Joey Ramone

Ever since Joey Ramone went off to break a few windows at the Rock & Roll High School in
the sky, we've been hearing about the solo album he'd spent his final years working on. It
was easy to fear that the posthumous release would be just meaningless deathsploitation.
But Don't Worry About Me upholds Joey's noble legacy. He was every American geek who
ever tried acting tough just to crack himself up, the junk-culture reject who bra... More >

The nicest Ramone, who was revealing his secret identity well before he knew he had cancer, stands tall as a gentle goof, sounding contemplative partly because he's slowed down a little, partly because music has speeded up a little, and partly because he is. Spareness bleeds into vagueness, minimalism into unfinished business, which may be how he would have wanted these songs but isn't necessarily how we want them. Nevertheless, his ashram seeker is the perfect counterweight to his financial analyst, "What a Wonderful World" to "1969." And when he writes from his bed of pain it really hurts. (Grade: B+)