Pitchfork

The Ramones were one of the greatest bands to ever grace the planet. I hope you didn't need me to tell you that. Pure pop bliss baked in mighty decibels, spewed out like lightning; that's the way they did it from 1974 to 1996. And now there's We're Outta Here, a CD and video box set that works as both a document of their final show and a trip down memory lane.

The disc churns through all the usual suspects: "Blitzkrieg Bop", "I Wanna Be Sedated", "Cretin Hop", "Teenage Lobotomy", and my personal favorite, "Do You Remember Rock and Roll Radio?" A few omissions, to be sure (where's "Bonzo Goes to Bitburg" and "It's Gonna Be Alright"?), but that's made up for by some very solid and boasting cameo appearances by Rancid's Tim Armstrong, Soundgarden's Ben Shepherd and Chris Cornell, and Eddie Vedder. Joey Ramone will probably win an award for Least Intelligible Performance by a Male Lead Vocalist; I haven't heard such mush-mouth since Bob Dylan groaned his way through "Like A Rolling Stone" during "Late Night with David Letterman's 10th Anniversary Special."

The video, at two and a half hours, is too goddamned long. There are too many puffy testimonials by the likes of Debbie Harry, Richard Hell, and the non-Byrne members of Talking Heads. (I did, however, realize during the course of the video that Jello Biafra must be a long lost brother of Norm MacDonald-- think about it.) However, there are some priceless moments: a wholly surreal clip of their appearance on "Sha Na Na", an appearance on something vaguely cable access-like called "The Uncle Floyd Show", the infamous "Happy Birthday to You" scene from "The Simpsons" ("Have the Rolling Stones killed"), an insane home video of rabid fans in Argentina, and the downright flaming Dee Dee Ramone waxing gayly about the old days.

Between all of this are indulgent interviews with the band and footage of their last concert that looks like it was shot by the Blind Cameraman's Union Local 653. It may be avant garde to film the guitarist's head at the very bottom of the frame or fixate way too long on sneakers, but it adds nothing to the live footage. In short, the CD's a reasonably worthy final product, but the video is for diehards only.