Ramones Road to Ruin 40th

I received mine today and like it for the most part. The revisited mix features punchier drums and the famous Ramones count-in on most tracks. The clean guitar overdubs are gone which does not work for "Needles and Pins" and "Don't Come Close" in my humble opinion (no guitar solos either). I do like the stripped down "Questioningly" though. Some of the stereo spread is wider. I wasn't familiar with the bootlegs of the '79 New Years Eve Palladium NY show and it a great performance. The rough mixes and acoustic versions are interesting. The vinyl is digitally mastered and I have no interest in what is essentially the CD with surface noise. I'm quite happy with this addition to the series.

 

I liked it too. Original is still the best but the new one is still cool.

 

Listening through Tidal. I agree, Questioningly is a highlight.

 

Mine arrived and I moved it to the top of the queue. Hopefully tonight. I see mixed reviews here, but to me it’s essential as being part of the 40th anniversary series. Perhaps I’ll be surprised when I give the CD’s a whirl.

 

Go in with an open mind. I've only listened once so far but there are interesting areas and I enjoyed the gig which I didn't have or have never heard. The new remastering sounded great to me and the new mix sounded more like the original Ramones with less veneer. Perhaps more when I have given it another spin.

 

I'm loving it so far...

...just finished disc one which contains the remastered original mix and the 40th Anniversary Road Revisited Mix.

The remastered original mix sounds very clean.

The Road Revisited Mix is where the treasures are found in this set in my opinion.

"Don't Come Close" is simply amazing.

The guitar heavy version of "Needles and Pins" caught me off guard at first, but it works even though my mind (and love for the acoustic version) says it shouldn't.

Speaking of familiarity, "I Wanna Be Sedated" sounds so fresh, almost like hearing it for the first time all over again.

The faster (and more Punk) songs, "I'm Against It", "Go Mental" and "Bad Brain" deliver a beautiful punch!

The closer, "It's a Long Way Back" is just mind blowing to me...

...the guitar, bass and drums are just perfect, perfect, perfect!

Johnny's guitar playing has never sounded better to these ears.

...now, onto disc two!

 

Not a lot of great interest here

A modern remix of the album and a bunch of early work mixes is the same material make up most of the "new"material. Then you have a small handful of actual unreleased stuff and a live show that has circulated.

 

The best of the new mix is to hear the guiding guitar and one vocal take both very clean without overdubs, which also makes bass and drums more prominent. I love it.

 

I actually think End Of The Century would work in surround.

 

I'm looking forward to this. Be interesting to see what they do, being a Phil Spector production. I guess that this will be two years away. Did the Ramones really have a break that long?

 

Not sure if they hold enough rights to mess with a Phil Spector production. I hope they do though.

 

They remixed Let It Be, but I'm guessing Paul and co. have more clout and letter legal teams. I'd be happy with them leaving the original as is, but perhaps stripping things down and adding some alternatives for the other discs.

 

Open mind indeed. Went out of order and started with disc 3 and the live show sounds amazing. Never heard it before either. Ramones at the top of their game. The remastered version of the original mix sounds great, just like the others in the anniversary series. The remixes are interesting enough that they warrant repeat listening, I really enjoyed them. All in all great box. Can’t wait for the next one.

 

I would LOVE a stripped down version of End Of The Century without all the Spector gloss, echo, and "production".
Too bad Road doesn't have the remix of I Wanna Be Sedated from that "megga mix" 12". It is better than the original in my opinion. The drums really come out.

 

Last song on CD2.

 

Tha

Thanks. In terms of singles and single mixes (12 inch or just plain old 7 inch) are we missing anything relevant from the time on this Road To Ruin 40th?

 

Near the end of the 12/31/79 show, Joey announces that "End of the Century" is coming out in February. Wiki says that sessions for EOTC began in April 1979, and "Rock and Roll High School" the film came out in August '79. I'm sure they toured their butts off somewhere in there. They were busy enough.

 

I wonder if they will do a deluxe version of the soundtrack? Doubtful I think.

 

The problem with these box sets are that as soon as they are released I'm ready for another one.

 

That's so funny...I was just thinking the same exact thing!

 

It's hard to get a sense of how this set has been mastered by listening to samples on amazon.com - I'll order the full meal deal CD set if it's not too loud/compressed. What do people think about the 2018 mastering of the CDs?

 

As I wrote upthread, I really like it. It’s never sounded better. The 2001 is the runner up imho.

 

There isn't much left if you take Spector off the record. It's not like they recorded the songs like the first four albums and Spector added little touches like Tommy and Ed Stasium did on RTR. I think if you take Spector out you're left with Joey's vocals and some drums.

 

I'd be very interested in the rough mixes of EOTC. But the 40th anniversary will be only in 2020 so enjoy the first four sets in the meantime.

 

I think HD tracks will tell you which are which.