Let The Day Begin...Let The Day Start!: Day 327 - Ramones

It would be wrong to shine the spotlight on compilations and miss out posting one from New York's most dysfunctional "family"...and no, I don't mean The Trumps!

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Hey! Ho! Let's Go
 

Ramones Mania - Ramones

Sire

Released 1988

US Chart #168

Released as Double Vinyl Album, CD and on Cassette

There are so many compilations that have come out on various labels for the Ramones that you would could be left wondering what on earth is the best one. 

Well my own personal preference falls on two. Ramones Mania (1988), which was released whilst the band were still active and includes material from the their debut album up until Halfway to Sanity (1987). Although not in chronological order I like the fact that they chose some some of the Single versions, included the excellent B-Side to Real Cool Time - Indian Giver and album tracks like Outsider and Wart Hog. There was a Ramones Mania 2 that was released April 2000 in Japan that spotlighted music from 1988-1996. It's not a bad compilation at all but lacks the depth of the first one mainly due to the the superior quality of music they were releasing between 1976-87. There are only 30 tracks. What's funny about this album was that in the States it was actually the only album to go gold until their debut Ramones made that mark in 2014!

Ramones Mania was reissued on Blue and Green Vinyl for Record Store Day in 2010.

The second choice would probably the one I'd recommend to anyone who has not heard the Ramones (does such a person on earth exist?) before. The reason being that the way the two discs are structured it gives you a chronological picture of pretty much their entire career. All albums bar their Live albums and the Covers album Acid Eaters (1993) are represented and there's a mammoth 58 tracks to deal with that clocks in at just a little over 2hrs 36mins.

The only flaw with regard to this compilation I think is that when they began putting it together they drew too many songs from particular albums and by the time they got to Subterranean Jungle they could only include one track from it (Psycho Therapy) whereas if they had trimmed a few tracks they could easily have included Somebody Like Me, Outsider, or even the brilliant Highest Trails Above.

In 2001 (possibly because of Joey Ramone's death - the money grabbing swines!), Hey! Ho! Let's Go: The Anthology was re-released. This new version did not include the eighty page booklet and altered the track listing of CD 1. "I'm Affected" and "I Can't Make it on Time" were removed and replaced with "Baby I Love You", which was the band's highest charting hit in the UK. I have to say that I was quite unhappy about little move because it was never a single I particularly liked, and there's actually not many of their singles that I would ever say that about!

Anthology (Hey! Ho! Let's Go!) Ramones

Rhino Records/Warner Archives

Released 20th July 1999

UK Chart #74

Let The Day Begin...Let The Day Start!