1 comments about BBC Sessions.

1. This album gives you a great opportunity to get acquainted with cool music of Dislocation Dance. Many of their great songs are in this album. ("I'm Doing Fine," "You'll Never Never Know" and "Show Me" to list a few) All tracks are originally recorded for the redio live programs (of course, thst's why it's "BBC Sessions"!), and some of them are better than original versions in the albums and singles. So I guess, the album can serve as a (maybe "the"?) best album of Dislocation Dance. If you don't know anything about this band, it is highly recommended that you should start with this album. And if you are familiar with a kind of respect which many indie-pop artists pay for jazzy-feelin' '60's French pops, I bet you will enjoy this album. Try it and see it for yourself!

No comments about Pearl City 1996.

1 comments about Midnight Court at the Lyceum.

1. This has been in circulation for some time as a bootleg (which I could never find!), but finally, an official release. Full marks to the designer: the CD booklet and case back capture the feel of 1969. The sound is not of the best, but that's to be expected. The only time it seriously breaks down is for a few seconds during "Salamanda Palaganda" - it sounds like the original tape at some point got chewed up.

   Considering that Unicorn was only a few months from release at the time this was recorded, it's surprising that more songs from Unicorn aren't featured. The first half concentrates on selections from the first two albums, plus, of course, the first two singles. It's only after they've won the audience that "new" material appears.

   There's a lovely moment after "Once upon the Seas of Abyssinia" when Marc asks if there are any Pink Floyd fans in the house and Steve plays the first few notes of Interstellar Overdrive. They then launch into a raucous version of Do You Remember. This must have been quite a shock for the audience, the first time most of them had heard Tyrannosaurus Rex going electric!

   Two bonus tracks, recorded earlier in the year in Denmark are included: a manic Strange Orchestras and a wonderful version of Eastern Spell, the latter worth buying this album for alone!

No comments about Live at the Lyceum.

No comments about Live from the Masque: The Definitive Collection.

2 comments about 8/17/00 - Nashville, Tennessee.

1. Disclaimer: Owner of all 72 official PJ bootlegs. At several point in this show, Eddie Vedder mentions how hot it was that night. Perhaps the high temperature made the band a little sluggish. Eddie is very talkative and enthusiastic tonight, and the crowd holds up very well, but the musical performance on this bootleg is very average, with a slow-moving and tired feel overall. But what could have turned out to be a way below average show is saved by a very intriguing set list. Several songs that were played rarely elsewhere in the tour appear tonight, like "Gods' Dice," "Red Mosquito," "Present Tense," "Smile," and "Soldier of Love." In an unexpected twist, "Of the Girl" adds some mystery to the middle of the set, instead of appearing as the opener like usual. In one of the funniest passages in the entire tour, Eddie invites a guy with a broken leg named Andy to the stage to help sing "Smile," and the band messes with his mind when he tries to get the song started. Way to go, Andy. Fun moments like this, plus the unusual song selection, make this a pretty enjoyable bootleg despite the rather sluggish performance.



2. I was at this show and it was wonderful. This is a great bootleg to buy because it has one of the best versions of Jeremy I have ever heard. There is so much energy in their performance. Some highlights of this bootleg include: Soldier of Love, Smile (duet with Andy York, a fan), Porch, Yellowledbetter and Jeremy. It was a fantastic show. It is a great example of how exciting this band is live. I highly recomend purchasing this cd.

5 comments about Loco Live.

1. This album is often overlooked by Ramones fans, but it does have some significant things about it. It's the first album without Dee Dee. It's the first album with C.J. It's the first live album released in the US. It's the last album released by Sire Records. Other than that, how is the album? Pretty good, actually. It is a typical solid Ramones concert of the era. The songs are played faster than the studio versions, as usual. C.J. does an admirable job of taking Dee Dee's place, even singing "Wart Hog" about as well as Dee Dee did. The set list doesn't really have any surprises, other than one big surprise. The BIG SURPRISE is the hidden bonus track, which is "Carbona Not Glue". It appears between "Pet Sematary" and "Judy is a Punk". Ramones fans should enjoy this CD.



2. As a joke,when people would squish up their faces and ask me"what do the Ramones sound like,"I would answer"well,they're kinda like the satanic Beach Boys."Yes a joke,but it got the point across to everyone that they're really not like anyone,but it seems that everyone wants to sound like THEM.How craphole bands like Blink 182 and Good Charlotte can sell millions of albums and live in mansions and the Ramones ate dogfood is just further testament to the vast ignorance of the record buying public and the futility of believing in a just and loving god.From the beginning of their career to the end of it,The Ramones were the seminal punk rock group.If you haven't heard The Ramones,you have never,repeat,never heard true punk rock.This is about as close as any newbie will ever be to seeing them live,and that's a shame.The songs are fast,the audience is loud,and the setlist is phenomenal.There's no other band in the world that could plow through that many songs in 65 minutes without an encore.To be honest,The Ramones never once needed an encore to please their fans.This is in my opinion the greatest and truest live album ever recorded,a real treat for the fans,and one of the rare occasions it wasn't just a marketing ploy to further gouge the public at large for a greater profit margin.This is honesty people.Raw and angry sounding,this was the locomotive coming at you full force for the absolute love of their fans.A true gem of an album,Loco Live oughta please even the most jaded and arrogant among you.



3. Even if you are a newcomer to the world of punk rock, you must be aware of the punk tradition of covering songs that came before...sometimes even decades before the current band re-recorded them. The new version is often harder, or faster than the original, and of course contains the new band's particular characteristics of style. Loco Live is an album of covers. The amazing thing is that the covers are done by the same band that did the originals--the ineffable RAMONES.
   
   This album contains 32 of their best songs in all of their "live" glory. This record is unique in the fact that these are songs that you may have listened to for years, but you have never heard them quite like this. Recorded late in their career, Loco Live was an answer to those critics who had declared the RAMONES to be decrepit old men who gave what they could to Rock and Roll, but should now stand back and watch as a younger generation took over. The RAMONES refused, and rocked out this album in response.
   
   I call this an album of covers because these songs are vastly different from their original recordings. Joey is at his bird-like best. So much so that at times he simply neglects the words in favor of whatever melodic throaty sound he can produce. Most of the time you simply can not understand him, unless you know the words by heart. For example, on Ignorance is Bliss, it sounds like he's saying "aneurysm" instead of ignorance is bliss. The words come out so quickly and with such a snarl, that it's almost incomprehensible. This record is faster, harder, and angrier than anything else the RAMONES put out, and that makes it a punk rock classic.
   
   The only caution I have is directed toward the newcomer to the RAMONES music legacy. In order to fully appreciate this record, you need to know the words to these songs. (Much in the same way that you need to know the right lyrics to appreciate The Parasites cover of "It's Alive" where they sing the wrong lyrics as printed in the original liner notes released in Japan!) Anyway...if you don't know these songs, I recommend that you buy some collection of the RAMONES like "All the Stuff and More" or "Loud, Fast, RAMONES" or "Hey Ho, Let's Go Anthology" to get your bearings, and then throw caution to the wind with Loco Live.
   
   This record rocks from beginning to end. Put it in and watch it burn a hole in your speakers. Loco Live embodies the spirit of Punk Rock like none other, and shows why punk bands today still dress like, sound like, and try to play like, The RAMONES!



4. Very good, very fast, very hard. Pure adrenaline from the begin to finish. After 32 songs the spanish punk rockers in Barcelona still loud: HEY HO LET'S GO!... so what can i tell you



5. Picking "Loco Live" after at least two years in which I haven't heard it, I was impressed with the extent to which it still holds as a powerful Rock record. I've been listening to more sophisticated music these few years - blues, funk, experimental rock and some jazz. Yet I'm still attracted to the fast-and-loud, hard edge of rock music. I guess I'm a punk at heart, and that, in order to enjoy the Ramones, you have to be one, too.
   
   But I've also noticed things that I have never heard before - the transformation of the Ramones's musical style, and the way in which the Ramones was such an American band.
   
   The cliché about the Ramones is how simple their music has always been - "no one can play three chords better" than the Ramones, and so on. But Loco Live finds the Ramones far away from the distorted bubble gum pop band that amazingly failed to conquer the world between 1977 and 1981. By the mid 1980s, the Ramones have evolved into a bona fide hard rock act, heavier and faster then anything they've done in the 1970s.
   
   Listening to "I believe in Miracles" it is hard to believe I've never noticed it before. The song is downright blues-y. There is nothing of the bubble gum in "Love Kills" or "Mama's boy", and "Pet Semetary", the title song to the Stephen King movie, has riffs and mood that are as much hard rock cliché as the lyrics (don't let this sound like I don't like the song - it's fantastic). The early songs are sped up and toughened up, and are transformed into something like acid pop. Among the later tunes, the only one that resembles the innocence of the earlier days is "Palisades Park" an old fifties standard. Hell, they even open up the set with a play back of "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly..."
   
   I can't help thinking that this change has something to do with the changes in the United States in the 1980s. It seems that the Ramones have grown along with the mysterious zeitgeist, and the music, I believe, reflect where the US cultural scene, or at least some of it, was in the Reagan years. Certainly, the lyrics reflect that - "Bonzo goes to Bitberg (a.k.a "My head is hanging upside down") is about a controversial visit of Ronald Reagan's to a Nazi cemetery, and "Ignorance is Bliss" is an undoubtedly political tune. Joey prefaces "I wanna live" with something of a manifesto: "We believe in freedom... we believe in human rights".
   
   Both musically and lyrically, the Ramones were a more sophisticated band than many critics give them credit for. And while "Loco Live" does not quite catch them in their prime, it is a fantastic live gig of a great hard rock/punk band. "Do you remember Rock'n'roll Radio?" If not, the Ramones will remind you.

No comments about King Biscuit Flower Hour Presents Graham Parker.

1 comments about Attack in Japan.

1. Superb performance and recording quality trounces their other live album. Worth tracking down if you've seen Unane live and want to relive the experience.

2 comments about BBC Live-One Hundred Punks.

1. Newcomers are far better served by Generation X's debut album or the Perfect Hits compilation. Longtime fans will probably appreciate this disc, however. The '78 show (tracks 1-8) features the original lineup tearing through some of their best songs. The performances are raw, frantic and sloppy. The only real let down is Idol's voice, which sounds particularly weak. The '81 show features a new lineup featuring ex-Clash stick man Terry Chimes. Idol's vocals had actually improved by this point but the band unfortunately sounds as if they are merely going through the motions. None of these live tracks are as good as the studio versions. None the less, this disc is worth investigating if you already own the other stuff, including the superior BBC studio recordings compilation.



2. This Live album features two different concerts at two different periods in time.The first part-1978-is the true punk Generation x years on stage.A blasting performance, raw and ugly as it should be!Pure energy with a great sound.
   The second part-1981-is the beginning of the end, starting with the hit Dancin' with myself and goin' on with semi pop-punk uninspired songs.The sound is also very good but the performance is quite boring and the audience is pretty quiet too.An interesting cover of Bowie's Andy Warhol.
   A good cd on the whole thanx to the powerful first concert and the sound.