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309.
Ramones.
(NY): Sire Records, 1976. Original US promotional poster for the Ramones’ debut album. 68x59cm. Offset litho. Design by Arturo Vega; photograph by Roberta Bayley.
The band’s self-titled first album, released on April 23, 1976, featured 14 songs, the longest of which, “I Don't Wanna Go Down to the Basement”, lasted little more than two and a half minutes, a minimalist stance best summed up by Tommy Ramone: “We play short songs and short sets for people who don’t have a lot of spare time.”
Roberta Bayley’s b/w cover photograph, originally shot for Punk magazine and appearing in its third issue, depicts Johnny, Tommy, Joey and Dee Dee Ramone standing against a graffiti-strewn brick wall in the Bowery, wearing ripped jeans and black leather jackets, staring at the camera with blank expressions. Along with Patti Smith’s similarly monochrome debut, released a few months earlier, it is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential record sleeve covers of all time.
Very faint central vertical and horizontal fold marks, o/w Near Fine, with the perforated blank strip at the bottom peppered with light foxing but intact. Conservation linen-backed.
