CJ Ramone The Holy Spell… CD
I have to hand it to the man. Since the end of the mighty RAMONES (and let’s face it, even after Dee Dee, the songwriting took a deep dive), ol’ CJ has done a great job of both keeping that distinctive sound alive and helping refine it, rolling it seamlessly into the 21st century—albeit with a few guitar solos that would make Johnny roll in his fascist grave. Which is a long way of saying that this is fucking good. Far from being a sub-par RAMONES cover band, CJ’s songwriting is up there with Dee Dee’s contributions to the band when CJ was handling the bass duties. He is producing songs of the caliber of “Pet Semetary” and “Poison Heart,” and his tribute to the late, lamented Steve Soto in “Rock On” is a case in point. This is really fucking good. Even if he does now have a beard.