remainz

Xmastime and were talking about delineating the ramones into periods. the topic sprang because alot of people add road to ruin into the first triumvirate of the catalog. i disagree completely, but, we shall see.

our crack team deals

Jack said:
I agree.  I never think of Road to Ruin as part of the beginning.  People always say "the first four albums" when they should be saying "the first three". 

Or, in my humble opinion, the first LP and the next two.

When I think of Road to Ruin, I think of End of the Century before I think of Rocket to Russia.

Jimmy Eight Cats said:

I group them as the first three, Road to Ruin as a transition and then the next three(the "guest producer" era) and of course the Richie three.I'll leave the post Ramonesmania era out for now. While I can see lumping Road to Ruin in a group with EOTC, because EOTC  has a few classically styled Ramones songs, the Spector album really falls in with Pleasant Dreams and Subterranean Jungle,if only because it has lacks the cohesive flow of the first three, and to a lesser extent the fourth.
 
Road to Ruin is neither fish nor fowl.It's still got Tommy producing and writing, but acoustic guitars have appeared. The choice of a cover is spot on, and a lot of the themes(Germany, loneliness, being a freak, looking for something to do) are still there. It's got a party record flow of the first three, but not the buzz-saw kick. And most of all, on the first three the slow songs just sounded like fast songs at half pace.Here they sound like ballads.

Jack said:

I see what you mean.  I'm pretty sure (hard to remember) that Road to Ruin and End of the Century were the first ones I owned.  I got the earlier ones later and pretty much had a completely different take on the band after that. 

Whenever I would see them live most pisses and beer breaks would take place during songs after the 3rd album.  Plus, you could take a leak and only miss one song with the latter albums.     

Jimmy Eight Cats said:

It was their "In-a-gadda-da-vida" phase.

Xmastime said:

Side 1 of Road to Ruin is my least favorite side on any album until the eat that rat/freak of nature/mental hell/hair of the dog run on side 2 of AB (which is still prolly better just cause of Bonzo/Something to Believe In. i dont really put it anywhere near the first three

Jack said:

Agreed. Side 1 of Road to Ruin is pretty much exactly when they cease being better than all of the other bands.

Jimmy Eight Cats said:

Couldn't disagree more.They just become less better than all the other bands.

GIHYB said:

it boils down to the sound for me. while, in retrospect the debut is rawer (maybe worse mixed-- the bass and gtr separation is dumb) than the rest. the opening 3 have much more cohesion. the "producer era" as jimmy 8 accurately refers to has little to do with the pseudo metal they used after. i think of that as their final third.