Having established their stripped down sound on the self-titled debut, The Ramones continued on there punk rock road the following year (1977) with Leave Home, an album that doesn't so much see the band moving forward, as it does show that the band was ready to pump out more quality tunes in the vein of the debut.
Leave Home's greatest strength is that the production this time around is a bit more polished, and the songs feature a little bit more variation. These variations come in the form of some honest to God intros and outros to some of the tracks here, such as the track "Pinhead" which opens with some odd chanting. Also, despite not being as popular as the debut, or the follow-up record, I'd say that Leave Home still features some of the strongest material the band had released at that point; especially cuts like "You're Gonna Kill That Girl" and the super catchy "California Sun".
However, this album still features the same four chord structure, and while it is used in enough ways to justify writing another fourteen tracks around it, some very noticeable recycling occurs on this LP, like the track "Now I Wanna Be A Good Boy" which aside from great intro, sounds too much like the similarly titled track from the debut.
But, none of these tracks are bad, in fact, I'd say I enjoy Leave Home just as much as the debut if not a little more. The tracks are tight, succinct and are incredibly catchy; everything you could ask for from a punk album really.
The following LP would be considered by many as the bands finest moment, but it would also the first sign of band drama and drummer rotation that would last until the end of the bands career.
9.2/10
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