Ramones fans will get the chance to hear the band’s early albums with better sonic clarity and punch than ever in a newly released box set titled 1! 2! 3! 4! The Ramones Atmos Collection. The package contains four Blu-ray discs featuring Dolby Atmos mixes of the Ramones’ first four studio albums—the punk legends’ 1976 self-titled debut, 1977’s Leave Home and Rocket to Russia, and 1978’s Road to Ruin.
Videos by American Songwriter
The box set, which is limited to just 2,000 copies, is available exclusively at Rhino.com and Warner Music Group stores internationally.
[RELATED: 4 Songs That Prove the Ramones Were the Best Punk Band of the 1970s]
The Blu-ray discs also feature high-res stereo mixes of each album. Craig Leon, who produced Ramones, created the Atmos mix for the 1976 album. Frequent Ramones studio collaborator Ed Stasium did the Atmos mixes for Leave Home, Rocket to Russia, and Road to Ruin. Stasium was the original engineer on Leave Home and Rocket to Russia, and co-produced Road to Ruin with Tommy Erdelyi (a.k.a. Tommy Ramone).
“These Atmos mixes present the Ramones’ recordings with the clarity and power with which I always imagined hearing them,” Stasium said in a statement. “It might sound a bit cliché, but I find listening to them to be like seeing the sequence from The Wizard of Oz where the film morphs from black & white to color. These Dolby Atmos mixes are transforming the original mixes from 16[-millimeter] black & white into vivid IMAX!”
The four albums featured on the 1! 2! 3! 4! box set feature some of the band’s most dynamic, popular, and memorable songs. Released over a period of less than two-and-a-half years, the albums established the Ramones as one of the most influential and formidable bands to emerge from the punk era.
Ramones
Released in April 1976, Ramones was recorded in seven days and at a cost of $6,400 by the band’s classic early lineup of singer Joey Ramone (Jeff Heiman), guitarist Johnny Ramone (John Cummings), Dee Dee Ramone (Doug Colvin), and drummer Tommy Ramone.
Featuring 14 raw, buzzsaw-fast songs, the album clocked in at less than 30 minutes.
Among the standout tracks are “Blitzkrieg Bop,” “Beat on the Brat,” “Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue,” and a cover of the 1962 Chris Montez hit “Let’s Dance.”
Initially a commercial failure, Ramones was certified gold in 2014 by the RIAA for equivalent sales of 500,000 in the U.S.
“Blitzkrieg Bop” also received a gold certification in 2018.
Leave Home
Leave Home was released in January 1977, and found the Ramones continuing to put their adrenalized spin on various 1960s pop and rock genres, but often with twisted, dark, cartoonish lyrics. Memorable songs on the album included “Gimme Gimme Shock Treatment,” “Suzy Is a Headbanger,” “Pinhead,” “Commando,” and a cover of The Rivieras’ 1963 surf-rock hit “California Sun.”
The Leave Home track “Swallow My Pride” became a Top-40 hit in the U.K., reaching No. 36 across the pond.
Rocket to Russia
Rocket to Russia was released in November 1977, and gave the Ramones their first chart success in the U.S. The album peaked at No. 49 on the Billboard 200, while three tracks made it onto the Billboard Hot 100—“Sheena Is a Punk Rocker” (No. 81), “Rockaway Beach” (No. 66), and the group’s cover of the 1958 Bobby Freeman hit “Do You Wanna Dance?” (No. 86).
“Sheena Is a Punk Rocker” also reached No. 22 on the U.K. singles chart.
Rocket to Russia also features such other punk classics and gems as “Cretin Hop,” “We’re a Happy Family,” “Teenage Lobotomy,” and a memorable cover of The Trashmen’s “Surfin’ Bird.”
Road to Ruin
Road to Ruin, which was released in September 1978, featured the Ramones exploring a moderately slicker studio sound. It was also the band’s first album to feature new drummer Marky Ramone (Marc Bell).
Road to Ruin features perhaps the group’s most famous song, “I Wanna Be Sedated.” Other standout tunes include “I Just Want to Have Something to Do,” “She’s the One,” “Questioningly,” and a cover of the 1964 Searchers hit “Needles and Pins.”
In 2018, “I Wanna Be Sedated” was certified platinum by the RIAA for equivalent sales of 1 million copies in the U.S.
1-2-3-4! The Ramones Atmos Collection Track List:
Ramones (1976)
- “Blitzkrieg Bop”
- “Beat on the Brat”
- “Judy Is a Punk”
- “I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend”
- “Chain Saw”
- “Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue”
- “I Don’t Wanna Go Down to the Basement”
- “Loudmouth”
- “Havana Affair”
- “Listen to My Heart”
- “53rd & 3rd”
- “Let’s Dance”
- “I Don’t Wanna Walk Around with You”
- “Today Your Love, Tomorrow the World”
Leave Home (1977)
- “Glad to See You Go”
- “Gimme Gimme Shock Treatment”
- “I Remember You”
- “Oh Oh I Love Her So”
- “Carbona Not Glue”
- “Suzy Is a Headbanger”
- “Pinhead”
- “Now I Wanna Be a Good Boy”
- “Swallow My Pride”
- “What’s Your Game”
- “California Sun”
- “Commando”
- “You’re Gonna Kill That Girl”
- “You Should Never Have Opened That Door”
Rocket to Russia (1977)
- “Cretin Hop”
- “Rockaway Beach”
- “Here Today, Gone Tomorrow”
- “Locket Love”
- “I Don’t Care”
- “Sheena Is a Punk Rocker”
- “We’re a Happy Family”
- “Teenage Lobotomy”
- “Do You Wanna Dance?”
- “I Wanna Be Well”
- “I Can’t Give You Anything”
- “Ramona”
- “Surfin’ Bird”
- “Why Is It Always This Way?”
Road to Ruin (1978)
- “I Just Want to Have Something to Do”
- “I Wanted Everything”
- “Don’t Come Close”
- “I Don’t Want You”
- “Needles and Pins”
- “I’m Against It”
- “I Wanna Be Sedated”
- “Go Mental”
- “Questioningly”
- “She’s the One”
- “Bad Brain”
- “It’s a Long Way Back”
(Photo by Sire Records/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)
Leave a Reply
Only members can comment. Become a member. Already a member? Log in.