10 Songs is a weekly list of ten songs that happen to be on my mind at the moment. The lists are usually dominated by songs played on the previous Sunday night's edition of This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl. The idea was inspired by Don Valentine of the essential blog I Don't Hear A Single.
This week's edition of 10 Songs draws exclusively from the playlist for This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio # 1179. This show is available as a podcast.
THE RAMONES: Rockaway Beach
HEY! WE'RE THE RAMONES AND THIS ONE'S CALLED "ROCKAWAY BEACH!"
1-2-3-4.
The Ramones' 1979 double-LP in-concert document It's Alive is my all-time favorite live album. Nothing else even comes close. One could argue that It's Alive is the Ramones' single finest moment, as they perform material from their first three albums (Ramones, Leave Home, and Rocket To Russia), playing the songs faster and louder and faster still, while holding on to the breathless, giddy AM Top 40 spark that made the studio versions so irresistible to begin with.
It's Alive was recorded in London on December 31st, 1977. Happy freakin' New Year! In the interviews included in my new book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones (https://rarebirdlit.com/gabba-gabba-hey-a-conversation-with-the-ramones-by-carl-cafarelli/), Joey Ramone told me, "Yeah, we wanted to do a live album, and we were like really big in England at the time. And we played, it was New Year’s Eve 1977, and it was a real big show at the Rainbow Theatre. And I guess everybody was there, all the bands at that point. Ya know, the whole audience was mostly bands [laughs], like the Clash, the Pistols, everybody was there.
"And so we recorded that night. And [producer] Ed Stasium, I think he did the recording. It was a mobile situation. And it came out great! I remember, I think it was NME that said it was the best live album ever recorded. Previously it was Thin Lizzy...."
It's Alive opens with "Rockaway Beach." Whatta record. My first Ramones show was just a few months later. Chewin' out a rhythm on my bubblegum. Not hard, not far to reach. It's still alive. Rock, rock!
Thus empowered by the wisdom of Solomon, the strength of Hercules, the stamina of Atlas, but the patience of Johnny Ramone, we circled back for further Free Comic Book Day partying in the form of Beebe Gallini's incredible (HAR!) take on the Traits' obscure classic "Nobody Loves The Hulk." As much as I love the Traits' original recording, Beebe Gallini belts the tune with gamma rays, throwing in an appropriate bellow of HULK SMASH! to certify the mightiness of her avenging.
THE RAMONES: Pet Sematary
It was a little bit of a surprise to realize we had never before played the Ramones' title song for the film adaptation of Stephen King's Pet Sematary. Granted, it's not one of my favorite Ramones songs, but nor is it one I would deliberately avoid. Hell, I was delighted to hear it on the radio in 1989; airplay for the Ramones was a rarity, and even if I would have preferred to hear "I Believe In Miracles" from the same album (Brain Drain), I do also like "Pet Sematary." Any Ramones airplay is better than no Ramones airplay.
And TIRnRR still hasn't played the studio track on TIRnRR. We'll rectify that at some near-future point. As it is, "Pet Sematary" appears on this week's playlist by default, representing the Loco Live album.
I've never been fond of Loco Live. Johnny Ramone said, "I’m happier with It’s Alive. [For Loco Live] we got some producer that the office found us that didn’t know anything about the Ramones at all. I’m just not happy with it. I don’t really know what’s wrong with it, it’s just not right." In contrast, Marky Ramone told me, "It was a very energetic album, a lot of energy in that album. I can’t compare it to the Ramones’ It’s Alive. They’re two different albums, but to me I liked the production on It’s Alive better than Loco Live, but I liked the energy on Loco Live better than It’s Alive."
To my ears, Loco Live sounds rushed, slapdash. By rote. By the 1-2-3-4 numbers. I don't think then-new bassist C. J. Ramone is the problem here; the band just doesn't sound into it, and (like Johnny said) it's just not right. And the only reason this live "Pet Sematary" stands out from its Loco Live brethren is because it hides a welcome bonus: an unlisted performance of "Carbona Not Glue" follows "Pet Sematary" within the same track.
The original studio version of "Carbona Not Glue" is one of my top five Ramones tracks. At the time of Loco Live's American release in 1992, "Carbona Not Glue" had been unavailable at retail since 1977, when legal threats from the manufacturers of Carbona Spot Remover prompted its removal from all subsequent pressings of the Ramones' second album Leave Home. Loco Live was the Ramones' final album for their original label Sire Records; the group slipped "Carbona Not Glue" into the album without informing Sire. Joey told me, "Right. We snuck it in because it was our last record for Sire, and we really wanted people to kinda get to hear it." And Johnny said, "Yeah, we snuck that in. We tried to get in other things, but they always tore it off . But that time we just put it down and put it in there—they don’t even know about it [laughs]."
The studio "Carbona Not Glue" wouldn't return to retail shelves until Rhino Records released an expanded reissue of Leave Home in 2001. But from '77 until 2001, the only available "Carbona Not Glue" was the buried treat hidden on Loco Live. It remains the only part of Loco Live that I really like.
THE MONKEES: The Girl I Knew Somewhere
The Greatest Record Ever Made!
THE RAMONES: I Don't Want To Grow Up
The Ramones' last studio album was !Adios Amigos! in 1995. The group continued to tour, and selections excerpted from a 1996 live performance (less than half of the actual show) were released that summer as Greatest Hits Live. Though not the equal of It's Alive, Greatest Hits Live presents a much, much more compelling live document than Loco Live. Other than the album's two studio bonus tracks--covers of the Dave Clark Five's "Any Way You Want It" and Mötorhead's "R.A.M.O.N.E.S."--I don't think we've ever played much of Greatest Hits Live on the show. A spin of the album's "Do You Remember Rock 'n' Roll Radio?" earlier this year may have been the sole appearance of a live track from this album on any of our playlists.
Man, Greatest Hits Live is such a cool record of live, in-concert...I dunno, redemption after the disappointment of Loco Live. Joey sounds a lot more invested and in control, the band is tighter by miles and miles, and the result is invigmoratin' like live Ramones oughtta be. Maybe we should have pressed the Free Comic Book Day angle and played the Greatest Hits Live run-through of "Spider-Man," but for me it was a coin toss between "Blitzkrieg Bop" and "I Don't Want To Grow Up." Both are among my top three Ramones tracks (along with "Sheena Is A Punk Rocker"), and the coin toss went in favor of "I Don't Want To Grow Up."
Greatest Hits Live is an underrated album, and I may have been among those guilty of underrating it. I've grown up a bit since then.
THE RAMONES [with LEMMY]: R.A.M.O.N.E.S.
Hey, speakin' of Mötorhead's song about the Ramones: Mötorhead bassist Lemmy himself turned up on stage at the Ramones' farewell gig, August 6, 1996 at Billboard Live in Los Angeles. The event is preserved on We're Outta Here!, and while part of me wishes the Ramones' final shock treatment was performed without so many special guests, ya can't deny the appeal of Lemmy joining in to help sing and play the anthem he wrote about these American Beatles, the greatest American rock 'n' roll band of all time. Gabba gabba, see them go....
And they were gone.
LIBRARIANS WITH HICKEYS: Can't Wait 'Till Summer
Big Stir Records has the hits. This is one of them. Librarians With Hickeys' "Can't Wait 'Till Summer" is guaranteed a berth on 2023's year-end countdown show. And it scores yet another spin next week. See, we play the hits. That's what makes proper rock 'n' roll radio.
THE BEATLES: Tomorrow Never Knows
Her Majesty's Ramones. Some have suggested we amend our billing of the Beatles to HIS Majesty's Ramones, given the ascension of Charles III to new status as (I guess) a pretty nice boy who doesn't have a lot to say. I say timing is everything. Elizabeth II was Great Britain's monarch before, after, and during the entirety of the Beatles' existence as a band. Her Majesty's Ramones. Tomorrow knows that much, at least.
THE RAMONES: California Sun/I Don't Wanna Walk Around With You
Even before It's Alive, the very first Ramones live release was this 45 B-side in 1976. Recorded live at The Roxy in Los Angeles in '76, "California Sun/I Don't Wanna Walk Around With You" served as the non-plug side of "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend" in the US, and of "Blitzkrieg Bop" in the Netherlands. It's the perfect coda for this week's celebration of live Ramones.
NEXT WEEK: the start of a three-part salute to THE RAMONES AT THE MOVIES!
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Carl's new book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones is now available, courtesy of the good folks at Rare Bird Books. Gabba Gabba YAY!! https://rarebirdlit.com/gabba-gabba-hey-a-conversation-with-the-ramones-by-carl-cafarelli/
This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl airs Sunday nights from 9 to Midnight Eastern, on the air in Syracuse at SPARK! WSPJ 103.3 and 93.7 FM, and on the web at http://sparksyracuse.org/ You can read about our history here.
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