VARIOUS ARTISTS
"Mark Urselli's Best of Ramones
Redux" (Magnetic Eye; 2025)
Reviewed by R. Scott Bolton
So here's the problem with a tribute album to The Ramones. They're the fucking Ramones! One of the greatest bands to ever tread the rock'n'roll stages of the world. I mean, Lemmy wrote a song about them, for chrissakes. You can't improve on perfection and, hence, a tribute album almost seems pointless.
But here's the other thing: Because The Ramones are the fucking Ramones, there are so many bands out there who were influenced by their legendary sound that they want to pay tribute to them. They almost can't help themselves from paying tribute to these kings of rock'n'roll by playing their versions of these immortal songs.
And so we have "Mark Urselli's Best of Ramones Redux." Urselli, in case you were wondering, is a Grammy-nominated audio engineer, music producer, mixing engineer, live sound engineer, remixer, sound designer, composer, musician, contributor, and blogger. And he has gathered some interesting musicians to cover some Ramones tunes here (list follows):
Voivod feat. JG Thirlwell
Destructo Disk feat. Timo Ellis
Impostor Cult feat. Amy Tung Barrysmith
Oscar Dunbar & The Heat Inc.
Daniele Brusaschetto & Chvad SB
So Hideous feat. Gary Lucas
King Potenaz & Nefariant
Venamoris feat. Eicca Toppinen
Kayo Dot & Ihsahn
Duel
Raw Power feat. Sergio Milani
Zeni Geva & Besvärjelsen
Restless Spirit feat. Jeff
Matz
Vicki Peterson
feat. John Cowsill & Jonny Polonsky
Tammy Faye Starlite feat. Chris Enriquez
Aborym & Kaiten
As you can imagine, as you read through that list, there's some pretty weird shit on "Best of Ramones Redux." Some of it good, some of it interesting, some of it ... well, let's say questionable.
The Good: Most of the tracks are artist-tweaked but honest versions of the Ramones classics, with my favorites being Voivod, with JG Thirlwell, respectful cover of "Zero Zero UFO" and Imposter Cult with Amy Tung Barrysmith's version of "Pet Semetary," which is appropriately haunting. "Poison Heart" gets a little soul from Restless Spirit and Jeff Matz.
The interesting: "The KKK Took My Baby Away," from So Hideous with Gary Lucas, which starts off with a bizarre country-western intro and then werewolf-transforms into a screaming noisefest. "Time Has Come Today" gets a stoner makeover with King Potenaz & Nefariant.
The "let's say questionable" — "You Should Never Have Opened That Door," which runs a total of 1:58 on The Ramones' "Leave Home" album, becomes a nearly seven minute spiral of madness when performed by Zeni Geva & Besvärjelsen. And the album closer, "I Wanna Be Sedated" (2:28 on The Ramones' "Road to Ruin album) becomes a slooow, slightly psychotic (which I guess is appropriate) number that sounds a little like it came off Pink Floyd's "The Wall" album and sports a running time of over seven minutes.
Overall, if you're a Ramones fan, this album will entertain you, frustrate you and sometimes anger you. But, hey, we've still got all those old Ramones albums to listen to, right? And if fans of the bands on this album discover the Ramones because of this, then it did it's job, didn't it?
Rating Guide:
A classic. This record will kick your ass.
Killer. Not a classic but it will rock your world.
So-so. You've heard better.
Pretty bad. Might make a nice coaster.
Self explanatory. Just the sight of the cover makes you wanna hurl.
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Copyright © 2025 by R. Scott Bolton. All rights reserved.
