Track Listing

1. Cretin Hop
2. Rockaway Beach
3. Here Today Gone Tomorrow
4. Locket Love
5. I Don't Care
6. Sheena Is A Punk Rocker
7. We're A Happy Family
8. Teenage Lobotomy
9. Do You Wanna Dance
10. I Wanna Be Well
11. I Can't Give You Anything
12. Ramona
13. Surfin' Bird
14. Why Is It Always This Way
15. Needles And Pins
16. Slug
17. It's A Long Way Back To Germany
18. I Don't Care
19. Sheena Is A Punk Rocker

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #21959 in Music
• Released on: 2001-06-25
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Dimensions: .26 pounds

CD Description
The third of the Ramones' original quartet of albums, 1977's ROCKET TO RUSSIA is actually a big improvement over the slightly disappointing LEAVE HOME, released earlier in 1977. While not as solidly perfect as RAMONES, ROCKET TO RUSSIA contains very little fat and boasts possibly the finest songs in the band's entire repertoire, "Rockaway Beach" and the immortal "Sheena Is a Punk Rocker". "We're a Happy Family" and "Teenage Lobotomy" are only slightly lesser tracks, and the covers of the Trashmen's gloriously silly "Surfin' Bird" andBobby Freeman's "Do You Wanna Dance" are conceptually perfect, linking the Ramones neatly with their garage rock and bubblegum roots.
The bonus tracks on the 2001 Rhino reissueare less revelatory than the 1976 concert contained on the LEAVE HOME reissue, a motley but entertaining collection of demos, single mixes and one B-side, "It's a Long Way Back toGermany", but this disc's carefully remastered sound makes it sound better than all previous incarnations of the album,highlighting the extent to which the cleaner production complements the group's poppier, slightly more complex new songs.

Customer Reviews

Their Best
This is really the Ramones at their best. I just got Rocket to Russia for my Birthday not so long ago and this album really is a masterpiece. 'I don't care' is a generations anthem, a real classic, there is a special edition Rocket to Russia. With a few B-sides including 'It's a Long Way Back To Germany' Which equals just about every track on the album. So get that one for around the same price. It also features Sheena is a Punk Rocker single version. This is really a great album, you must buy this!

One minute wonders
The Ramones' third album, released in 1977, and in my opinion absolutely their best work. Detractors may argue that it's merely a continuation of the same high-energy back-to-basics garage punk that filled their previous two records, but there are subtle differences - not only a pair of cover versions, Do You Wanna Dance and Surfin' Bird, but a tighter, cleaner sound and some of their best songs, including Teenage Lobotomy, Cretin Hop and the chart single Sheena Is A Punk Rocker. The remixed and remastered CD release boasts no less than six bonus tracks - which, at Ramones speed, probably adds about nine minutes to the playing time! This is a classic rock album, and an essential purchase if you have the slightest interest in punk rock. It just doesn't get any better than this. Gabba-gabba hey!

Timeless!
Until you've heard the Ramones, it's easy to dismiss the music as 'punk', as that's what pretty much everyone describes it as, but then you would be missing something important - this is not punk in any respect other than they were part of the New York punk scene in the mid 70's. The Ramones would be the first ones to admit that they couldn't really play their instruments that well, but rather than learn to play better or disguise the lack of ability with shock values as their peers did, they simply played within their limits and stayed there.

This is probably the best starting point for anyone new to the Ramones, as it contains so many of their best songs. By the time they reached this album (their third), they had hit the right formula for songwriting, and wrote some great pop songs. It must seem strange to hear that - pop songs from a punk band? This is no ordinary band though!

If 'Rockaway' beach had been recorded by a west coast surf act in the 60's, it would have become a huge hit around the world, and if 'Sheena is a Punk Rocker' didn't have the heavily distorted guitar, it could have been a bubblegum pop hit in the late 60's or early 70's. However, that wasn't the case, and we were lucky enough to get the Ramones as they were, warts and all.

Every song here is a fantastic piece of melodic songwriting within a DIY minimalist wall of sound wrapper. It's almost impossible to be with a group of friends and not find at least one that likes the Ramones. The main reason that most people don't like the Ramones though is that they haven't heard them yet...