Review: Deep Roots Of The Ramones

Various Artists – Deep Roots Of The Ramones (Sireena Records)
If you’re credited with inventing a genre, as The Ramones often are, it must surely be a worthwhile enterprise trawling record catalogues to pin down the tunes that inspired their music. Sounds like a lot of fun, too. Of course, The Ramones didn’t invent punk rock, as any ‘60s garage dweller, or Detroit musicologist will testify, but that’s no reason to overlook their huge contribution to three-chord nihilism, leather jackets and ripped jeans.

This feisty compilation from the German Sireena label paints a picture that’s by no means complete, but still sounds extremely impressive. All the usual suspects are present and correct: Iggy and the Stooges (“I Got A Right”), MC5 (“Looking At You”) and the New York Dolls (the always good to hear “Personality Crisis”), but interestingly it’s the early stuff that really works, tracks by Link Wray, Carl Perkins and Gene Vincent seem to epitomize the basics of punk rock that The Ramones effortlessly tapped into. Add some fine contributions from The Troggs, Flamin’ Groovies and Jack Scott, and the result is a compilation that’s going to live in your CD player for some time. Go on, crank it up and spoil the neighbours.
http://www.sireena.de/
Rob F.