Second verse, not quite like the first.... Released a mere nine months after
the Ramones' groundbreaking debut, 1977's
Leave Home was in many respects a continuation of the sound and attitude of the first album, with its unrelenting barrage of chunky guitar downstrokes and Mad Magazine-influenced lyrical absurdity. But even a cursory listen reveals
the Ramones had made plenty of progress in less than a year. The performances on
Leave Home are tighter and better focused than they were on
Ramones, and
Tommy Ramone's minimalist drumming gained a bit of swing that was absent on the debut.
The Ramones sound more comfortable with their attack, never quite as simple as it seems, while also bearing down with a greater speed and ferocity that finds them hitting their stride in the studio. Just as importantly, the production is noticeably more polished this time out, which helps more than one might expect. Without the strict left/right separation of
Ramones,
Leave Home is more friendly to the ear, and the increased clarity does wonders for the passionate bleat of
Joey's vocals,
Johnny's unrelenting Mosrite abuse, and the melodic details that lurk beneath the surface of
the Ramones' wall of noise. And if the first album was full of immediate classics,
Leave Home has more than its share of great tunes, including the anthemic "Pinhead" and "Commando," the high-velocity teen romance of "Oh Oh I Love Her So" (certainly the greatest love story ever set at a Burger King), and the catchy invitations to bad behavior in "Carbona Not Glue" and "Glad to See You Go."
Leave Home wasn't as startling as
the Ramones' first album, and it's not quite as strong and consistent as their masterpiece
Rocket to Russia, but it was a positive step forward for the Pride of Forest Hills, and it's one of their best and most satisfying albums. [In 2017,
Rhino Records released an elaborately expanded 40th Anniversary Edition of
Leave Home. In addition to a crisply remastered version of the original album, the set also features a version of
Leave Home newly remixed by
Ed Stasium, who engineered the original sessions; the new mix is bigger and dirtier-sounding and beefs up the guitar sound, though it unfortunately also pushes down the vocals. A second disc features a few outtakes along with a wealth of alternate mixes, the minutiae of which gets a bit hard to follow after a while, though the takes of the distorted vocals for "Pinhead" are a hoot. Wrapping up the package is a live set from CBGB recorded in April 1977, which is occasionally sloppy but full of energy and good humor. Add in liner notes from
Stasium and
Danny Fields and an LP of the new mix of the album, and you get an edition of
Leave Home that treats it like the minor masterpiece it truly is.] ~ Mark Deming
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