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7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Never mind the purists, here's a tough, kick-butt album!, November 20, 2003
By A Customer
It's not in my top fifty of all time, unlike the Ramones' first four albums. It's from the much-maligned 80's period that spawned Animal Boy before and Brain Drain after. But those three in my opinion are the most underrated, misunderstood Ramones albums. It's just Johnny Ramone's later, more hard rock/metal guitar that the strict '77 punk purists can't handle.At first glance at the cover you might say, "Whoa! Joey's wearing purple socks!" and then "Dude! Who's the Ramone with the pink Converse? Sure they're still the classic Chuck Taylors, but..." That my friends is none other than Richie Ramone, the "lost Ramone" drummer who was last spotted working at a Florida hotel. Back to the music. Halfway to Sanity features a couple 50's influenced, traditional-sounding Ramones songs, and 2 or 3 more metalish hard rockers. The remainder of the album treads the line right between those two styles. This is how I would actually describe all Ramones studio albums starting with Too Tough to Die, as the hard rock/"classic" Ramones blend. The only exception would be Acid Eaters, which even as a HUGE Ramones fan, I can honestly say is the only of one their albums you should avoid. The obvious 50's influence, catchy popsters on this one would be "Go Lil Camaro Go," "A Real Cool Time," and "Bye Bye Baby," all arguably among the Ramones' best. "Bye Bye Baby" is a slow 50's girl group type ballad, so it makes sense that Joey later did a duet of it with Ronnie Spector. Debbie Harry does backing vocals on "Camaro." Blondie fans should note that after Richie left the Ramones (this was his third and last album) Clem Burke filled in, but with disastrous results. Representing the hard rock side you got mid-tempo anthems like "I Wanna Live" and "Death of Me." If you like later Ramones songs like "Pet Sematary," "I Believe in Miracles" and "Poison Heart" I would definitely put these songs in the same category: classics. Another criminally underrated song is one Richie wrote, "I Know Better Now," it's got a great anti-authoritarian message. "Garden of Serenity" is another good one, even though I could do without the electronically enhanced-sounding Gregorian monk vocals on the chorus. Sounds like they were trying to be creepy with laughable results. "Weasel Face" is fast and hateful in the vein of "Wart Hog"--I'm surprised Dee Dee didn't sing it. The only one he did sing was "I Lost My Mind," with the snotty, abrasive, and yes, "punk" results we expected from Dee Dee. "Bop Til You Drop" may be my favorite song on this album. Johnny's chugging guitar on the chorus is 80's metal but then it blasts right back into three chord heaven that reminded me of something off "Rocket to Russia." Dee Dee even mentions the Cretin Hop in his lyrics. Worth getting for this song alone. So the only songs I didn't think were near genius on Halfway to Sanity were "I'm Not Jesus" and "Worm Man." They're still decent songs though. "Jesus," despite a bad chorus, is probably the fastest Ramones song I've ever heard next to "Endless Vacation." I mean it's like 80's NYHC pace! They were trying to sound like speed metal or something. So it's good as a kind of novelty in a way. Maybe I just have a soft spot for this album due to the fact that I was a senior in high school when it came out?? After graduation I saw them live for the first time....memories. Long live the memory of Joey and Dee Dee.
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