Vinyl Me, Please Unboxed – Ramones ‘Too Tough To Die’
Good things comes in 12 inch packages. Delivering limited edition vinyl pressings of new and classic albums directly to your doorstep, VMP operates under a simple philosophy: The Album Lives! With a carefully curated catalog of new and hard to find releases, the subscription service is more than just a record club, it’s a lifestyle choice for folks who wish Record Store Day could happen every month… in their living room.
Here’s how it works. You send Vinyl Me, Please some of your hard-earned money and they send you one carefully selected album they feel is Essential to any record collection. Yes, it truly is as easy as it sounds. You even get FREE SHIPPING. Each custom pressing (often on colored vinyl!) also comes with killer extras like original artwork and informative listening companion booklet.
You’ll have membership privileges in the VMP store too, which means you can grab a copy of previous VMP selections from the archives – including their August reissue of Teo Macero’s overlooked jazz classic Teo – or choose from a slate of super-limited releases pressed exclusively for Vinyl Me, Please. The store is open, and Team VMP are dropping fresh new selections to their stock every single week. Do not miss out.
Word to the wise, while the store is open to the public, subscribers are privy to reduced “Members Pricing” as well, so joining the club definitely has its rewards. If you’re peckish about relinquishing control of your record collection to complete strangers, know that VMP’s Swaps Program is in full effect. That means you can flip any VMP pick you’re not interested in for a past featured album from any track (including Essentials, Country, Classics, and Rap/Hip Hop). My advice? Don’t overthink it. Do your turntable a favor and sign up today.
As for September, I couldn’t help but get my punk on with a killer new pressing of Ramones’ underrated ripper from 1984, Too Tough To Die. Here’s a look.
For The Love Of Vinyl, Please DO NOT BEND
Before I start waxing too poetic and/or nostalgic about Ramones and Too Tough To Die, it seems only right to acknowledge the elephant in the room, which is that our pals at Vinyl Me, Please have been sorting through some issues for the past few months. And yes, those issues have begun affecting the member experience, with VMP making several major decisions of late as they try to right the ship … including ending both the Country and Rock tracks, cancelling international subs, and raising the price of membership.
I don’t have much to add to the discourse, save to say it’s all kind of a bummer, and that I really hope the company pulls it together, ’cause they’re still the best damn record club in the game.
Given the public nature of all the strife and resulting changes, it was unfortunate that September brought with it another unexpected issue, in that the Vinyl Me, Please Essentials track was so far oversold, the Vinyl Me, Please team had to make the tough call to limit how many subscribers could actually get the selected album, Ramones’ 1977 masterpiece Rocket To Russia. Unfortunately, I was among those members moved off the Essentials line and into the VMP Rock track, which happened to feature the Ramones record I’m unboxing here and serve as the final offering on the VMP Rock track.
For the record, I ended up being okay with the move, as 1) I already have a better-than-solid original pressing of Rocket To Russia in my collection and 2) I really, really loved Too Tough To Die when it arrived. But to add a little bit of context, I’ll say that I’m a huge, huge, huge fan of Ramones first four albums and regularly spin them in my own home, including Rocket To Russia, which is one of my favorite albums in the history of recorded music. Nonetheless, I’ve always be wary of the records the band released after that four album heyday, as they have, by and large, been very hit-or-miss in nature.
As it was, that means Too Tough To Die was among the many Ramones records that I’d heard not even one solitary track from. Imagine my utter delight then at diving into the record on first spin and discovering that the band were fully back in filth and fury mode for this 13-track offering, which also sees them indugling in multiple different styles. Hell, the gang even laid down an instrumental number (“Durango 95”) for this album that is arguably one of the best tracks they recorded in the ’80s.
The same could be said about most of the numbers on Too Tough To Die, which was produced by Road to Ruin helmer Ed Stasium and ex-Ramones member Tommy (credited as T. Erdelyi). I’m not gonna dig too deep into the other twelve tracks the band recorded for this album because, you either love the Ramones’ music and acknowledge its place in rock history and the pop culture zeitgeist, or you don’t. And if you don’t, well, why the hell are you even reading through this unboxing?
I will, however, offer that I was constantly surprised as those 13-track unfolded, with Ramones ripping through each with the typical hard, fast, and wonderfully melodic zeal that dominates their songwriting when they’re at their best. They are, arguably, at there best throughout Too Tough To Die, and for my own personal money, I’ll can confirm that the Side A to Side B transition of “Chasing The Night,” to “Howling At The Moon (Sha-La-La)” is not just my new favorite from a Ramones record, but maybe my favorite of all time.
Just to be clear, Vinyl Me, Please totally knocked this pressing out of the park in terms of pressing and packaging. So VMP fans can at least take heart knowing that the Rock track went out on a major high note.Test this album out for yourself if you doubt me.
Cover Matters
By the time Too Tough To Die hit the streets, Ramones had already deliverd some of the most iconic album covers from the punk rock era. They did it again with this silhouetted cover pic which, as the story goes, was not supposed to be a silhouette at all, but instead an homage to the Droogs from A Clockwork Orange. Seems during the shoot, one of the front lights set by photographer George DuBose (who snapped the shot) didn’t actually fire, leaving Joey, Jhonny, Dee Dee and new drummer Richie dramatically backlit in shadow. Gaffe aside, the band loved the shot, eventually tabbing it for the cover.
The back cover fronts one of those trademark Ramones leather jackets, as well as a track list and a few production credits.
And the glossy blue VMP Rock stamp is the last one that will ever be printed on a Vinyl Me, Please release. Sigh.
Out of the sleeve, your record’s spine is cradled by a OBI-Strip with a bit of important info about Too Tough To Die, including its VMP Rock catalogue number, its AAA pressing credentials, and an exerpt from the accompanying listening companion penned by Nicholas Rombes.
As always, the listening notes to Too Tough To Die offer some intriguing insight into the creation of this largely overlooked gem in the Ramones’ ouevre.
That’s not the only zine in this month’s Vinyl Me, Please box, with the company giving us the first glimpse of the new-look reading companion that will come with ensuing delivieries. This one offers a insight into a couple of the upcoming VMP releases, along with other entertaining diversions.
As for that back cover photo, it seems Vinyl Me, Please does indeed have a record on deck from Creedance Clearwater Revival (aka The Dude’s personal Fab Four). So be sure to check back for that unboxing. Anyway, if you’re curious about the colorway for VMP’s final Rock selection, this Cloudy Blue wax is pretty darn slick, right?
You’d better believe it’s set to bring a little punk rock attitude to any deck it touches … even if the cloudy effect doesn’t show through quite enough when it spins.
How’s it sound? Like the greatest punk band in the history of the form woke up after a moderate mid-career slump, remembered they were the greatest punk band on the planet, and ran to the studio to record a cache of songs that would ensure the world remembered it too.
As I’ve often said of Vinyl Me, Please in the past, musical discovery is a big part of what makes this, or any vinly subscription service, so much fun. It is, however, rare that a company offers a discovery from a band that I am already so well-acquainted with. In case I haven’t been clear, that’s just what’s happened with Ramones’ Too Tough To Die, an album from a band that I fully worship, but have somehow never bothered to listen too.
I cannot thank the VMP team for helping me discover this record … even if the discovery happened more or less by default. Whatever the case, I’m happy to be spinning Too Tough To Die in the old homestead, and am now fully re-considering my stance on exploring Ramones’ post Road to Ruin output.
A big THANK YOU to our friends at Vinyl Me, Please for sponsoring this subscription. Don’t forget to check out the Vinyl Me, Please website and sign up to get some choice wax delivered right to your door each and every month! Be sure to check back next month to see what vinyl treasure Team VMP sends our way!