Road to Ruin found
the Ramones stretching their signature sound to its limits; even though there were several fine moments, nearly all of them arrived when the group broke free from the suddenly restrictive loud-fast-hard formula of their first records. Considering that
the Ramones did desire mainstream success and that they had a deep love for early-'60s
pop/rock, it's not surprising that they decided to shake loose the constrictions of their style by making an unabashed
pop album, yet it was odd that
Phil Spector produced
End of the Century, because his painstaking working methods seemingly clashed with
the Ramones' instinctual approach. However,
the Ramones were always more clever than they appeared, so the matching actually worked better than it could have.
Spector's detailed production helped bring
"Rock 'n' Roll High School" and
"Do You Remember Rock 'n' Roll Radio?" to life, yet it also kept some of the punkier numbers in check. Even so,
End of the Century is more enjoyable than its predecessor, since the record has stronger material, and in retrospect, it's one of their better records of the '80s. [The 2002 reissue adds six songs to the original track listing: a different take of
"I Want You Around" and demos of
"Danny Says," "I'm Affected," "Please Don't Leave," "All the Way," and
"Do You Remember Rock 'n' Roll Radio?"] ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine
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