The Ramones - Road to Ruin (Rhino/Wea) 1978

1. I Just Want To Have Something To Do" (2:41)
2. I Wanted Everything" (3:18)
3. Don't Come Close" (2:45)
4. I Don't Want You" (2:26)
5. Needles & Pins" (2:21)
6. I'm Against It" (2:07)
7. I Wanna Be Sedated" (2:29)
8. Go Mental" (2:42)
9. Questioningly" (3:21)
10. She's The One" (2:13)
11. Bad Brain" (2:25)
12. It's A Long Way Back" (2:22)
BONUS TRACKS
13. I Want You Around" [Ed Stasium version] (3:02)
14. Rock 'N' Roll High School" [Ed Stasium version] (2:20)
15. Blitzkrieg Bop/Teenage Lobotomy/California Sun/Pinhead/She's The One" [live] (11:00)
16. Come Back, She Cried A.K.A. I Walk Out" [demo] (2:21)
17. Yea, Yea" [demo] (2:08)

Growing up in the 70's and 80's in New Jersey and New York, there was no escaping this band. I had never been a big fan of the whole punk movement, although there was no denying some band's influence in rock and metal. The Sex Pistols, New York Dolls, Iggy & the Stooges and The Ramones were some of the best. I saw the Ramones several times over the years. "Road to Ruin" was the first record I ever purchased from the Ramones. "I Wanna Be Sedated" became an anthem to youth in the late 70's. However, there really isn't a song on here that is bad. My least favorite would probably be the cover of "Needles and Pins", a song I was never fond of to begin with. The remainder of the songs are catchy, simple, bubblegum, punk mixed with the standard nihilistic punk lyrics and attitude. Basically, "Road to Ruin" is as classic a Ramones album as you can get. The cover is also classic. It features nifty cartoon caricatures of the band, although the art looses a little something when shrunk down to CD size from the original record cover. The 2001 reissue restores the original metallic gold ink to the cover, which is cool. The remastered CD also includes some excellent bonus material. It's also worth mentioning that it was at this point that Tommy Ramone was replaced by Marky Ramone on the drums. Tommy stuck around as the group's producer.