Customer Reviews

Very Best of

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

 

 

Ram Jam were a very hard rocking 70's band fronted by Bill Bartlett, formerly of the Lemon Pipers (yeah, the Green Tambourine guys). The albums were produced by bubblegum producers Kasentetz-Katz (same guys who produced Lemon Pipers, 1910 Fruitgum Co. and a lot of other 60s hits). But the Ram Jam albums really rocked hard (especially the lesser known 2nd album titled Portrait of the Young Artist as a Ram). Black Betty was a top 40 hit (a remake of an old Leadbelly song)and was fairly representative of their 1st LP. If all you've ever heard is the single version, which is on most compilations, you owe it to yourself to hear the full version which has a much longer middle section that rocks. This import CD contains both LPs and has everything released by this band except Should've Known Better, which was the B side to the Black Betty single. Great very underrated stuff!

The song "Black Betty" is reason enough to buy this CD. It contains the long-play version of this song..crank it up so the neighbors can give you dirty looks. As for the other tracks they are just ok. But Black Betty makes it worth the investment. Rocked in '77, rocks now.

What a great CD! Their first 2 albums on 1 disc. The classic Black Betty rocks! Every song on this CD is hard rockin' at it's best. Tell you the truth, I didn't know they had a second album release until I bought this. If you like rock 'n' roll,then buy this CD.

Ram Jam was an accidental discovery. I have been eyeing this cd for a while now, and now that I've listened to it, I can say that if you like Lynyrd Skynyrd, Boston, or even AC/DC, this is your music. The one song that I really don't care for is "keep your hands on the wheel", but that's only because of the singing, which isn't great, but it gets the job done. The song "High Steppin'" is a good instrumental song, too. All in all, buy this, it pretty much rules.

1. The music
As other reviews have pointed out, this is not the most sterling example of this genre. Black Betty is definitely the standout and I could hear ZZ Top doing this song. In my opinion, most of the other songs are just average for the genre, except side two of the second LP in which something lit a fire under the band and the tracks are fast and furious. Unfortunately production took a bit of a nosedive on that LP and the drums are badly recorded. Still, a lot of energy and power.
2. The release
This is a German import from CBS records. The 4 page booklet does give complete publishing and time info on all the songs, and on the inner spread is a brief bio of the band - in German. I can only get a sense of it, but with phrases like "bahnbrechenden Hardrockern" (barn-burning hard rockers?) you can get a sense of it. Finally, for the price (I paid US$10.99) you can almost not pass it by.

I was Happy to see this cd with all these great hits on it. I have not heard these songs in 10-15 years. If you got into this group in the late 70s you will want to have this for your collection. I have been amazed at how many old hard to find recordings I have found at this site you must bookmark this site I did!

Like all of you I ony bought this CD for Black Betty, however their is a vastly supierior version of the Black Betty by Spiderbait, Thats the version that plays in the film The Condemned. It's about 50,000 times better than Ram Jam's version.

The problem with Ram Jam's version is that at 1 minute and 48 seconds you have to skip or start the song over since it becomes nothing more than inane rifts that are horrible no lyrics and nothing simialr to the song you love. The rest of their getest hits is nothing more than filler music, that you will never care to hear more than once if even that.

I love the song Black Betty. I took a chance on Ram Jam's Greatest Hits, hoping there would be some unknown gem on it. But sadly, there isn't.

Other than "Black Betty", just some mediocre southern rock. But worth it just for that.

I bought this cd cuz i love the black betty tune...w/great expectation i figured their other material was gonna blow me away...wrong...Ram Jam should have named themselves Rip-OFF
Jam....after listening to this cd i have concluded that they didnt't have an original bone in their bodies...the songs were a mishmash of blatant allman/skynyrd/blackfoot attempts...the vocals were without energy or feel...i can understand why they wernt sucessful where others were