Ramones: Anthology: Hey Ho Let's Go!

For 25 years, the members of the legendary Ramones have been locked in a bitter race with Aerosmith to determine who can establish the higher ratio of greatest-hits and live albums to new studio recordings. Now that the band has broken up—but not before farewell tours, farewell live albums, farewell greatest-hits packages, and farewell commemorative plates—it's in good position to compete with such post-breakup/death hall-of-famers as The Sex Pistols and Jimi Hendrix. There's no denying the greatness of much of the music on Hey Ho Let's Go!, a two-disc, 58-song, 156-minute thrill ride that assembles many of the Ramones' innumerable career highlights. But really, what's the point of repackaging these songs yet again Because it's coming out on Rhino, which almost invariably assembles its releases with loving care, the set comes in a nice box with attractive, hardcover liner notes. But this is a band that's released 21 albums (though that figure does include live sets), many of which were and are essential. If you're going to do a Ramones anthology in 1999, why not make it a box set and generously pack it with little-heard B-sides, outtakes, demos, and rarities Every true Ramones fan already has the two Anthology: Hey Ho Let's Go! volumes, not to mention at least a few of the group's best albums. If you're a fan who lacks those things, it wouldn't hurt to start here—for starters, those looking for a Cliff's Notes-style overview of the Ramones' entire career can get a quick run through the progressively dimmer highlights of its okay-but-mostly-inessential '80s and '90s fare—but those looking for something undiscovered will have to wait a while longer. If it's got the Ramones' name on it, it's bound to come out sooner or later.