Take a big ticket punk rock name, throw a thoroughly rehearsed pop punk formula in for good measure and stick the whole thing on the most buzzing punk label in San Francisco! And what do you get? Well, it is not a masterpiece by any count, yet the album meets the expectations after the release of the Understand Me? teaser 7”. Of course there are some ramonesy pop-punk songs like ‘Til The End’ and the title track on there, as well as some real punk smashers like ‘Clusterfuck’, with some good old rock’n’roll songs like ‘Won’t Stop Swinging’ or ‘Long Way To Go’ mixed in.
For once the vinyl color for this release is an instant hit. Unlike most of the recent records that had a b/w artwork, but got a totally different vinyl color, this one is white with black splatter. Some may say it is not the most imaginative but it just fits well. Like a pair of jeans, some chucks and a leather jacket.
So is this one of my absolute favorite releases of this year? Not quite, but it’s a great little record to listen to. And if you still have no idea what all the new Ramones hype is all about, check out these tunes and buy a cheap Ramones T-shirt…: