Ramones

Ramones: Subterranean JungleSubterranean Jungle (1983)
Sire

Reviewer Rating: 3.5

User Rating:

Contributed by: TheDoodlyManTheDoodlyMan
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Published on June 19th 2012The Ramones had a tough early '80s. During punk rocks superseding into new wave, they tried to keep up while totally changing their original hard and fast sound. But after witnessing their voluptuous experiment with 1980's End of the Century go a-rye, the Ramones had trouble trying to finding thei.

The Ramones had a tough early '80s. During punk rocks superseding into new wave, they tried to keep up while totally changing their original hard and fast sound. But after witnessing their voluptuous experiment with 1980's End of the Century go a-rye, the Ramones had trouble trying to finding their place.

Subterranean Jungle, thankfully, is great. The guitar sound on is matchlessly, poppily layered and aggressive, and Dee Dee's bass stands out almost as much as it did on Ramones. The drums are overblown; the snare is so strained, you might start to believe that Marky is playing with paint brushes. Producers Glen Kolotkin and Ritchie Cordell tried to capture their late '60s bubblegum heyday, with the drum signatures, jingle and Joey's always lovable croon. It works, but doesn't quite fit into the Punk genre.

This is still a great album, song to song, although "Time Bomb" hits a low point with questionable lyrics and "I Need Your Love" is a sleeper. The best of the album can be heard during the two '60s covers, "Little Bit O' Soul" and "Time Has Come Today." Even after that sequence, there are still classics like "My-My Kind of a Girl" and "Everytime I Eat Vegetables It Makes Me Think of You," which show that the Ramones could still joke light-heartedly about Thorazine and shock treatment. Even the cover of the foursome on a heavily-graffitied subway train shows the combination of humor and darkness that makes "Jungle" what it is.

This is a very good album, containing some of the most straight-up hard rocking the Ramones have ever recorded. The fans are the ones who got it wrong.

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Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not respon sible for them in any way. Seriously.

TheDoodlyMan (June 21, 2012)

I forgot about 'Outsider' and 'Highest Trails Above' Two excellent songs!

slymer (June 20, 2012)

This and Pleasant Dreams are the two most underrated Ramones albums.

MN_DrNick (June 19, 2012)

Why is there no mention of "Outsider" in the review?

77Punker (June 19, 2012)

End Of The Century was excellent....one clunker "Baby I Love You"....Johnny knew they made a mistake with that tune. I loved the lyrics to "Time Bomb".

raveneffect (June 19, 2012)

What is so questionable about the Time Bomb lyrics?

NattyBoh (June 19, 2012)

End of the Century is fantastic. This album took a while to grow on me but I like it now. "In the Park" is my fave tune on the album.

MONTEAM (June 19, 2012)

Learn all about the Ramones in the book;
“ON THE ROAD WITH THE RAMONES”.
Throughout the remarkable twenty-two-year career of the Ramones the seminal punk rock band, Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Famers and Recording Academy Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winners Monte A. Melnick saw it all. He was the band’s tour manager from their 1974 CBGB debut to their final show in 1996. Now, in this NEW UPDATED EDITION he tells his story. Full of insider perspectives and exclusive interviews and packed with over 250 personal color photos and images; this is a must-have for all fans of the Ramones.

skolarx (June 19, 2012)

At a point in the mid 90's when a bunch of pop punk bands were covering full Ramones albums, I heard that the Groovie Ghoulies were going to do this album. Pretty bummed that never came to pass

eatbicycles (June 19, 2012)

End of the Sentry neither wendt a rye nor awry. Its one of there best alboms.

ExtraCheesePizza (June 19, 2012)

That first paragraph is rough. The editors need psycho therapy.

Great album.