Maps of Music

It's Alive (1979)

Where the lyrics of It's Alive take you, and where it was really made.

The show picked for this album is the one after which ten rows of seats were thrown at the stage.

Key places

New Year's Eve at the Rainbow Theatre (1977)

Recording site Rainbow Theatre — The album was recorded here on December 31, 1977. The New Year's Eve show was chosen from four concerts recorded on the UK tour. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• It's Alive: first live album by the American punk rock band the Ramones
• Title borrowed from the 1974 horror film of the same name
• Recorded at the Rainbow Theatre in London on December 31, 1977
• Released in April 1979 as a 2-LP set
• Draws from the first three studio albums: Ramones (1976), Leave Home (1977), and Rocket to Russia (1977)
• First released on CD in the US in 1995

Background

• Four concerts during the UK tour were recorded
• The New Year's Eve show was chosen as the best of the performances at that venue
• Ten rows of seats were thrown at the stage after that concert
• The album and concert are often referred to as the band at its live peak
• The concert was later filmed and released in truncated form on the 2007 compilation DVD It's Alive 1974–1996

Recording

• Mobile recording facilities were supplied by Basing Street Studios Ltd.
• Mobile crew: Greb Cobb, Frank Owen, Jo Yu, Ray Doyle
• Studio crew: Ramona Janquito, Phil Shrago
• Producers: Tommy Ramone and Ed Stasium; Ed Stasium also served as engineer
• Tour manager Monte Melnick; lighting by Arturo Vega

Cover

• Album design by Spencer Drate; art director John Gillespie
• Photography credited to various photographers

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Disc 1

Disc 2

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

Reappraisal

• Robert Christgau in The Village Voice, 1996 retrospective review: the concert was redundant when dropped on the punk-besotted UK in 1979, but by then it was precious history
• Paul Rigby in Record Collector: described the album as a 'high energy, one-hour blitz' that shows how high-octane the band really was
• Mark Deming of AllMusic: called it the best Ramones live album and one of the best and most effective live albums in the rock canon, as essential as the band's studio records

Records

• Certified gold in Argentina in 1993
• Ranked number 279 in Rock Hard magazine's book The 500 Greatest Rock & Metal Albums of All Time, 2005
• First released on CD in the US in 1995

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• Ten rows of seats were thrown at the stage after the New Year's Eve show.
• Management handed out balloons and 'Gabba gabba hey' signs for the crowd that night.
• Tommy Ramone recalled Elton John in the audience, dressed up like Marlon Brando in The Wild One.
• Johnny Thunders, Sid Vicious and his girlfriend Nancy Spungen were also there, according to Tommy Ramone.
• Christgau's 1996 retrospective called the concert redundant on its 1979 UK release, yet precious history by then.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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