Customer Reviews: Read 18 more reviews...
 Some diamonds are in the rough... May 13, 2008
This album, like most Ramones albums, contains some real treasures.
Little Bit O' Soul is a great cover.
I Need Your Love may be the perfect punk pop song ever written. I love it!
You're probably better off buying those singles than the whole album.
 Way better than its reputation July 6, 2006
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This has always been one of those Ramones albums that nobody pays much attention to, but I've always thought it's a gold mine. Some of their best songs are here: "In My Room," "Outsider," and the unreleased "Unhappy Girl" are among my all-time favorite Ramones songs. It seems like people sneer at anything of theirs that came after their late-'70s classics. Oh well. It's their loss. Skip the cover of "Time Has Come Today" and you've got an entire album of short, catchy but muscular power-pop tunes with the trademark Ramones chainsaw guitar and Joey's New Yawk vocals. This is great stuff, people.
 Never understood why so many people don't rate this album.... January 27, 2006
The Ramones' 7th studio album doesn't match their first album but nothing ever could. 1st albums by great bands are just that way. If you can only afford one Ramones album, buy the first, then find a way to buy more. (IMHO the only bad Ramones album is Acid Eaters.) Yes, the production on this one deviates from their trademark low-fi sound but it's good in its own way (and it beats the hell out of End of the Century, a real production cop out), SJ has some classic tracks: `Outsider', `Psychotherapy' as well as a dynamite cover of `Time Has Come Today' complete with Chambers Brothers-like cowbells. What I particularly like about SJ are the strong power pop songs like `I Need Your Love', `What'd Ya Do', `Somebody Like Me', `My-My Kind of Girl' and others. All very catchy, well sung, well played. All in all, this is another great effort. Buy the one with the bonus tracks.
Pop, Punk, experimental, psychadelic January 9, 2006
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
This album has it all with a cathcy straight to the point pace. Similair to Pleasent Dreams, the albums high points are right in the start with the first five songs, the whole album is great through and through but lacks that classic Ramones sound, don't be drawn away by that, pick it up
The Transition of the Ramones September 22, 2004
6 out of 8 found this review helpful
After six years and seven albums, you'd be a little stressed out, too. The Ramones had just seen their latest bid for a mass audience take the gaspipe, and still weren't in a very good place as far as relationships were concerned. Based on their success with pop-punk priestess Joan Jett, the band studioed up with producers Ritchie Cordell and Glen Kolotkin, but there was just too much strain.
Cordell and Kolotkin tired to mold the Ramones' punk into bubblegum metal and the match just doesn't work. Slowed down tempos and a sludgey mix lose whatever charm the few interesting songs have, and the choice of covers doesn't seem to fit (although "Little Bit Of Soul" comes closest). The strong points to "Jungle" are Joey's latest Phil Spectoresque concoction, "My My Kind Of A Girl" and Dee Dee's sudden quantum leap as a songwriter. The psychedelic "Highest Trails Above" and the quintessential Ramones view of "Outsider" made it clear that Dee Dee was better than songs about glue sniffing and basket cases.
It is still one of those basket case songs that remains the highlight of "Subterranean Jungle." Johnny and Dee Dee managed to graft over their broken friendship and write the fierce "Psycho Therapy" together. With Joey's fiery delivery and the wailing sirens that open the song, it is this album's contribution to the library of Ramones' classics. It was also the point where Dee Dee and Johnny became friends again and started creatively cooking for "Too Tough To Die."
The bonus tracks show what this album might have been had the production been more in tune with the band. The cover of "Indian Giver" alone could have upped the original album's quality. Same goes for "Unhappy Girl." It's nice that this release of "Jungle" digs those out, but this is still the first Ramones album where the quality slipped off.
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