Customer Reviews

Brain Drain

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This album marked the return of Marky Ramone to the Ramones. It also was Dee Dee Ramone's last album with the group. And their last studio album for Sire Records. The album is pretty good, overall. It can't measure up to their earlier albums, but how could it? There are good songs here, but only two true Ramones "classics" ("I Believe in Miracles" and "Pet Sematary"). Although the Christmas song is a near classic. Ramones fans should enjoy this album.

Just as the Ramones faced a crisis in 1979, wondering where they should allow musical direction to drift in the early '80s post-punk confusion, they also faced a similar crisis ten years later. The band was looking for another new direction. The Ramones struggled to keep their fan base all decade long, shining momemtarily on "Too Tough to Die" and "Animal Boy," but otherwise came up lackluster. The two really good albums from the '80s, "Pleasant Dreams" and "Subterranean Jungle," were panned by critics and ignored by fans. Now, come 1989, they were tired, were about to lose their long-time bassist, and looking to make a bold statement.

That statement came in the form of the extremely hard-hitting "Brain Drain." The Ramones re-invented their sound in a fitting way for the explosion of nu metal, grunge and retro punk that would define the '90s, and brought them into that decade looking and sounding relevant.

"Brain Drain" does not follow the Ramones' punk formula. The album is mostly goth rock and proto-heavy metal. But it works. The production is as heavy as it gets, but is also necessary. The songs wouldn't work if not for the bone-crunching sound that master chops man Bill Laswell provides. In short, "Brain Drain" is a seriously loud album, but enjoyable.

I could do without "Palisades Park," which is just downright silly and doesn't fit well into the album, but the other songs jive with their new direction in style and sound. Excepting the obvious "Pet Sematary," the best songs are "I Believe in Miracles," "Zero Zero U.F.O.," "Don't Bust My Chops," "Learn to Listen," and "Can't Get You Outta My Mind."

Considering this was Dee Dee's swan song with the Ramones (before returning years later stricly in the role of songwriter), you'd think that he'd have more lead vocal duties. Dee Dee delivers a delicious vocal performance on "Punishment Fits the Crime," accentuating the lyrics in poignant style. He should have sung "Zero Zero U.F.O." and "Ignorance is Bliss" as well (not to demean Joey's vocals in any way). Also, Bill Laswell, a bassist himself, didn't do Dee Dee any favors either by mixing his bass well into the background. The bass is a barely audible thump, song after song. Shameful.

However, despite any oversights in vocal duties or production techniques, "Brain Drain" is a stellar album, featuring very rich and satisfying heavy rock. If you're looking for an album that defined the Ramones during the early '90s, forget the miserable "Mondo Bizarro." Listen to "Brain Drain" instead.

The guy who produced this album also produces Motorhead's classic "Orgasmatron", and man, can you here it! This is by far the heaviest Ramones album. From the bump-and-run of "I Believe in Miracles", to the churning grind of "Don't Bust My Chops", to the almost thrash/metal "Zero Zero UFO", this album just rocks. It also has a "classic" style Ramones song (the video was "dedicated to the fans") called "Merry Christams (I don't want to Fight Tonight)".

If you feel like you must get an album after "Too Tough To Die", then get this little ditty...you'll be glad you did!

Although the production is kinda bad, the songs aren't.

There are a lot of great songs on this one, of course "I believe in Miracles" and "Pet Sematary" are 2 of the greatest Ramones songs and its worth it just for those.

Other songs like Zero Zero UFO, Punishment Fits the Crime, Palisades Park, Ignorance is Bliss, Merry Christmas, Come back,
and one of my all time favorite Ramones songs "Can't get you outta my mind", make this CD very much worth buying.

The Production is kinda muddy but the songs make up for it.
not the best Ramones album, but a very good album none the less.

This was a terrific album by the Ramones that featured one of their best songs ever ('Pet Semetary') and several other very good songs (the heavy 'I Believe in Miracles', the comical 'Merry Christmas (I Don't Want to Fight Tonight)', and an excellent cover of 'Palisades Park'. The remaining tracks are all decent (Even Joey's latest attempt at a Spector-esque ballad 'Come Back Baby' -- is top-notch). This was Dee-Dee's last album as bass player. Surprisingly, the change marked a vast improvement over the previous album (the dreadful 'Halfway To Sanity') and the subsequent hiring of C-Jay kept the band interesting through much of the 90s.

BRAIN DRAIN (1989) oughtta be considered a Ramones classic. I hate when people talk about a great rock album and say things like "The only good song is PET SEMETARY." It's simply not true with this album. I BELIEVE IN MIRACLES is both one of the best Ramones songs ever, and also on my list of top ten rock songs of the eighties.

Also, this album has more great songs- song for song- than any albums from the eighties. It rocks out like Road To Ruin. And is far better than any albums they recorded afterwards. It's different than the seventies albums , sure,.. but the band synched perfectly, and created a stellar rock album. ZERO ZERO...rocks, DONT BUST MY CHOPS... awesome, dig the hook, bay-bee; PUNISHMENT FITS and ALL SCREWED UP to me sound just as good as any seventies stuff, only with a little eighties production. But we're talking Red Hot Chilli Peppers eighties, not Journey. Whatever, it still sounds fresh and it sounds like Ramones. The song from that Stephen King movie is probably the most un-Ramones-like song in the mix, but it's still good. Followed by PALISADES PARK... another cool take on some fifties bubble gum that rocks. The rest of the album balances left to right with Dee Dee's aggresive LEARN TO LISTEN and IGNORANCE IS BLISS, sandwiched between Joey Ramone ballads CANT GET YOU OUTTA MY MIND and COME BACK BABY... two songs that foreshadow some of the great tunes that Joey Ramone would do on his own. The Christmas one is good too. All three would be on any Joey Ramone greatest hits package. Should one ever be released. Every song is great. This may be my FAVORITE Ramones album of all. So stop bustin' chops.

*The remaster series doesn't add much, except an alternate version of Pets, but I've often found it much cheaper at other places. You can save money here at Amazon, by just getting the straight version.

Certainly this is not one of the classic Ramones albums, but it has alot going for it just the same;

Bill Laswell produced it and layered the guitars giving it a dense roar.

If like me you are a fan of Marky's drumming you've never heard him hammer it home more so than on this one.

It features later day classic "Pet Semetary".

It was the last album with Dee Dee playing bass (he did continue to write for them after leaving the band).

Besides, in my humble opinion, there are no bad Ramones albums.

Definately in MY top five RAMONE picks. BRAIN DRAIN was the last album to officially include member DEE DEE RAMONE on bass, and perhaps has some of his best licks. This bit was released in 1989 and was the first album on the Chrysalis label.

During the eighties THE RAMONES became more of a rock and roll outfit when it came to studio recordings. You get louder guitars, and a richer sound than you will hear on the classic seventies punk recordings of the band. The best songs on this disc are DEE DEE compositions, the opening I BELIEVE IN MIRACLES is a very cool rocker. PET SEMETARY also a rockin' song. DEE DEE had a hell of a lot of problems, but the man could pen a great song. Hell, he even wrote most of the songs for the band AFTER he left for the next few albums. However, BRAIN DRAIN is his swan song. The same year he would also release a solo album of rap songs- I have never found that piece, but I would really like to! HA HA!

BRAIN DRAIN also features lots of other great songs like DONT BUST MY CHOPS and JOEY RAMONE favorites CAN'T GET YOU OUTTA MY MIND and MERRY CHRISTMAS (I DONT WANNA FIGHT TONIGHT). Then the icing on the cake is a sweet sweet cover of Gong Show ChucK Barris' PALISADES PARK which really cooks. Take a ride on the Shoop-de-shoop! DIG THIS ALBUM! One of THE RAMONES best for sure!

Ramones have already positioned themselves as rock legends with their unique brand of hard, fast-paced, but yet catchy songs. On their way to the 90s, they released "Brain Drain" which sounds like an 80s album, but the Ramones signature sound is definatly there. Album highlights include "I Believe In Miracles, Punishment Fits The Crime, Pet Semetary and Merry Christmas (I Don't Want To Fight Tonight). The album is mature indeed and all the Ramones are in fine tune. This album also sees the exit of Dee Dee Ramone on bass guitar.

First-time listeners will wonder what all the hype was about the hard rockin' Ramones band, so I recommend you go with their self-titled LP or Rocket To Russia first before exploring the rest of the Ramones fine records. But this album is definatly a worthy addition to the long-time Ramones fan or general rock collection, which any die-hard ramones fan will definatly agree with.

Certanly not as bad a record as everyone seems to think. All the songs on Brain Drain are excellent Ramones classics. The problem with this album is the production.

The drums are mixed considerably louder than anything else on the album for some reason, and the guitar drowns out the bass completly. The worst example of this poor mixing is on "All Screwed up". It often sounds more like a grunge/metal band than classic Ramones punk rock.

Besides the poor production, I can't think of anything wrong with this album. The songs are all classic Ramones tunes! I believe in miracles, Ignorance is Bliss, Merry Christmas, Punishment fits the Crime, Palasadies park, ect. are all killer songs!

In fact, one of the Ramones biggest hits is on here: "Pet Sematary". The production on this song is much cleaner (a differnt producer did this song). That song alone would make the album worthwhile.

I love Brain Drain. And sadly it was Dee Dee's last. Introducing CJ and not breaking up was a great move for the Ramones.

Get this album!