If you still don't have enough Ramones releases cluttering up your shelves, here's another one: A box set with 3-D glasses, a comic book with Ramones strips by 25 artists (including John Holstrom, co-founder of Punk magazine, Sergio Aragones of Mad Magazine, Matt Groening, creator of the Simpsons, Bill Griffith, Zippy creator, and Jaime Hernandez of Love and Rockets), a DVD with 18 music videos; and of course, 3 CDs with a whopping 85 songs. Definitely a labor of love (Johnny Ramone compiled the CDs before he passed away), and a beautiful addition to any Ramones collection, but this is not all that it could have been. People who spend this kind of money on a box set are hardcore fans or collectors that have all the other versions already, and there isn't much unreleased music here that justifies spending money again. As a Best Of, it's too extensive, as a discography, it's too incomplete, as a rarities collection there are too many regular album tracks. The AMG reviewer called this box a “tombstone” for Rock'n'Roll, and that's spot on. There's no difference at all anymore between this release and a 4-CD deluxe edition of previously released Rolling Stones, Beatles or Eagles music that 50-year olds buy out of purely nostalgic reasons. Well, anyway, this is the most beautiful of all the rip-off Ramones rereleases, so go ahead and get it if you must. [9]
Wer immer noch nicht genug von dieser Band hat, kann sich hier die endgültige Dröhnung abholen; eine Mega-Box mit Comicheft, einer DVD mit Ramones-Videos und nicht zuletzt 3 CDs mit “dem besten der 70er, 80er und 90er”, dazu wieder mal Raritäten und B-Seiten, die man aber inzwischen so gut wie alle von vorherigen Reissues kennt. Unbestritten eine toll gemachte Box, aber für eine Best Of zu umfangreich, für eine Discographie zu unvollständig - und für eine echte Raritätensammlung fehlen die Raritäten. Trotzdem, wer sich bisher standhaft gegen den Ramones-CD-Rereleaseterror gewehrt hat, kann jetzt aufgeben und zuschlagen - schöner wird’s nicht mehr.