Record of the week – I remember You

The record company in England chose I Remember You as the first single to promote the new album Leave Home in 1977. It was the follow-up to the Blitzkrieg Bop single in the UK, and the labels says 1976 although the single came out the year after, february 18, 1977.
24 years later, on april 15 2001, U2 played I Remember You at a sold-out Rose Garden in Portland, USA to honor Joey Ramone who passed away the same day.

"I sing this for Joey Ramone. A great, great singer of the the greatest punk rock band ever", Bono told the audience.

There are two versions of the single, the first pressing has silver labels, the second pressing has the more common gold. I Remember You was only released as a single in UK.

Songs: I Remember You//California Sun/I don't wanna walk around with you (live)

Number: Sire 6078 603

Year: 1977

Country: UK

Notes: First pressing with silver labels, second with gold.

The debut from Taiwan – updated

I have added new pictures and some more information about the taiwanese version of the first album.

I got a postcard from Poland...

Here is a strange item I hardly don't have any information about. It is a postcard from Poland with a flexi on the front side with the track Poison Heart.
The sound quality is awful but at least I can hear that it is the studio version of the song. The manufacturer, Edycja Artystyczno Muzyczana in Krynki, Poland, have a lot of other postcards with different bands and the songs are either oldies or from the early 90s, so my guess is that the postcard is made in the 90's but I don't know. On the postcard it says that it is made in 500 copies but, again, who knows?
If anyone have more information please let me know.

Canada part two – the WEA singles

In 1978 Warner took over Sire records and GRT lost the distribution deal for Canada. From now on WEA Music of Canada took care of the business and they released four singles between 1979 and 1981. WEA also re-released the three first albums in Canada in 1978. The singles all came in a stock version and a white label promo version but unlike in the U.S. they had two songs on the promo-versions, not the same track in mono and stereo.
All singles was released in canadian WEA company sleeves, no picture sleeves.
Here they are – and together with the GRT-singles this is the complete canadian singles discography. A big thank you to Timo from www.ramones.fi for helping me with some of the pictures:

Songs: Rock'n'Roll High School/Do you wanna dance? (live)

Number: Sire SRE 1051

Year: 1979

Country: Canada

Notes: Stock version.

Songs: Rock'n'Roll High School/Do you wanna dance? (live)

Number: Sire SRE 1051

Year: 1979

Country: Canada

Notes: White label promo.

Songs: Baby I love you/High Risk Insurance

Number: Sire SRE 49182

Year: 1980

Country: Canada

Notes: Stock version.

Songs: Baby I love you/High Risk Insurance

Number: Sire SRE 49182

Year: 1980

Country: Canada

Notes: White label promo.

Songs: Do you remember Rock'n'Roll Radio?/Let's go

Number: Sire SRE 49261

Year: 1980

Country: Canada

Notes: Stock version.

Songs: Do you remember Rock'n'Roll Radio?/Let's go

Number: Sire SRE 49261

Year: 1980

Country: Canada

Notes: White label promo. Photo: ramones.fi

Songs: We want the airwaves/All is quite on the eastern front

Number: Sire SRE 49812

Year: 1981

Country: Canada

Notes: Stock version. Photo: ramones.fi

Songs: We want the airwaves/All is quite on the eastern front

Number: Sire SRE 49812

Year: 1981

Country: Canada

Notes: White label promo.

Record of the week – the japanese Blitzkrieg Bop

Here is another pressing of the Blitzkrieg Bop-single. As always with japanese releases it has a great and totally different cover. The photo is the same as on the first album. I have no idea how many of these that was pressed in Japan back in 1976, maybe someone out there knows more.
There is also a white label promo-version of this one.
And an unofficial re-release on red vinyl that appeared some year ago.

Songs: Blitzkrieg Bop/Havana Affair

Number: Philips SFL-2122

Year: 1976

Country: Japan

Happy New Year with It's Alive!

"Hey, we're the Ramones and this one's called Rockaway Beach!"
Today it's the 35th anniversary of the show that became the greatest live-album of all times – It's Alive. After Joeys introduction follows 28 songs in 54 minutes and 38 seconds. And a crowd at the Rainbow Theatre in London that goes wild, ten rows of seats were thrown at the stage after the concert.
"I think our peak, our greatest moment, is that New Year's Eve show of 1977 into 1978. I think that's our greatest moment as a band", Johnny Ramone says in his book "Commando".
I can only agree. The double-LP was released in april 1979. But for some reason it didn't came out in the USA before many years later.
The japanese version is boiled down to a single LP with 20 tracks and have a totally different cover.
The title, It's Alive, comes from the horror-movie from 1974 with the same name.
For many years rumors said that the filming from the Rainbow Theatre was destroyed or lost but 2007 Rhino released most of the show on the "It's Alive 1974-1996" dvd. The quality is great, I only wish that the whole show was included. Maybe it will be out sometime in the future...
Happy New Year!

The Rhino singles

More than 16 years after the Ramones split up there are still "official" singles coming out on vinyl. In1986 Time Warner bought the last part of the record label Rhino Entertainment. Rhino was specialized in reissues and Warner was the owner of Sire Records.

The first release is a cooperation between Rhino and the independent pop-culture retailer Newbury Comics in New England. The record is a picture disc, the first and only official picture disc 7" with the Ramones, and was released in 2008. It's limited to 1 500 copies but still easy to find. The B-side has a previously unreleased version of Beat on the Brat from the soundcheck at New years eve 1977 at the Rainbow Theatre in London. The show that became the greatest live record ever, It's alive!

Songs: I wanna be sedated/Beat on the Brat (live)

Number: Newbury Comics/Rhino DPSV-8344

Year: 2008

Country: USA

In 2010 Rhino released a repro of the U.S. single I wanna be your Boyfriend, originally from 1976. The single was sold on the Record Store Day in the USA in 2010 and was pressed in 1 000 copies. The picture sleeve looks like the original but with thicker paper.

Songs: I wanna be your Boyfriend//California Sun/I don't wanna walk around with you (live)

Number: Sire/Rhino SAA-734

Year: 2010

Country: USA

The next year there was another Ramones-release on the Record Store Day, this time a split with Red Hot Chili Peppers.
"Warner Bros. Records is pleased to announce the launch of "Side by Side" – a series of extremly limited-edition 7" vinyl singles featuring iconic WB artists covering other historic and personally influential iconic WB family artists", the company wrote in a press release.
The single, with both bands playing Havana Affair, was pressed on red vinyl in 6 500 copies – except for 100 pieces that came on clear vinyl.

Songs: Havana Affair/Havana Affair

Number: Sire 527423-7

Year: 2011

Country: Pressed in Holland

In july 2011 Rhino rereleased the Ramones first four albums on 180-gram audiophile vinyl. The first 500 copies had a bonus single on blue vinyl. The singles are:

Songs: I wanna be your Boyfriend//California Sun/I don't wanna walk around with you (live)

Number: Sire/Rhino R1-528430

Year: 2011

Country: USA

Songs: Swallow my pride/I don't care

Number: Sire/Rhino R1-528429

Year: 2011

Country: USA

Songs: Sheena is a punk rocker//Pinhead/Let's dance (live)

Number: Sire/Rhino R1-528432

Year: 2011

Country: USA

Songs: She's the one/I wanna be sedated

Number: Sire/Rhino R1-528431

Year: 2011

Country: USA

The latest release on Rhino came out in the UK on the Record Store Day in 2012. Along with four other singles from the Sire vaults Warner/Rhino released the classic Blitzkrieg bop 7".
This time in a "original vintage Sire 7 house bag" that I never have seen before and with paper labels instead of the original labels from 1976 that was pressed directly on the vinyl.
The single was limited to 800 copies.

Songs: Blitzkrieg Bop/Havana Affair

Number: Sire/Rhino 8122797365

Year: 2011

Country: EU

Record of the week – the german Don't come close

The germans released a lot of nice Ramones-singles between 1977 an 1989 with unique picture sleeves. One of them is Don't come close from 1978. As always when it comes to german singles look out for the cut-out sleeves.  The records where re-sold to record stores for a sale at discounted price and to mark this the sleeves have a small hole right through the centre of the sleeve. A lot of the german singles have this mark.
This sleeve is made of thin paper so it's common with seam split. But never the less this is a beautiful, unique picture sleeve!

Songs: Don't come close/I don't want you

Number: Sire 15 869 AT

Year: 1978

Country: Germany

Fake singles part four – the dutch Do you wanna dance?

I couldn't help notice that someone was selling the bootleg of this release as a "mega rare dutch single". On purpose or not, I don't know. But given the winning bid the buyer must have thought that this was the original pressing.

The single was released in Holland in 1978 and has a great live photo on the sleeve. It's quite hard to find today and it seems like a lot of the records was distributed to Sweden, a lot of the used copies over the years have been sold by swedish sellers.
I think the bootleg is a swedish pressing too. The easiest way to tell the difference is by looking at the label. The original pressing have a big centre hole. But you can also see the difference by looking at the sleeve. The original sleeve is wider, if you don't see the third tuning screw on Dee Dee base it is the fake sleeve. Klick the picture above.

Here is the "real" release. By the way, I have a decent extra copy of the original single up for trade. Send me a mail if you are interested.
ramonesonvinyl@gmail.com

Songs: Do you wanna dance?/It's a long way back to Germany

Number: Philips 6078 521

Year: 1978

Country: Netherlands