It's Alive is the first live album by the American punk rock band the Ramones, titled after the 1974 horror film of the same name. It was recorded at the Rainbow Theatre in London on December 31, 1977, and released in April 1979 as a 2-LP set. The album draws from the band's first three studio albums: Ramones (1976), Leave Home (1977), and Rocket to Russia (1977). Four concerts during the UK tour were recorded, but the New Year's Eve one was chosen because ten rows of seats were thrown at the stage after the concert and it was considered the best of the performances at the venue.
| It's Alive | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Live album by | ||||
| Released | April 1979 | |||
| Recorded | December 31, 1977 | |||
| Venue | The Rainbow Theatre, London | |||
| Genre | Punk rock | |||
| Length | 53:49 | |||
| Label | Sire | |||
| Producer | ||||
| Ramones live album chronology | ||||
| ||||
"Since it was New Year's Eve, our management brought in some balloons and gave everybody these 'Gabba gabba hey' signs to wave around. It was very celebratory. Johnny Thunders was there, and Sid Vicious with his new girlfriend, Nancy Spungen. Elton John was there, dressed up like Marlon Brando in The Wild One. We'd honed our craft really sharp by then. The Ramones' sound was basically the essence of rock 'n' roll. That's what we were going for." – Tommy Ramone[1]
The album and concert is referred to as the band at its live peak.[citation needed] The concert was filmed and later released in truncated form on the 2007 compilation DVD It's Alive 1974–1996. The album was certified gold in Argentina in 1993.[2]
Critical reception
edit| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic | [3] |
| American Songwriter | [4] |
| Classic Rock | 9/10[5] |
| Encyclopedia of Popular Music | [6] |
| Q | [7] |
| Record Collector | [8] |
| The Rolling Stone Album Guide | [9] |
| Smash Hits | 8/10[10] |
| Tom Hull – on the Web | B+ ( )[11] |
| The Village Voice | A−[12] |
In a 1996 retrospective review, Robert Christgau of The Village Voice wrote: "Redundant when it was dropped on the punk-besotted U.K. in 1979, this concert is precious history now—seems so impossibly light and quick it makes you suspect they didn't fully sustain their live pace into their forties after all."[12]
Paul Rigby of Record Collector described the album as a "high energy, one-hour blitz" that attests to "how high-octane they really were".[8]
AllMusic critic Mark Deming deemed It's Alive to be "not only the best Ramones live album," but also "one of the best and most effective live albums in the rock canon, and every bit as essential as Ramones, Leave Home, or Rocket to Russia."[3]
In 2005, It's Alive was ranked number 279 in Rock Hard magazine's book The 500 Greatest Rock & Metal Albums of All Time.[13]
Track listing
edit| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Original release | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Rockaway Beach" | Dee Dee Ramone | Rocket to Russia (1977) | 2:24 |
| 2. | "Teenage Lobotomy" | Ramones | Rocket to Russia (1977) | 1:55 |
| 3. | "Blitzkrieg Bop" | Tommy Ramone, Dee Dee Ramone | Ramones (1976) | 2:05 |
| 4. | "I Wanna Be Well" | Joey Ramone | Rocket to Russia (1977) | 2:23 |
| 5. | "Glad to See You Go" | Joey Ramone, Dee Dee Ramone | Leave Home (1977) | 1:51 |
| 6. | "Gimme Gimme Shock Treatment" | Johnny Ramone, Dee Dee Ramone | Leave Home (1977) | 1:37 |
| 7. | "You're Gonna Kill That Girl" | Joey Ramone | Leave Home (1977) | 2:28 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Original release | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8. | "I Don't Care" | Joey Ramone | Rocket to Russia (1977) | 1:41 |
| 9. | "Sheena Is a Punk Rocker" | Joey Ramone | Rocket to Russia (1977) | 2:16 |
| 10. | "Havana Affair" | Dee Dee Ramone, Johnny Ramone | Ramones (1976) | 1:35 |
| 11. | "Commando" | Dee Dee Ramone, Johnny Ramone | Leave Home (1977) | 1:40 |
| 12. | "Here Today, Gone Tomorrow" | Joey Ramone | Rocket to Russia (1977) | 2:55 |
| 13. | "Surfin' Bird" | Al Frazier, Sonny Harris, Carl White, Turner Wilson | Rocket to Russia (1977) | 2:20 |
| 14. | "Cretin Hop" | Ramones | Rocket to Russia (1977) | 1:46 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Original release | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15. | "Listen to My Heart" | Dee Dee Ramone | Ramones (1976) | 1:36 |
| 16. | "California Sun" | Henry Glover | Leave Home (1977) | 1:45 |
| 17. | "I Don't Wanna Walk Around With You" | Dee Dee Ramone | Ramones (1976) | 1:25 |
| 18. | "Pinhead" | Ramones | Leave Home (1977) | 2:46 |
| 19. | "Do You Want to Dance" | Bobby Freeman | Rocket to Russia (1977) | 1:39 |
| 20. | "Chain Saw" | Joey Ramone | Ramones (1976) | 1:29 |
| 21. | "Today Your Love, Tomorrow the World" | Dee Dee Ramone | Ramones (1976) | 1:55 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Original release | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 22. | "Now I Wanna Be a Good Boy" | Dee Dee Ramone | Leave Home (1977) | 2:03 |
| 23. | "Judy Is a Punk" | Joey Ramone | Ramones (1976) | 1:14 |
| 24. | "Suzy Is a Headbanger" | Ramones | Leave Home (1977) | 1:53 |
| 25. | "Let's Dance" | Jim Lee | Ramones (1976) | 2:03 |
| 26. | "Oh Oh I Love Her So" | Joey Ramone | Leave Home (1977) | 1:40 |
| 27. | "Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue" | Dee Dee Ramone | Ramones (1976) | 1:18 |
| 28. | "We're a Happy Family" | Ramones | Rocket to Russia (1977) | 2:07 |
Release history
editIt's Alive was first released on CD in the US in 1995. The album was reissued as a 4 CD/2 LP 40th Anniversary Deluxe Edition on September 20, 2019, limited to 8,000 copies. The set includes all four concerts that were recorded during the Ramones' UK tour in December 1977 and is housed in a 12x12 hardcover book, with liner notes written by Steve Albini and Ed Stasium.[14]
Personnel
editRamones
- Joey Ramone - lead vocals
- Johnny Ramone - guitar
- Dee Dee Ramone - bass, backing vocals
- Tommy Ramone - drums
Production
- Ed Stasium - engineer
- Tommy Ramone, Ed Stasium - producers
- Basing Street Studios Ltd. - mobile recording facilities
- Greb Cobb, Frank Owen, Jo Yu, Ray Doyle - mobile crew
- Ramona Janquito, Phil Shrago - studio crew
- Monte Melnick - tour manager
- Arturo Vega - lighting
- Tasco - sound, lighting
Album Design-Spencer Drate Art Director-John Gillespie Photography-Various Photographers
Charts
edit| Chart (1979) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[15] | 38 |
| UK Albums (OCC)[16] | 27 |
Certifications
edit| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| Argentina (CAPIF)[17] | Gold | 30,000^ |
| Spain (PROMUSICAE)[18] | Gold | 50,000^ |
|
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. | ||
References
edit- ^ "Live albums". Classic Rock supplement: The Live Albums That Changed The World. December 2011. p. 21.
- ^ "Argentinian album certifications – Ramones – Alive". Argentine Chamber of Phonograms and Videograms Producers.
- ^ a b Deming, Mark. "It's Alive – Ramones". AllMusic. Retrieved June 3, 2020.
- ^ Horowitz, Hal (December 25, 2019). "Ramones: It's Alive–40th Anniversary Edition". American Songwriter. Retrieved November 25, 2020.
- ^ "Best of the Rest". Classic Rock. No. 273. April 2020. p. 95.
- ^ C. Strong, Martin (2004). Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Canongate. ISBN 1841955515.
- ^ "Ramones: It's Alive". Q. No. 167. August 2000. pp. 120–21.
- ^ a b Rigby, Paul (May 2009). "Ramones – It's Alive". Record Collector. No. 362. Retrieved January 6, 2017.
- ^ Wolk, Douglas (2004). "The Ramones". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). Simon & Schuster. pp. 675–76. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
- ^ Starr, Red (June 28 – July 11, 1979). "Albums". Smash Hits. Vol. 1, no. 15. p. 25.
- ^ Hull, Tom (October 12, 2020). "Music Week". Tom Hull – on the Web. Retrieved October 14, 2020.
- ^ a b Christgau, Robert (February 20, 1996). "Consumer Guide". The Village Voice. Retrieved January 6, 2017.
- ^ Best of Rock & Metal - Die 500 stärksten Scheiben aller Zeiten (in German). Rock Hard. 2005. p. 102. ISBN 3-89880-517-4.
- ^ "Ramones It's Alive 40th Anniversary Deluxe Edition Available September 20 from Rhino | Rhino".
- ^ "Swedishcharts.com – Ramones – It's Alive". Hung Medien. Retrieved 28 June 2023.
- ^ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 28 June 2023.
- ^ "Discos de oro y platino" (in Spanish). Cámara Argentina de Productores de Fonogramas y Videogramas. Archived from the original on July 6, 2011. Retrieved December 6, 2021.
- ^ "Spanish album certifications" (in Spanish). Productores de Música de España. Select Álbumes under "Categoría", select 2003 under "Año". Select 12 under "Semana". Click on "BUSCAR LISTA".