Review: Various Artists ‘Marc Urselli’s Best Of Ramones Redux’
Hot on the heels of Magnetic Eye Record’s latest release in their fabled Redux series, Marc Urselli’s Ramones Redux, comes the inevitable follow-up, Marc Urselli’s Best Of Ramones Redux, curated by, you guessed it, Marc Urselli, the New York City and London-based, Grammy-winning, Italian-Swiss producer, sound engineer, and composer, who did a fantastic job on the first release, not just in handling the production, and audio engineering duties, but also in making strange bedfellows with musicians, who, at first glance, may have you scratching your head, but upon hearing the collaborations, more often than not, leaves you nodding approvingly.
As noted on the first release, I consider Ramones to be not only one of the single most important bands in the history of rock ‘n’ roll, perhaps inspiring as many rebellious youngsters to discover the evil powers of music and pick up a guitar as any band, including The Beatles, KISS and Black Sabbath.
As well, I consider them among my top five bands of all time, often saying that my ten desert-island records could easily be the first six Black Sabbath and the first four Ramones records; that’s all one really needs as all bases are covered. If Ramones didn’t single-handedly invent punk rock, they certainly cemented its blueprint and in the process spawned literally countless bands in their wake, and I’d argue continue to do so to this very day. Thus, seeing Ramones getting the royal Redux treatment left a smile on even my old, disgruntled and jaded face.
Best Of Ramones Redux wastes zero time getting started, blowing the doors off immediately with iconic, Canadian prog-thrashers Voivod who are joined by eclectic Australian musician JG Thirlwell as they literally tear through Zero Zero UFO off Brain Drain. This is instantly one of the cooler Ramones covers I’ve ever heard, weird as fuck of course with Voivod involved, but the rhythm section of bassist Rocky Laroche and drummer Away unsurprisingly deliver a clinic in punk rock, rhythmic pummeling. Add in guitarist Chewy’s sci-fi shred and flourishes, vocalists Snake and Thirlwell’s lost-in-space vocal deliveries, this certainly has the marks of an excellent Ramones tribute album opener.
Richmond Virginia’s awesome downstroke warriors Destructo Disk are joined by longtime underground New York musician and producer Timo Ellis for a raucous, rumbling take on Ramones legendary first album-era demo track I Don’t wanna Be Learned / I Don’t Wanna Be Tamed, while Year Of The Cobra’s Amy Tung Barrysmith (who seems to be everywhere these days) is joined by Hawaii-based stoner/fuzz wielders Imposter Cult for a heavy, cosmic take on Pet Cemetery, wherein Tung Barrysmith’s vocals, balanced with the fuzz-heavy march, twist this Ramones classic into an asteroid-heavy, ethereal, stoner/doom mind trip.
British actor and musician Oscar Dunbar teams up with the self-proclaimed loudest rock ‘n’ roll band in London, The Heat Inc. for a fun, rockin’, yet melodic take on Gonna Kill That Girl, while Italian songwriter and musician Daniele Brusaschetto and Chvad SB, the Brooklyn experimental musician and film composer who’s also in Controlled Bleeding, give a bouncy, fuzzy, yet synth heavy take on the self-titled era gem I Can’t Be.
combining some unique musicians who gave heartfelt, distinctive and wild interpretations of these punk rock classics…
Up next is one of the odder pairings on both Ramones Redux comps. Urselli has really dug into the old Rolodex with New York’s brutal, post-black metal, orchestral heathens So Hideous joining forces with old-school, guitar-slinger and well-known collaborator, Gary Lucas, he of Gods And Monsters and fricking Captain Beefheart, for a wild, brutal, weird take on The KKK Took My Baby Away, which features everything from bluesy slide-guitar, to swirling orchestral sounds, to throat scraping vocals.
Ramones own cover of The Chamber Brothers 1967 classic Time Has Come Today gets the fuzzy, doom-stomp treatment courtesy of Italian power trio King Potenaz and New York’s Nefariant, while Venamoris, consisting of iconic metal drummer Dave Lombardo and his wife Paula, are joined by Finnish cellist Eicca Toppinen for a truly awesome, epic and melancholic take on I Want You Around. Meanwhile, Teenage Lobotomy is an insane version of the original, with all sorts of crazy atmospherics, blast beats and vocal trippy-ness courtesy of Massachusetts, avant-garde metal band Kayo Dot and first wave Norwegian black metal legend Ihsahn.
We get back to some raw, rock ‘n’ roll with Texas stoner rock front-runners Duel banging out a killer version of Chinese Rock, before much-loved Italian hardcore legends Raw Power, and Italian composer and musician Sergio Milanblast out a raucous, grimy take on I Don’t Care.
Hitting the home stretch we get a bizarre, skronk-y and psychedelic version of You Should Never Have Opened That Door from Japanese noise band Zeni Geva and Sweden’s Besvärjelsen which is followed by New York’s own Restless Spiritwho are joined by High On Fire’s Jeff Matz for a pummeling yet melodic spin on Mondo Bizarro favorite and Dee Dee Ramone-penned Poisoned Heart.
Best Of Ramones Redux wraps up perfectly with a really somber, unique, weird and mellow take on I Wanna Be Sedated courtesy of Bauhaus/Love And Rockets founding member David J with composer and Swans collaborator Paul Wallfisch.
All in all, both of the Ramones Redux releases were super cool with Urselli combining some unique musicians who gave heartfelt, distinctive and wild interpretations of these punk rock classics. It was a carefully curated and well put together love letter to one of the all-time great bands in rock ‘n’ roll history, and far and away one of the best of Magnetic Eye Records Redux series.
Label: Magnetic Eye Records
Scribed by: Martin Williams
