I was living in room 5A when I first discovered the joys of THE RAMONES playing live. A big Aussie guy, who had been kicked out of Spain and had died three times, was also living in the room. One Saturday afternoon he came back from Camden Market and showed me a bootleg cassette tape. The tape contained a live broadcast from a radio station in New York and it had been (if I remember correctly) broadcast on the 1'st of January 1979, the day after it had been recorded (on New Year's Eve). The tape was just pure ace. It contained the DJ's comments after the last track. He laughed and said something like, "32 songs in 30 minutes!! How do you follow that up!!!" Haha.
I wonder if that recording is out on bootleg CD now, or LP even? I've got a cassette tape copy off that ol'e boot tape. Anyhoo, I'm listening to my new RAMONES live CD, "Live, January 7, 1978 at the Palladium, NYC". The gig was recorded just a week after the one on the legendary "It's Alive" album. There are basically four differences between the two albums: Both set-lists are exactly the same except "Judy is a Punk" isn't on the "January 7" record. The sound is more rough on the "January 7" CD. "It's Alive" war recorded in London while "January 7" was recorded in New York. And finally, I would say "It's Alive" is a "real" RAMONES album whereas "January 7" was a recording made for the "King Biscuit Flower Hour" radio programme.
So do you need "January 7" if you've already got "It's Alive"? Well, if you're a true RAMONES fan of course you do! But do they sound more or less the same? Sure. Some of the short comments between songs are different but basically they're the same. But like I said, if you're a fan you need both records. What if you're not a fan? Why wouldn't you be a fan, what's wrong with you!! >_<
Oh, did I mention that "January 7" is also on vinly with a different cover and that the exact same recording was also released on a different CD called "NYC 1978". Man, I need those too!^_^
