Ramones Album: “Ramones Mania, Vol. 2”

As a huge fan of Ramones I cannot give an unbias opinion of this C.D. The compilation probably could"ve been better, though The Japanese rarely fail to please. The quality of the packaging is second to none & the stickers will be fairly collectable one'd imagine.

ramone9t6@yahoo.com

As far as I know, Ramones mania II was never printed in the U.S., but in Japan. I found this album in HMV Shibuya in Tokyo, and I must say that It was a risk that I took buying this album that I never saw before. The true story is that this album was specially compiled to the Japanese Market, since in 1989 Ramonesmania I was a big success and made possible for the Ramones to definitively enter the japanese Markets. Considering the cool stuff in this CD, the extra stickers that came with it and the history behind it, it's an album that every diehard fan of the Ramones should try to have!

My main problem with "Mania 2" is the absence of anything from "Brain Drain". Have people in Japan never heard "Pet Semetary" or "I Believe In Miracles"? Other than that it's a decent overview of what most fans would call their least good (I didn't want to say "worst") albums. Since there are other comps out there now that are cheaper, the only real reason you would want this is to collect everything, or both "Mania"s. The first one is still my favorite, at least until they put out a "Punk" best of, with just songs like "The Crusher", "Cabbies On Crack", "Gimme Gimme Shock Treatment", etc. Does anybody else think it's weird that Johnny would choose "Rock & Roll Radio" to be on "Loud, Fast Ramones"? I thought he would've hated that song.

I stongly disagree that the first Mania album wasnt very good. Its one of my favorite cds out of my Ramones collection. However I feel that #2 doesnt have near as good of a selection of songs although they are good covers they just dont rock along like the songs on the first Mania. Personally I would have done without the 2nd Mania album all together.

The first 'Ramones Mania' was not a very well-thought out collection, but it did feature most of the band's best songs. This second volume fills in the gaps but has mostly just lesser material to work with. And if you want the best of the Ramones on two CDs, the two 'Ramones Mania' volumes are not the ones you want - 'Anthology' is a near definitive double-disc set that summarizes their career perfectly. Skip this & it's first volume, they're not very good.