Customer Reviews

Beat Is on the Brat

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

WOW! Screeching Weasel took the masterpiece of the Ramones debut album and gave it a Screeching Weasel touch, they covered the songs, but in no way duplicated them. Ben Weasel's voice goes perfectly with all the songs, it's uncanny! When I hear the words "beat on the brat", I immediately think of this album rather than the Ramones' song. This album is a perfect mix of Ramones three-chord punk, Ben Weasel's whiny-in-a-good-way voice, teen angst, all that good stuff that makes Screeching Weasel what it is. If you see this around, make no hesitation to pick this up, it's a must-buy!

I was thrilled to learn that Screeching Weasel had covered the entire first Ramones album, after all, what better band to pay tribute to the Ramones than Screeching Weasel?

In practice, its not THAT awesome. Don't get me wrong, I think its very admirable that they spent their resources paying their dues to a fantastic and incredibly influential band that (at the time especially) wasn't really getting the recognition they deserved.

But while the act of tribute is very good, the actual album isn't much to scream about, as the band plays it very straight, changing almost nothing and just sounding a little bit faster than the Ramones did back in '76.

So if you wanna hear Screeching Weasel play the entire first Ramones LP the same way the Ramones did, go ahead and buy it. I'll just continue listening to "Ramones."


There is one reason you might want to get this CD, and thats because the last four tracks on here are the "Formula 27" EP. Its a very good EP, all four songs are good, especially "(Nothings Gonna) Turn Me Off (Of You)" with its hilarious lyric "I need someone to talk during the Munsters so that I can say 'Shut up' and not get punched even though we all know that the Munsters is a lousy show."

All in all the EP is nice to have, but the albums nothing you're gonna want to listen to more than once.

Several punk bands have covered a Ramones album in it's entirety. Screaching Weasel were the first band to do it, recording this cover version of the Ramones first album in one 14 hour session in October of 1992. The band sticks closely to the original arrangements of the songs, but they play them faster. Some people might criticize them for not changing things up a little, but it works for me. The CD adds four bonus tracks recorded in June 1996, which were originally released as the Formula 27 EP. This is a fun punk album.

Who woulda thunk it? The kindergarten ennui attitude and bare songcraft of the Ramones meets the dynamic Converse-driven heroics of the Screeching Weasel. Had the distinct pleasure of hearing a sampling of these on the "Kill the Musicians" compilation, and it's a joy to see the album released on compact disc finally. Turn it up: this one's for bopping.

Getting a sneak peak at this album was hard but, it looks like Weasel has come up with another winner. This is a re-release of the vinyl that came out several years ago during the bands pre-lookout days. If you enjoy the Ramones and Screeching Weasel this is the best mixture of both sounds ever put out. Craig Lirette of the southern U.S. infamous underground Megazine had Robo Bleski present during the sampling of this album. After the first few spins, Robo said "its got a home in my collection". If you see it grab it, it will go fast.

The ramons kick --- but so does screeching weasel so what beter to do than have them do a cover of the Ramons. It is the best cover album avalable today if you are any punk fan at all you should already own this but if you don't buy it.