The Cold War of the Ramones

The rules of the game were perfectly clear after their first album, and in the third instalment of the Ramones' story they surpassed themselves once again. And even refined their art! Once more, with this Rocket To Russia, released on 4 November 1977 at the height of the Cold War, it was all about three-chord symphonies, enthusiastically cretinous and 100% adolescent hi-jinks but above all, taking rock'n'roll back to its birthplace: the garage! The refrains of Sheena Is A Punk Rocker or Teenage Lobotomy are peerless in their re–imagining of rock’n’roll, bubblegum pop and surf heritage.

And even when they covered the cult tracks Surfin’ Bird by the Trashmen or Do You Wanna Dance? (made famous by Cliff Richard, the Beach Boys and even Bette Midler) our delinquent punks from Queens produced savage and raw rock like nobody else!

This edition to mark the 40th birthday of this sublime sonic attack offers two mixes of the album: the original, and a new mix, entitled Tracking Mix by Ed Stasium - the sound engineer on the original release. It also includes 24 rare or unreleased tracks, demos, alternative versions and B–sides. And the cherry on the cake is a dazzling, unreleased live version by the four Ramones brothers (all from other mothers) recorded on 19 December 1977 the Apollo Centre in Glasgow, Scotland.

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