
16.	"California Sun"	Henry Glover	1977 ~ Leave Home	1:45
17.	"I Don't Wanna Walk Around With You"	Dee Dee Ramone	1976 ~ Ramones	1:25
18.	"Pinhead"	Ramones	1977 ~ Leave Home	2:46
19.	"Do You Wanna Dance?"	Bobby Freeman	1977 ~ Rocket to Russia	1:39
20.	"Chain Saw"	Joey Ramone	1976 ~ Ramones	1:29
21.	"Today Your Love, Tomorrow the World"	Dee Dee Ramone	1976 ~ Ramones	1:55

Side four

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Original release	Length
22.	"Now I Wanna Be a Good Boy"	Dee Dee Ramone	1977 ~ Leave Home	2:03
23.	"Judy Is a Punk"	Joey Ramone	1976 ~ Ramones	1:14
24.	"Suzy Is a Headbanger"	Ramones	1977 ~ Leave Home	1:53
25.	"Let's Dance"	Jim Lee	1976 ~ Ramones	2:03
26.	"Oh, Oh, I Love Her So"	Dee Dee Ramone	1977 ~ Leave Home	1:40
27.	"Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue"	Dee Dee Ramone	1976 ~ Ramones	1:18
28.	"We're a Happy Family"	Ramones	1977 ~ Rocket to Russia	2:07

Release History[edit]

It's Alive was first released on CD in the US in 1995. The album was reissued as a 4 CD/2 LP 40th Anniversary Deluxe Edition on September 20, 2019, limited to 8,000 copies. The set includes all four concerts that were recorded during the Ramones' UK tour in December 1977 and is housed in a 12x12 hardcover book, with liner notes written by Steve Albini and Ed Stasium.^[13]

Personnel[edit]

Ramones

• Joey Ramone - lead vocals
• Johnny Ramone - guitar
• Dee Dee Ramone - bass, backing vocals
• Tommy Ramone - drums

Production

• Ed Stasium - engineer
• Tommy Ramone, Ed Stasium - producers
• Basing Street Studios Ltd. - mobile recording facilities
• Greb Cobb, Frank Owen, Jo Yu, Ray Doyle - mobile crew
• Ramona Janquito, Phil Shrago - studio crew
• Monte Melnick - tour manager
• Arturo Vega - lighting
• Tasco - sound, lighting

Album Design-Spencer Drate Art Director-John Gillespie Photography-Various Photographers

Adios Amigos Album • The Ramones • 1995

¡Adios Amigos!

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¡Adios Amigos!
Studio album by  the Ramones
Released	July 18, 1995
Recorded	January–February 1995
Genre	Punk rock
Length	33:58
Label	Radioactive, Chrysalis
Producer	Daniel Rey
Ramones chronology
Acid Eaters (1993) ¡Adios Amigos! (1995)

¡Adios Amigos! is the fourteenth and final studio album by the American punk rock band the Ramones. It was released on July 18, 1995, through Radioactive Records. The Ramones disbanded a year after its release and the subsequent tour.

Contents

Background[edit]

While bassist and songwriter Dee Dee Ramone had left the band following 1989's Brain Drain, ¡Adios Amigos! features six of his compositions, including three previously released: "The Crusher" was originally recorded for his debut solo album Standing in the Spotlight (a rap album released under the name Dee Dee King), while "Making Monsters for My Friends" and "It's Not For Me to Know" were originally recorded for the album I Hate Freaks Like You, which he performed with I.C.L.C. ¡Adios Amigos! also contains cover versions of Tom Waits' "I Don't Want to Grow Up" and Johnny Thunders' "I Love You."

The Japanese version of the album features the bonus track "R.A.M.O.N.E.S.," originally recorded by Motörhead as a tribute to the Ramones on their 1916 album. The American version of the album features a hidden track, "Spider-Man," slightly different from the version the Ramones originally recorded for the Saturday Morning tribute album. C.J. Ramone sings lead vocals on tracks two, four, eight and ten, as well as the bonus track "R.A.M.O.N.E.S." Dee Dee Ramone makes his first appearance on a Ramones album since 1989 during the bridge of the closing track "Born to Die in Berlin," singing in German and recorded via telephone.

Artwork[edit]

The album cover of ¡Adios Amigos!, which features two Allosaurus wearing sombreros, is a digitally altered version of a painting by artist Mark Kostabi, named Enasaurs, which features the dinosaurs wearing yellow witch hats.^[1] Johnny Ramone added that the dinosaurs were "what we felt like," possibly referring to the band's decline in popularity at the time.^[2] The back cover shows the band tied and bound before being executed by a firing squad. The Mexican man seated next to the band is their longtime road manager Monte Melnick.^{[citation needed]}

Reception[edit]

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[3]
Entertainment Weekly	A−[4]
Punknews.org	[5]
Q	[6]
Robert Christgau	[7]
Rolling Stone	[6]
Uncut	[6]

¡Adios Amigos! received mixed to positive reviews from several publications such as Rolling Stone and Uncut, being viewed by many fans as a return to form for the band.

In contrast to the Ramones' long-running inability to break through on singles charts, the band's cover of Tom Waits' "I Don't Want to Grow Up" managed to become something of a hit for the group, breaching the top 40 of Billboard's modern rock chart and peaking at #30.

Track listing[edit]

Side one

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"I Don't Want to Grow Up" (Tom Waits cover)	Tom Waits, Kathleen Brennan	2:46
2.	"Makin Monsters for My Friends"	Dee Dee Ramone, Daniel Rey	2:35
3.	"It's Not for Me to Know"	Dee Dee Ramone, Daniel Rey	2:51
4.	"The Crusher"	Dee Dee Ramone, Daniel Rey	2:27
5.	"Life's a Gas"	Joey Ramone	3:34
6.	"Take the Pain Away"	Dee Dee Ramone, Daniel Rey	2:42
7.	"I Love You" (Johnny Thunders cover)	Johnny Thunders	2:21

Side two

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
8.	"Cretin Family"	Dee Dee Ramone, Daniel Rey	2:09
9.	"Have a Nice Day"	Marky Ramone, Garrett James Uhlenbrock	1:39
10.	"Scattergun"	C.J. Ramone	2:30
11.	"Got a Lot to Say"	C.J. Ramone	1:41
12.	"She Talks to Rainbows"	Joey Ramone	3:14
13.	"Born to Die in Berlin"	Dee Dee Ramone, John Carco	3:32

Unlisted/hidden track on 1995 American version initial releases

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
14.	"Spiderman"	Paul Francis Webster, Robert Harris	1:56

1995 Japanese edition & 2004 Captain Oi! CD Bonus track

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
14.	"R.A.M.O.N.E.S." (Motörhead cover)	Motörhead	1:24

Personnel[edit]

• Joey Ramone – lead vocals (tracks 1, 3, 5–7, 9, 11–13 & "Spiderman"), backing vocals (track 4)
• Johnny Ramone – guitar
• C. J. Ramone – bass guitar, backing vocals, lead vocals (tracks 2, 4, 8, 10 & "R.A.M.O.N.E.S.")
• Dee Dee Ramone – co-lead vocals (track 13)
• Marky Ramone – drums

Charts[edit]

Album[edit]

Year	Chart	Position
1995	Billboard 200	148[8]

Singles[edit]

Year	Single	Chart	Position
1995	"I Don't Want to Grow Up"	Modern Rock Tracks	30[9]