In some ways, I’ve been dreading this one as much as I’ve been looking
forward to it. I miss Joey immensely,
as every Ramones fan does, but I also feel that Don’t Worry About Me, the album he obsessed over and nearly
completed before his death, served as a perfect self-penned epitaph. It was an album chock full of great songs and
some of the strongest vocals of Joey’s career, and a decade removed from the sad
circumstances of its release it remains a must-own for any serious rock
fan. If you’ve never heard it, do
yourself a huge favor: put this review down for a minute, click on over to your
favorite music retailer and/or pirate site, and plug that hole in your
collection. You’ll be better off for it,
believe me.
As much as I loved the idea of hearing “new” Joey, I was
also unconvinced that Don’t Worry About
Me really needed a follow-up; if Joey painstakingly designed that one as
his musical last will and testament, who are we to argue? I started to feel a bit better about …Ya Know? once I saw some of the names
involved in its creation: Little Steven, Bun E. Carlos, Joan Jett, Ramones
producer Ed Stasium – these aren’t people I’d imagine involving themselves in
some half-baked grab-bag of leftovers. I
still had my misgivings, but I duly placed my order, and finally got around to
spinning the thing today.
Verdict: it’s certainly a grab-bag of leftovers, but it’s a
better one than I’d ever imagined. It’s
not a STATEMENT on the order of Don’t
Worry About Me, but it is forty-five minutes of songs worth hearing by one
of rock music’s most consistently underrated vocalists, spit-n’-polished for
release by musicians with a good, honest love for the man and his music. I can’t at all speak to whether or not Joey
would have done anything with this material if he still walked among us, but
since he no longer gets a vote I’m very glad to have it. These songs were clearly not written to sit together
as an album, but taken one by one they’re uniformly strong. The two Ramones remakes, “Merry Christmas (I
Don’t Want to Fight Tonight)” and “Life’s a Gas” are winningly stripped-down
from that band’s more familiar versions, and the thirteen new songs are all
completely charming. I don’t have any
early favorites, but in that good way where the whole thing is far stronger
than I’d ever guessed it would be.
…Ya Know? doesn’t
tell us anything we don’t already know about the late great man: he loves New
York City, he’s a bit on the lovelorn side, and he’s one of the greatest, most
unique singers rock ‘n’ roll has ever produced.
What it does do is give us one more unexpected chance to spend the
better part of an hour appreciating him, and that’s more than enough.
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