Don't Worry About Me - Joey Ramone > Reviews > Blow Up Your School & Have A Nice Day

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Definitely a cut above the rest
Lyrics	Thought-provoking
Quality and consistency of tracks	Flawless
How does it compare to the artist's other releases	Good
Value for Money	Good

Advantages:	IT IS JOEY RAMONE, DUDE
Disadvantages:	Why did he not take Robbie Williams Instead

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

I approached this album with some trepidation, knowing that a Romone's solo album could be a hazardous purchase, especially given the varying quality of Dee Dee's solo output which has made me avoid Markys post Romones solo work for no real good reason. The other thing was that this was released posthumously so I did not want it to spoil my memories of Joey. Ok Joey was the Ramone with the pop sensibilities a lanky geek with a great voice and possibly more deserving of the title as the Paul McCartney of the Ramones, a title that was often laid on Dee Dee. Joeys songs were always a lot more pop orientated that Dee Dee's and the lyrical content of Dee Dee's songs was always nastier, probably due to the nature of being Dee Dee Ramone more than anything else.

Enough of this critique of the differences between Joey and Dee Dee Ramone, this is Joeys only Solo release issued 6 years after the Ramones split. The only other recorded work of his is the Sibling Rivalry single he put out with his brother Mickey Leigh on Jello Biafra's Alternative Tentacles Records which is definitely worth checking out.

The album revs up with a cover of "What a Wonderful World" done in the Ramones being the beach boy style, Joey's voice is on top form here and that is all I need to say about it thankfully guitarist and producer Daniel Ray is not consciously trying to rip off Johnny Ramones guitar style here, but he is not a million miles away from it sticking to the Keep It Simple Stupid philosophy. "Stop thinking About It" is a pure bubblegum pop punk gem with an incredible vocal melody again the arrangement is very Ramonesesque but there is nowt wrong with that, lyrically it seems to pay reference to Joeys illness (Chronic Lymphatic Lymphoma) which took him away in 2001.

"Mr. Punchy" is pure pop punk genus, overly simplistic lyrics and not veering to far away from all the classic Ramones do the Beach Boys elements and features slightly deranged backing Vocals by the one and only Captain Sensible, absolutely fantastic stuff.

In fact after describing the first few songs most of the rest of the albums continues in the same pop punk with superb vocal melodies format. The album shows quite clearly what Joey brought to the Ramones and that was his pop sensibilities, think the beach boys and thing punk mix them together and this is what you have here in abundance, lyrical content is just what you'd expect insanity, exploration of a social conscience and his illness. The latter is well apparent on "I get Knocked Down (But I'll get Up)" which is chilling in its stark honesty.

The Album pulls no surprises but this is what we got for 22 years with the Ramones and when it worked this well why should he have changed it, here it is Joey's only solo album and an impressive collection of songs from one of the true great Rock and Roll songwriters. It just leaves me with the question why could god not have taken Billy Joel instead.