Maps of Music

Halfway to Sanity (1987)

Where the lyrics of Halfway to Sanity take you, and where it was really made.

The front cover was shot in a Chinatown stairwell in a session that lasted only 10 to 15 minutes.

Key places

Front cover shot in a Chinatown stairwell (1987)

Album cover Chinatown, New York City — The front cover picture was taken in an old stairwell in Chinatown, New York City, in a session that lasted only 10 to 15 minutes. The point marks the Chinatown area, not the exact stairwell. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Halfway to Sanity: tenth studio album by the American punk rock band Ramones
• Last album to feature drummer Richie Ramone
• Released 15 September 1987 by Sire Records
• Produced by Daniel Rey
• Runs under 30 minutes, the first Ramones album since Leave Home to do so, and their last
• Opening track 'I Wanna Live' has heavy feedback and sounds closer to hard rock than punk

Background

• Daniel Rey opened for the Ramones in the late 1970s as a member of Shrapnel
• Rey had worked separately with Joey Ramone and Johnny Ramone on songs for Too Tough to Die
• Rey said he was producing many young bands in his basement at the time
• Johnny Ramone called this period a 'stressful time' for the band in his 2012 autobiography Commando
• Johnny Ramone rated the album 'B−' and named 'I Wanna Live', 'Weasel Face', 'Bop 'Til You Drop' and 'Garden of Serenity' as its highlights

Recording

• Sessions began in early 1987 at Intergalactic Studios in New York City
• Rey described the studio as 'a dingy place in midtown'
• Drums, guitars and bass were recorded in the afternoon, and vocals later in the evening
• Rey said the band recorded without vocals first because it was quicker to learn songs that way
• Joey Ramone wanted to work out how to phrase his singing and disliked this method
• Johnny Ramone said Dee Dee Ramone, credited as bassist, did not play on the album and Rey played his parts
• Richie Ramone said in 2018 that he remixed five songs at Joey's request, and Johnny approved the work but did not credit him

Cover

• Photography by George DuBose, who also shot the band's previous three releases
• Front cover taken in an old stairwell in Chinatown, New York City; the shoot lasted only 10 to 15 minutes in poor light
• Back cover: green tombstones in a Jewish cemetery
• Inner sleeve: Peking ducks hanging in a restaurant window

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• An American punk rock band formed in Forest Hills, Queens, New York City, in 1974.
• Founding members Jeff Hyman, John Cummings, Douglas Colvin and Thomas Erdelyi took the stage names Joey, Johnny, Dee Dee and Tommy Ramone.
• The name was inspired by Paul McCartney's pseudonym Paul Ramon from his Silver Beetles days.
• The band made its CBGB debut on August 16, 1974, and became regulars at the club.
• Sire Records signed them in late 1975.

Members

• Joey Ramone (lead vocals, 1974–1996; died 2001).
• Johnny Ramone (guitar, 1974–1996; died 2004).
• Dee Dee Ramone (bass, 1974–1989; died 2002).
• Tommy Ramone (drums, 1974–1978; died 2014).
• Marky Ramone, Richie Ramone, Elvis Ramone and C. J. Ramone joined as later drummers and bassists.

Career

• The debut album Ramones was released in April 1976 and helped spearhead punk; its influence on British and American punk is widely cited.
• The band performed 2,263 concerts and released fourteen studio albums.
• Rocket to Russia (1977) was its highest-charting album, reaching number 49 on the Billboard 200.
• The band broke up after a farewell show at the Palace in Hollywood on August 6, 1996, following the Lollapalooza tour.
• Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002 and given a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2011.

Reception

At release

• New York Post praised it as another well-produced album by the Ramones
• Billboard said Sire should have released 'Go Lil' Camaro Go' as a single
• Village Voice critic Robert Christgau gave the album a 'C+'
• In the United Kingdom, professional critics gave the album virtually no attention
• Ramones fanzine writer Mark Bannister said UK critics felt it lacked balance between Dee Dee's songs and Joey's

Reappraisal

• AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine gave it 1.5 out of 5 stars
• He called it a sharper record than its predecessor because it did not overlook the band's trashy pop roots
• He found it inconsistent
• He praised it as the last release where the band still sounded like they mattered

Records

• Entered the US Billboard 200 on 10 October 1987 at No. 174, peaked at No. 172 a week later
• Spent its last week on the Billboard 200 at No. 200 on 24 October 1987
• Peaked at No. 78 on the UK Albums Chart, ranked there for one week
• Peaked at No. 68 on the Netherlands MegaCharts, one week on chart
• Peaked at No. 43 on the Swedish Sverigetopplistan chart on 14 September 1987, one week on chart

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• The front cover picture was taken in an old stairwell in Chinatown, and the photographer's cousin and his friend blocked off the crowd during the shoot.
• Johnny Ramone insisted the photographer had shot enough after three reels of film, and the photographer replied the record company was paying him a lot of money.
• Richie Ramone left the band during the 12 August 1987 concert in East Hampton, New York, over financial conflicts with Johnny.
• Clem Burke of Blondie filled in for Richie for two shows, performing under the alias Elvis Ramone, on August 28 in Providence, Rhode Island and August 29 in Trenton, New Jersey.
• The dust sleeve was printed black and white with lyrics on one side and a photo on the other.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · www.discogs.com

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