Principal Togar's somewhat incoherent protest of da bruddahs' arrival to join the kids occupying her high school comes to mind -- what would the authors of these songs have though if they had known what the Ramones would do someday to them?
Similar in form to (but better than) Joan Jett's earlier CD, "The Hit List", and conceptually related to the "Dukes of Stratosphear"(XTC)'s tribute to 70's/ psychedelic music, "Chips from the Chocolate Fireball", "Acid Eaters" is the Ramones' salute to some of the music that influenced their taste and style.
Unlike some other punk/New Wave bands, from the beginning the Ramones covered appropriate songs with an almost effortless air and, often as not, revived tired songs or found something new in old chestnuts. This being the case, the idea of a Ramones all-cover album like this had to be almost inevitable, sooner of later.
I remember bringing the disk out to the car the day it came out and, as soon as i was there, stripping off the shrinkwrap, putting on the headphones,and jumping directly to "My Back Pages" -- the Ramones covering Bob Dylan!?!? And, lo, it was good! Around three minutes, vs. the Dylan original's eight-plus, missing a verse or two, but still a refreshing buzzsaw blast through one of my favourite "had i but known" songs, with bass player C.J.'s vocals (not Joey, as another review says).
My favourite songs on this disk (aside from the Dylan): "Substitute" (with Pete Townshend guesting), which i like to contrast with Richard Thompson's acoustic cover of the same song; "Journey to the Center of the Mind" (you must listen to this track on headphones Real Loud at least once to get the proper effect on the mono bridge); "Wild in the Streets" (continuing the Ramones/Roger Corman association begun in "Rock'n'Roll High School") and "Surf City" -- leave it to the Ramones to perform the song with about the most recogniseable vocal hook in the history of rock'n'roll... and to not actually SING the hook, letting the listener's mind to automatically fill it in.
"Have You Ever Seen the Rain" almost works... but doesn't, in the last analysis.
The rest of the album is interesting, with no particularly great or terrible tracks -- "Someone to Love", as mentioned, featuring Tracey Lords on backing vocals.
Not the CD to buy if you've never bought a Ramones album before -- that would be either "Rocket to Russia" or "It's Alive", in my opinion -- but definitely one that every Ramones fan needs.
(Joey, DeeDee -- we miss ya, bruddahs! Too bad the Ramones never covered "Rock'n'Roll Heaven"...)
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