Ramones Too Tough To Die CD

Expanded & remastered reissue of 1984 album. With original drummer Tommy Erdelyi producing, the band revisits their punk roots. Features the original 13-track album plus the UK single, 'Street Fighting Man', 'Smash You' & ten more previously unreleased bonus tracks, 'Howling At The Moon (Sha-La-La)' (demo), 'Planet Earth 1988' (Dee Dee vocal version), 'Daytime Dilemma (Dangers Of Love)' (demo), 'Endless Vacation' (demo), 'Danger Zone' (Dee Dee vocal version), 'Out Of Here', 'Mama's Boy' (demo), 'I'm Not An Answer', 'Too Tough To Die' (Dee Dee vocal version) & 'No Go' (demo). Slipcase.

Ramones: Joey Ramone (vocals); Johnny Ramone (guitar); Dee Dee Ramone (bass); Marky Ramone (drums).
Producers: Tommy Erdelyi, Ed Stasium, David A. Stewart.
Recorded at Media Sound, New York, New York. Includes liner notes by Billy Altman.
All tracks have been digitally remastered.
With the Ramones' original drummer, Tommy Erdelyi, producing, the group returns to simple, scathing punk rock on Too Tough to Die. The group takes the big guitar riffs of Subterranean Jungle and makes them shorter and heavier. The Ramones' rhythms are back up to jackhammer speed and the songs are down to short, terse statements. The results read like a reaction to hardcore punk, but the Ramones are more melodic than any hardcore band, as well as smarter than most. Apart from the occasional foray into pop, such as the surprisingly effective Dave Stewart-produced "Howling at the Moon," the album is a sterling set of lethal punk, the best the Ramones had made since the end of the '70s. It was also the last great record they would ever make. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine
With TOO TOUGH the Ramones take on the '80s, and the '80s go down with a second round TKO. After a few fallow years and some substandard albums (by the band's standards anyway), they came rushing back into the ring with a fresh sense of purpose. The addition of new drummer Ritchie Ramone and the return of long-lost brother Tommy (who sat in as producer along with original engineer Ed Stasium) doubtlessly added some fuel to the fire, creating this punchy, revved-up, and highly worthy addition to the Ramones' catalogue.
TOO TOUGH finds the Ramones expanding their musical palette further than usual, adding crunchy metal riffs to the title song and "I'm Not Afraid of Life," while "Howling at the Moon (Sha-La-La)" adds new wave keyboards courtesy of the Eurythmics' Dave Stewart. The adventurous Dee Dee takes center stage for two hardcore songs, "Endless Vacation" and the manic "Wart Hog," giving Joey a brotherly run for his money. The best example of a Ramones formula song, "Durango 95," was destined to become the band's concert intro song. TOO TOUGH is proof positive that the words "punk" and "longevity" can go together in the same sentence.

Rolling Stone (9/19/02, p.110) - 3 stars out of 5 - "...The album came to grips with current trends such as metal and hardcore....A masterpiece of Eighties activism, from the gut..."