Ramones: It's Alive 1974-1996 - Dark Publications

Location: Home » music » Punk » Ramones: It's Alive 1974-1996

Similar Items:

•	End of the Century - The Story of the Ramones
•	AC/DC: Plug Me In (3 disc Limited Edition)
•	Rock 'n Roll High School - Special Edition
•	The Ramones Videobiography
•	Help!

Editorial Reviews:

Product Description
Punk forefathers Joey Johnny Dee Dee Tommy Marky Richie and C-Jay Ramone outlasted almost every one of their legions of followers. For over twenty years they delivered their signature garage-flavored ear-shattering chainsaw level and pop-skewed sound through a string of now-classic loud-and-fast punk rock LPs and 2263 concerts together. This new two DVD set captures the essence of the legendary racket they made with over four hours of rare and previously unreleased live footage that s theclosest you can get to experiencing this blitzkrieg of a band. From their earliest performances at lower Manhattan s CBGBs tointernational festivals in front of hundreds of thousands of fans IT S ALIVE 1974 1996 is your VIP ticket to the Ramones. Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002 the band may be gone but their sound and influence are indestructible.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: MUSIC DVD/CONCERTS UPC: 603497048328

Customer Reviews: Read 24 more reviews...

5 out of 5 stars

The Ultimate Live Scrapbook on the Titans of Punk. October 3, 2007
23 out of 23 found this review helpful

It's indeed a shame that this will never happen again. We'll never see these guys take the stage, never hear Dee Dee count in that first tune. We won't get slammed by the sheer volume and power of it all. We won't get to hear Joey's between-song banter and think, "didn't he say exactly the same thing before this song the last time they were here?"

But even with three Ramones gone for good, THE RAMONES live on, larger and more famous than they were in life, their tunes in a million movies and TV ads, their T-shirts now worn by, well, pretty much everybody. Which brings us to this big, reasonably priced 2-DVD set of Ramones live footage from damn near the very beginning of their career to damn near the very end. Over the course of about four hours (!!!), we see the band's evolution from scrappy up and comers at CBGB to consummate pros filling a stadium somewhere in South America. But take heart: whether they were playing to 60,000 people in 1996 or a few dozen in 1974, these guys - save for the early stage screwups - BARELY CHANGED AT ALL. In other words, they got it right early on and knew better than to ruin a good thing.

The sheer volume of material makes this set a solid winner, but it's those little moments and details that diehard fans will love most. The chance to see Johnny play a guitar other than his white or blue Mosrite. Getting to hear/see such seldom-performed-live classics as "Needles & Pins," "Don't Come Close" and "I Want You Around." Watching the evolution of Dee Dee's hair. The cornerstone of the whole thing, though, is the multi-song segment of the band's performance in London on New Year's Eve, 1977 - the concert during which the 2-LP "It's Alive" was recorded. Thirty years after the fact, we get the visuals to go along with one of the greatest live albums ever recorded, and they represent the Ramones at perhaps their very peak. Footage of dozens of other concerts and TV appearances varies in quality, but there's a treasure trove of good stuff to be found.

And as for the lower-quality footage? That shot-on-video, black & white stuff with the crappy sound? Hey, it's still the Ramones! Which, of course, makes it cooler than pretty much anything else out there right now.

5 out of 5 stars

A No brainer. September 5, 2007
9 out of 21 found this review helpful

The RAMONES... The greatest, most hard-working, yet underappreciated American rock band of all time. A must for all rock fans. If you never had the chance to witness the blitzbrieg sonic assault of a live RAMONES show, this is the next best thing. RIP Joey, Johnny & Dee Dee.

4 out of 5 stars

Great, if not all there. October 3, 2007
8 out of 12 found this review helpful

Two of the concerts on this DVD were given a viewing earlier this year, the US Festival and what exists of the Rainbow show from which It's Alive the CD comes. Some of this, like parts of the Old Grey Whistle Test from early in the 1980s and the (as uncomfortable to sit through as the band must have felt) performance on Sha-Na-Na (why did I like this when I was little?) have been available before. A lot of this has appeared on Ramones documentaries with someone, either the band, Monte or Legs McNeil or someone else talking over the performance. You've seen a lot of this before and there's little we won't see again, but it's not complete by any stretch. In addition to the omissions of the source material just not being there, the performance on Uncle Floyd is MIA, as is the movie medley (not great, but if you're a completist, you still want it) from the MTV Movie Awards, the Simpsons performance, the Jerry Lewis telethon performance CJ garbled slightly, and the Mondo Bizarro era performance on Leno to name a few.

I'm quibbling though.

You look at the track listing and wonder how they can squeeze so many years onto two DVDs and let it go for such a low price. It blows the mind, and then you watch it and get your mind blown again. There's a lot of repetition songwise, particularly when the performances are from the same year, but that's the beautiful thing about the Ramones is, even when the drummers changed and Dee Dee left, the band as a whole, did NOT change.

I've been a fan for over 20 years, and yet I never got to see 'em. A lot of us never did. I'm still mad they broke up because it seems like when they did, they had nothing left to live for. It sure felt like I/we didn't. Jump on this.

Signed,
epsteinsmutha

5 out of 5 stars

a review from someone who has SEEN the DVD set.. October 2, 2007
7 out of 7 found this review helpful

Just broke the seal on this baby and I can confirm its the real deal. After years of BS home movies and other poor documentation of this ground breaking group we finally have a definitive video collection. Sure some of the footage from some of the gigs is rough..but so were The Ramones and there is plenty of first rate footage like the show from The Rainbow. If you are a fan this is really an incredible deal (Best Buy at $11.99!)...so do not worry about rip offs...this is worthy!

Oh...and there are BONUS features...interviews..videos etc..
truly a first rate package.

4 out of 5 stars

Incredible and also a little frustrating October 9, 2007
6 out of 6 found this review helpful

The greatest band of all time after The Beatles, The Ramones, gets the two-DVD treatment with almost nothing but live concert clips. Considering that I paid $11.99 for this brand new at Best Buy (J&R in NYC also had it at 11.99 when I got it) there's just no way one can possible "lose" in buying this, no way.

The concert clips are amazing, and I am surprised that I have never seen so many of these clips, with hardly any of them being available on the "bootleg" market. The one I have been looking forward to the most, the US Festival show, is just amazing and the quality superb.

So where does the "frustrating" part come in? Well, pretty much nothing is complete. Sorry, but for a completeist as myself, I dislike being teased with "clips" when an entire show could have been made available and is sitting somewhere. I really would have loved to have seen the entire US performance, as well as the whole show of pretty much everything I haven't seen yet. I would have paid a lot more money for complete shows.

Even their Don Kirshner's Rock Concert TV performance - which I do have on bootleg - that's probably their greatest 70's TV appearance, and to not have that in its entirety, is a crime.

So that's really the only gripe I have about this set. It's great, fantastic, but a big tease for the most part for hardcore Ramones fans such as myself. I will say that watching the very rare two actual promo videos for "It's Not My Place In the 9 To 5 World" and "The KKK Took My Baby Away" was simply unbelievable. I never even knew these existed! Both are super-cheesy, on the very-simple side even for videos made in 1981, and a blast to watch. The "KKK" one I can see where that would have ruffled a few feathers.

Al in all even with just concert "clips," between the clips and the other stuff, you really can't go wrong especially for the price.

Powered by Associate-O-Matic