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“We wanted to save rock ’n’ roll,” guitarist Johnny Ramone wrote in his 2012 memoir, to which he gave the militaristic title <i>Commando: The Autobiography of Johnny Ramone</i>. The guitarist oversaw the New York City quartet as though he were an army general, and his first rule was that the Ramones should never change. As a result, the band’s second album sounds nearly identical to its first. (And its third. And its fourth.) Ramones albums are like those puzzles that challenge you to spot the minuscule differences between two photos or a pair of painting. <i>Leave Home</i> returns to many of the same topics that had fueled the band’s 1976 self-titled debut: There are new songs about not fitting in (“Pinhead”) and about getting high (“Carbona Not Glue,” which outraged the makers of the fabric-cleaner Carbona, who didn’t take kindly to their product being described as a drug). <i>Leave Home</i> also features songs about macabre impulses (“Commando”), though the band’s grim humor becomes more disturbing on “Glad to See You Go,” which fantasizes about murdering an annoying girlfriend and becoming famous “like Charles Manson.” And, much like the group’s debut, <i>Leave Home</i> includes a cover of a 1960s classic—in this case, it’s “California Sun,” most famously recorded by The Riviera. Overall, the songs on <i>Leave Home</i> are faster, and played with more power and motion, especially on standout tracks like “Gimme Gimme Shock Treatment.” And the production on <i>Leave Home</i> is better, as evidenced by the reverse vocal effect at the start of “Pinhead,” which later became an anthem for the band, thanks to its “Gabba gabba hey!” chant. .

via Apple Music

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