Word: albums
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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JOHN LYDON already has his special place in the rock and roll pantheon. As Johnny Rotten (a stage name he now disdains), he fronted the quintessential punk rock band, the now defunct Sex Pistols, and wrote most of the songs on what is arguably the greatest debut album ever, Never Mind the Bollocks. The obvious problem for an artist meeting such staggering early success is what to do next; Lydon's anxious quest for originality, for a break with his "public image," has resulted in Public Image Ltd., for the most part a hopelessly jejune effort that might leave...
...since one of the lines goes, "Drivin' down the road I get a feelin'/ That I should have been home yesterday, yesterday." When it came time to head home himself, Teng found some gifts loaded onto his plane at Seattle: 100 copies of Denver's latest album, courtesy of the star...
...that they seem to want to. The rest of the first side of the album with songs like "Bad Brain" and "It's a Long Way Back" fit well into standard punk molds: perfect 4/4 time, straight drum beat and guitar lines with the subtlety of a jack hammer, or a seal-clubbing expedition...
...NEXT CUT, "Wanted Everthing," reinforces that punk tone. By this point the record has fallen into a pattern. The lyrics are a bit more laid back than the old favorites like "Teenage Lobotomy," or "Sheena is a Punk Rocker," (both from the rocket to Russia album), and the music is certainly slicker, but the basic feeling produced by any Ramones album is the same. After listening to one, with the volume dial set above '7', the only choice left for the night is between casual acts of petty destruction or serious chemical personality alterations...
...album has a few more cuts that might appeal to a much wider circle, however, than those presently engaged in concentrated punk. The most surprising song yet to come from the Ramones is the next to last song on the record, "Needles and Pins." Like the other slow tune, "Questioningly," "Needles and Pins" is a lover's plaint. Again, there is the problem that Joey Ramone simply sounds weird doing what is actually a creditable Elvis imitation as he sings of failed teenage love. But I suppose I could get used to it, and the song is one more mark...