Credits:
Vocals: Joey Ramone
Guitars: Johnny Ramone
Bass: Dee Dee Ramone
Drums: Marky, Richie, and Tommy Ramone
"Ramones Mania" isn't a studio album; it's a very large collection of Ramones songs, 30 in total. This album features earlier well-known songs, such as "I Wanna Be Sedated" and "Teenage Lobotomy". The cd was released in late May of 1988, so none of the song's off "Brain Drain" through "Adios Amigos!" are on here, though the song selection remains several great choices.
The first ten songs are classics, most of these are the band's best-known songs. "I Wanna Be Sedated" opens, followed by "Teenage Lobotomy". The quality on the album's songs varies, basically depending on how old the song is. Since this cd was released in the 80's, it is not fully-evolved disc quality just yet, and most of the songs are taken from a tape. The songs are not hard to listen to though. After "Lobotomy", you'll find more well-known tracks such as "Beat On The Brat", "I Wanna Live" (personal favorite), and one of the greatest, "Blitzkrieg Bop", at number 9. The first few songs really are excellent picks, and sound decent quality-wise.
Songs 11-20 aren't the highlights of the album, but still are very recognizable. Tracks like "Commando", "I Wanna Be Your Boyfreind", and "Outsider" are included in this section of the cd. Here the quality starts to improve; these songs are more recent than the first few. If your a new listener to the Ramones, you may not recall many of these songs. You've probably heard "Outsider" before, if your a fan of Green Day...they covered it on their b-sides album, "Shenanigans". Another one of my favorites, "Wart Hog", is track 20. The sound quality by now is sounding more "modern cd" like.
The last songs, 21-30, really end the hits collection well. You'll know songs like "Howling At The Moon" and "Rock 'n' Roll High School", and the tracks sound great. I'd recommend listening to "The KKK Took My Baby Away", "Animal Boy", and "Indian Giver"...one of the few flaws on the album was including "Somebody Put Something In My Drink", I don't enjoy that song very much...it sounds very bland.
Downsides on this collection are the quality of the earlier songs, which sound like your listening to some old tape you dug up in your basement. The amount of songs on the album are simply a plus for the hard-core Ramones fan, but if you haven't really listened to them before, you may not want to sit through 30 songs and will end up just skipping through the last few songs because you heard some bad quality pulls from a tape.
Overall, this release I beleive deserves a 4/5. Great choices, just a little long for the casual listener.
