Ramones: 1! 2! 3! 4! - Ramones in Atmos Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		5.0
Video		0.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		5.0

Ramones: 1! 2! 3! 4! - Ramones in Atmos Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman August 25, 2025

Judging by the "traditional" metric of analyzing the success of musical artists by their album and/or single sales as documented by various trade publication charts like those found in Billboard, The Ramones never really made a huge impact. Of their fourteen studio albums, none managed to climb higher than the mid-40s on the Billboard 200 (though some at least did quite a bit better in other places like the UK). Their (sorry, pun incoming) track record with regard to single releases is perhaps even less impressive, with none of their releases getting any higher than the mid-60s on the "mainstream" Billboard singles chart, which, considering the band's somewhat provocative ambience, probably isn't that surprising. What may be at least a bit unexpected, though, is that the band didn't even manage to make much an impact on the Alternative singles chart from Billboard, not even being listed at all until 1989 when a little film called Pet Sematary helped bring the band greater renown. Aside from their eponymous single tied to the film, their only other Alternative chart performance was three years later with Poison Heart. While their first album (included here) went Gold according to the RIAA, and their third album (also included here) was one of those aforementioned efforts which managed to claw its way into the forties of the album chart, to quote the inimitable Paul Harvey, "the. . .rest of the story" easily proves that judging a band's impact solely on album and single chart performance (and/or sales figures) is, at least in this case, inadequate.

And it's actually there (that very inadequacy) where fans may be somewhat divided about this release. The Ramones' legacy is one that is unabashedly lo-fi and, well, punked out, and a high tech Atmos rendering of their music may strike some as positively anachronistic. Let the debates begin!

I've included screenshots of all the (static) menus on the four discs in positions 1 through 4, which offer tracklists, but for perusing purposes, I've listed everything below. See the video section below for a bit more on the disc authoring.

RAMONES (1976)

• Blitzkrieg Bop
• Beat On The Brat
• Judy Is A Punk
• I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend
• Chain Saw
• Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue
• I Don’t Wanna Go Down To The Basement
• Loudmouth
• Havana Affair
• Listen To My Heart
• 53rd & 3rd
• Let’s Dance
• I Don’t Wanna Walk Around With You
• Today Your Love, Tomorrow The World

LEAVE HOME (1977)

• Glad To See You Go
• Gimme Gimme Shock Treatment
• I Remember You
• Oh Oh I Love Her So
• Carbona Not Glue
• Suzy Is A Headbanger
• Pinhead
• Now I Wanna Be A Good Boy
• Swallow My Pride
• What’s Your Game
• California Sun
• Commando
• You’re Gonna Kill That Girl
• You Should Never Have Opened That Door

ROCKET TO RUSSIA (1977)

• Cretin Hop
• Rockaway Beach
• Here Today, Gone Tomorrow
• Locket Love
• I Don’t Care
• Sheena Is A Punk Rocker
• We’re A Happy Family
• Teenage Lobotomy
• Do You Wanna Dance?
• I Wanna Be Well
• I Can’t Give You Anything
• Ramona
• Surfin’ Bird
• Why Is It Always This Way?

ROAD TO RUIN (1978)

• I Just Want To Have Something To Do
• I Wanted Everything
• Don’t Come Close
• I Don’t Want You
• Needles And Pins
• I’m Against It
• I Wanna Be Sedated
• Go Mental
• Questioningly
• She’s The One
• Bad Brain
• It’s A Long Way Back

Ramones: 1! 2! 3! 4! - Ramones in Atmos Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

All four Blu-ray discs in this set offer static menus reproducing the original album cover art and a tracklist. I've offered examples in screenshots 5 through 10 of how the colors of the tracks change as you scroll through them, for those interested in such picayune arcana. Kind of weirdly, the first album is the only one in this set where you can't use the colored buttons on your remote to toggle between audio codecs. That slight weirdness on the first album also means that switching codecs starts the song over. On the three discs where the colored buttons offer a way to toggle, the song continues playing (perhaps after a brief HDMI handshake).

Ramones: 1! 2! 3! 4! - Ramones in Atmos Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

All four albums are offered with either Dolby Atmos or DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 options. I'm probably going to invite the umbrage of some punk purists, but I didn't really have any problems with the Atmos mixes for the most part, and when you hear the force of, yes, isolated things like the drums at the beginning of Pinhead and any number of those famous "three chord guitar" openings on the Atmos track when compared to the stereo version, to my ears anyway the pluses of the track far outweigh any perceived "loss" of, say, a Ronnie Spector-ized wall of sound or even the at times (again, to my ears) overly brash and bright original stereo mixes. There were numerous examples where I actually felt the Atmos versions help to clarify the overall sound (which again may not sit well with "originalists"), as in Don't Come Close. The one exception might be Rocket to Russia, where I actually found the stereo track to be as enjoyable and listenable as the Atmos, though in an obviously less showy way. In terms of that perceived "wall of sound", the Atmos mix may obviously offer a more "three dimensional" accounting of the onslaught of instruments and voices, but I'd still argue it can be a very powerful sonic "edifice", even if it's considerably more widely imaged than the stereo versions, offering what might be jokingly referred to as walls of sound. It's probably salient to mention that according to Rhino's website "Ed Stasium — who originally engineered three of the albums — created the Atmos mixes for Leave Home, Rocket to Russia, and Road to Ruin. Craig Leon, who produced the band's 1976 debut, contributed the Atmos mix for Ramones. The Atmos versions catch a number of countoffs that either are missing from the final album versions or aren't anywhere near as prominently featured.

Ramones: 1! 2! 3! 4! - Ramones in Atmos Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

There are no supplements offered with this set. All four discs come in mini LP gatefolds reproducing the original album art, with lyrics and the like on the inside. All four discs are housed in a sturdy slipbox.

Ramones: 1! 2! 3! 4! - Ramones in Atmos Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I actually had a gas re-listening to these albums after so many years. There's an infectious "hey, we have a bunch of instruments, let's form a band" quality to the music which, yes, can be roughshod and harmonically and melodically not exactly innovative (as if punk ever needed those particular blandishments). For those reticent to experience the Ramones in Atmos, the DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mixes should suffice, but for the adventurous, the Atmos versions really significantly open up the sound, with improved amplitude and clarity. Highly recommended.