Last Years deluxe box set of the debut self titled album from the Ramones looks to be the first in a series! Rhino Records today announced a rarity packed 3CD/1LP edition of the band’s second album, 1977’s “Leave Home”, for release this summer.
“Leave Home” was a progression for the Forest Hills punk quartet: with more diverse songs written independently by the band instead of devised in the studio, with a budget nearly doubled from the sessions for Ramones (plus a big shot producer, Tony Bongiovi, assisted by drummer Tommy Ramone); and even the first steps toward a consistent design (with the back cover featuring a take on the United States’ Great Seal designed by Arturo Vega, still the go-to logo for the band). Though neither critical nor commercial reception as matched its predecessor, but the band did score its first minor chart hit with non-LP track “Sheena is a Punk Rocker,” later appended to the album after legal issues prevented the use of the track “Carbona Not Glue.” (“Sheena” was later re-recorded for the group’s third album, Rocket to Russia, in 1978.) The album also featured favorites like “Gimme Gimme Shock Treatment” and “Pinhead,” which featured the infamous nonsense lyric “Gabba Gabba Hey,” a rallying call for fans from that point forward.
With the reissue of Ramones in 2016 featuring a considerable amount of previously released bonus material, including the live performance included on Rhino’s expanded edition of Leave Home in 2001, this new box features a wealth of previously unreleased bonus content:
- Leave Home engineer and longtime band collaborator Ed Stasium has newly mixed the album, adding some of the power they felt was missing from the original mix. This mix will sit alongside the original on the box’s first disc and will also be pressed on an accompanying LP.
- A dizzying 33-track bonus disc offers a treasure trove of content from the Leave Home sessions, including rough mixes of the entire album from recording location Sundragon Studios, an additional 18 alternate mixes and instrumentals, both sides of the “Sheena is a Punk Rocker” single and the track “Babysitter,” which replaced “Carbona Not Glue” on U.K. pressings of Leave Home.
- The set concludes with a previously unreleased set recorded at the legendary CBGB’s in April of 1977, three months after the release of Leave Home.
The set, limited to 15,000 copies, will be packed in a 12″ x 12″ box and feature new liner notes that include commentary from Ed Stasium and band manager Danny Fields (as told to rock writer Michael Azerrad). For those who just want the new remaster, it’s also being pressed on a standalone CD. Both packages will be available July 14th.
Leave Home: 40th Anniversary Deluxe Edition (Sire/Rhino, 2017)
3CD/1LP box set.
The Fat Angel Sings 