Ramones covers album series

Between 1993 and 2000, a series of Ramones covers albums were released by Selfless Records (later Clearview Records), an independent record label based in Garland, Texas specializing in punk rock, on which bands influenced by seminal punk group the Ramones performed cover versions of entire Ramones albums. Under the Selfless label, Screeching Weasel, the Queers, and the Vindictives respectively covered the first three Ramones albums: Ramones (1976), Rocket to Russia (1977), and Leave Home (1977). Selfless then became Clearview Records and continued the series, with Boris the Sprinkler, the Parasites, the Mr. T Experience, the Beatnik Termites, and the McRackins respectively covering End of the Century (1980), It's Alive (1979), Road to Ruin (1978), Pleasant Dreams (1981), and Too Tough to Die (1984).

Each entry in the series was issued as a limited edition LP record, with 1,400 copies pressed in the standard black, 300 on colored discs, and an additional 300 with an alternate screen printed cover intended for the band to sell on tour. Some of the albums were later re-released on compact disc by Clearview or other labels.

The series began when Selfless Records head Todd Greene contacted

Screeching Weasel later included four tracks from the album—"

North Hampton, New Hampshire-based band the Queers were the next to record an album in the series, covering 1977's Rocket to Russia. Their version was recorded at Flat Iron Studios in Chicago in 1994 with Ben Weasel as producer.^[4] According to singer and guitarist "Joe Queer" King and bassist Chris "B-Face" Barnard, it was recorded in a single day with no rehearsals.^[4] They later criticized other bands who spent more time rehearsing and recording their entries in the series, saying "You can't improve on the Ramones, they were the greatest punk rock band the world will ever know."^[4] The Queers' usual drummer, Hugh O'Neill, was on a forced leave of absence from the band; earlier that year, they had staged an intervention in order to convince him to stop using heroin.^[5] This accounted for his absence from Rocket to Russia and their following album, 1994's Beat Off.^[6] For Rocket to Russia they were joined by drummer Jay Adelberg.^[4] By April of that year Screeching Weasel drummer Dan Panic and bassist Dan Vapid had joined the Queers, and the band played as openers for the Ramones at a show in Hampton Beach, which Vapid later called the most pivotal moment of his time with the Queers.^[6]

After Selfless became Clearview Records, Rocket to Russia was reissued on compact disc in 1998 with the catalog number CRVW 28.

The Vindictives' version of Leave Home was reissued on LP and CD by Liberation Records in 1998 with new cover artwork by noted punk album art Illustrator, Mark deSalvo. (catalog number L 37808).[13] Reviewing this edition for Allmusic, Mike DaRonco rated it two stars out of five in a negative review, calling it "a pretty redundant and worthless concept except for maybe calling attention to 'one of the greatest rock & roll bands ever', but at least Screeching Weasel had the decency to cover Ramones straight through without any changes. So not only do the Vindictives do their own version of classics like 'Sheena Is a Punk Rocker' and 'Pinhead' with extended guitar solos and unnecessary backing vocals, but none of the songs are in the order of the original version. Blasphemy!"^[10] Reviewer Tom Trauma of Punknews.org also gave a negative opinion of the album in 2016, rating it two and a half stars out of five and remarking that "Generally bands should be praised for pushing the envelope, but in this case there were probably more misses than hits."^[11] He criticized the guitar sound as "jagged" and "more metallic sounding" than the original, and said the album had "more lead guitar than Johnny [Ramone] played in his whole career."^[11] "The heavy Vindictives treatment may have worked if only used on a song or two", he concluded; "Over the course of 16 tracks it's just too much. They definitely swung for the fences. If they had connected, this might have been the masterpiece of the series. Ultimately, they're guilty of making a perfect, untouchable album into a mediocre one. As it turned out, it was the least listenable of the first three."^[11]

Later in 1994 Selfless Records changed its name to Clearview Records. In 1996 the label revived the Ramones covers series, with Boris the Sprinkler covering the band's 1980 album End of the Century. It was recorded in the band's home town of Green Bay, Wisconsin at Simple Studios, the basement studio of bassist "Eric No. 2" Thielen, who produced the album under the pseudonym Eric J. Simple. It was the first album in the series to be issued on CD by Clearview, in addition to the usual 2,000 LP copies. Reviewing it for Allmusic, Mike DaRonco rated it two stars out of five, saying that the band "openly admit during the long intro of 'Do You Remember Rock 'n' Roll Radio?' that what they're covering is one of the worst Ramones records ever released. Not that Rev. Nørb and company are wrong by any means, but they certainly don't improve upon End of the Century. Seriously, why would a band re-record an album in its entirety when it was already perfected the first time around?"^[14]

The

The liner notes were written by Boris the Sprinkler singer Rev. Nørb in April 1997; In them, he claimed that Boris the Sprinkler had originally been slated to cover 1978's Road to Ruin, which was the next Ramones studio album after Leave Home and Rocket to Russia, but while he felt that "half that album is totally great, and cannot be improved upon by mere mortals, the other half is utter dreck that I wouldn't sing if you put a goddamned bazooka to my head", and so had asked Greene if they could cover It's Alive instead, reasoning that it technically followed Rocket to Russia in the Ramones' discography.^[15] Greene had declined on the grounds that It's Alive consisted entirely of songs from the first three Ramones albums, which had already been covered by Screeching Weasel, the Vindictives, and the Queers, though Rev. Nørb suspected that it was really because Greene did not want to finance a double live album.^[15] They had settled for Boris the Sprinkler covering End of the Century instead.^[15] Nørb had forgotten that the shorter, Japan-only edition of It's Alive existed, and gave credit to Parasites singer and guitarist Dave Parasite for owning a copy and convincing Greene to have his band cover it.^[15]

The Parasites' version of It's Alive was reissued on CD in 2008 by Kid Tested Records, with the catalog number KTR 002.^[16]

Another Berkeley band,

Canadian band the McRackins, from Vancouver, had the final entry in the series, covering the Ramones' 1984 album Too Tough to Die in 2000. Produced by Todd Stefanson and singer and guitarist Bil McRackin, it was co-released with Berkeley-based label Coldfront Records (catalog number CF 044).

Punk bands on other independent labels have continued the project of covering the Ramones discography, independently of Clearview/Selfless. In 1998,