Joey Ramone - "...Ya Know?" (2012) RESTORED

2012 release, the second posthumous solo album from the former Ramones frontman. "…Ya Know?" – whose titles refers to the phrase that was a ubiquitous spaple of Joey's conversation, and which will be the legendary singer/songwriter's final album - adds a significant new chapter to the seminal punk icon's hugely influential body of work. The tracks were drawn from a cache of demos and unreleased recordings that Joey had a cut at various times during the last decade and half of his life. But this is no half-baked grab-bag of odds and ends. It's a riveting collection of previously unheard songs that embody Joey's trademark intensity, wit and infectious hooksmanship, and that will stand proudly alongside his most beloved Ramones compositions.

The cast of guest players includes Joan Jett, who lends her distinctive voice and guitar to "21st Century Girl" and Little Steven Van Zandt, who plays guitar on "Party Line" and wrote the album's poignant liner notes, along with such notables as former Ramones drummer Richie Ramone, Bun E. Carlos of Cheap Trick, Dennis Diken of the Smithereens, Richie Vincent, seasoned New York punk axeman Al Maddy, veteran pop producer/musician Kenny Laguna, saxophonist Arno Hecht of the Uptown Horns, and members of the Ramones' punk-era contemporaries The Dictators.

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Joey Ramone - "...Ya Know?" (2012) RESTORED

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The Ramones weren't really brothers, but in a real way they could just as well have been. People saw them as a band, not as individuals, and while they had distinct personalities – Joey the sweet if slightly eccentric oddball, Johnny the humorless taskmaster, Dee Dee the talented but off-kilter screw-up, and the various drummers as well-meaning journeymen – outside of Dee Dee's ridiculous attempt to reinvent himself as a rapper, none of them ever put much effort into a solo career, as if their individual skills would never quite match what they accomplished together. … Ya Know?, the second Joey Ramone solo album, arrives ten years after 2002's Don't Worry About Me, which in turn was released close to a year after Joey's death, suggesting there's a greater demand and desire for an album from Joey in the 21st century than in the five years that separated the group's breakup and the lead singer's passing. … Ya Know? was pieced together from demos and home recordings, polished by several producers (primarily Ed Stasium and Joey's brother Mickey Leigh) with newly overdubbed backing from a number of Joey's friends and colleagues, and considering its piecemeal origins, the album sounds remarkably coherent and consistent, and the material seems intended to prove Joey was capable of more than just the attitudinal bleat that was his standard vocal trick in The Ramones. It's impossible to say if this is how the songs were originally conceived, but in this form, Joey gets to show off different facets of his vocal style as the downtown romantic on "Party Line", the charming cad of "Eyes of Green", a plaintive and lonesome soul on "Waiting for that Railroad", and a lovelorn Yuletide crooner on a slowed-down remake of "Merry Christmas (I Don't Want to Fight)". Unfortunately, for all the effort that was put into transforming these tapes into a proper album, it's clear that these were demos, sung with enthusiasm but only so much care, and most of the songs got left behind for a reason – "Rock ‘n' Roll Is the Answer" is a mass of clichés, "New York City" seems more like an excuse to list Joey's favorite night spots than anything else, and "Cabin Fever" and "Life's a Gas" sound unfinished. … Ya Know? is a loving and generous tribute to a beloved hero of the New York rock scene, but the results never match the energy, focus, and sheer Rock & Roll fun of even The Ramones' lesser efforts, and it doesn't work as well as Don't Worry About Me. Though none of that changes the fact that listening to … Ya Know? will remind you of the many reasons why so many of us miss Joey Ramone, and wish he was still writing tunes and making records in a better world.

~ Mark Deming, all media guide

Tracklist:

01. Rock 'N Roll Is The Answer
02. Going Nowhere Fast
03. New York City
04. Waiting For That Railroad
05. I Couldn't Sleep
06. What Did I Do To Deserve You
07. Seven Days Of Gloom
08. Eyes Of Green
09. Party Line
10. Merry Christmas (I Don't Want To Fight Tonight)
11. 21st Century Girl
12. There's Got To Be More To Life
13. Make Me Tremble
14. Cabin Fever
15. Life's A Gas


Executive Produced by Mickey Leigh
Mastered by Greg Calbi at Sterling Sound, NYC.
Detailed info about production process, places of the recordings and full list of guest musicians read inside the booklet.

Release Date: May 22, 2012
Label: Mutated Music / BMG
Catalog No.: 8100301-2