Released just a year after their sound-shifting album End Of The Century, the Ramones followed that amazing up with the great, though noticeably less sharp LP, Pleasant Dreams. And while that may make this album look bad, in all honesty, Pleasant Dreams is the album that I would of expected to follow Road To Ruin. Both LP's feature, slower, more plodding opening numbers before finally giving up the goods in the form of fantastically catchy rock and punk tunes.
And Pleasant Dreams certainly delivers where it counts, especially on tracks like "The KKK Took My Baby Away" and what is easily in my top 5 Ramones tracks of all time, the simply perfect "She's A Sensation". The album may not be as immaculately produced, but I think that lends to this albums overall charm; it's almost like the band had to shake of the stressful experience of recording End Of The Century by recording a far more stripped down album.
However, that's not to say that this album isn't polished; tracks like "Don't Go" and "We Want The Airwaves" are produced within an inch of their lives; luckily the latter track still retains some character, whereas the former suffocates completely. This is a problem I had with the last LP, but the songs on that album were strong enough to pull through, whereas the tracks with weaker production decisions also happen to be just weak songs in general.
As far as the style of this album is concerned, the band continues their abandonment of punk, delving into the worlds of Caribbean rock with "It's Not My Place" and just playing for straight up rock in general. Again, like on End Of The Century these choices don't really bother me, though I am already missing tracks like "Sheena Is A Punk Rocker" or "Beat On The Brat"; tracks that didn't overstay their welcome, but gave enough ear candy to keep you coming back.
Overall, I'd say if you're a fan of what was happening on End Of The Century, then Pleasant Dreams will be an enjoyable experience as well.
8.5/10
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