Dave Marsh
New York Post
THE RAMONES: ‘Ramones’
For their first album, the Ramones have recorded 14 songs, four more than is usual, but the record still clocks in at under 30 minutes-the longest song here is 2:35 and it’s called "I Don’t Wanna Go Down to the Basement." The shortest track is 90 seconds long, and bears the fascinating title "Judy is a Punk." Fascinating also are the Ramones, the new master of garage rock minimalism. Of course it all sounds the same-it’s supposed to. If you’ve loved all the punk primitives-the New York Dolls, Iggy and the Stooges, maybe even Patti Smith for the music and not the words-Ramones are worth a listen.
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Review- First Ramones record.
Robert Christgau
Village Voice, June 14th, 1976
"RAMONES" (Sire). I love this record-love it-even though I know these boys flirt with images of brutality (Nazi especially) in much the same way "Midnight Rambler" flirts with rape. You couldn’t say they condone any nasties, nach-they merely suggest that the power of their music has some fairly ominous sources even as they offer the suggestion. This makes me uneasy. But my theory has always been that good rock and roll should damn well make you uneasy, and the sheer pleasure of the stuff-which of course elicits howls of pain from the rock and roll musicianship crowd, e.g. Dr. Feelgood’s aficionados at the Bottom Line-is undeniable. For me, it blows everything else off the radio; it’s clean the way the Dolls never were, sprightly the way the Velvets never were, and just plain listenable the way Black Sabbath never was. None of which is to suggest that it’s as important as any of these, Black Sabbath included. Just perfect, a minor classic. And I hear it cost $6400 to put on plastic.