American Beauty＜Picture Vinyl＞

So the album is called American Beauty, and there are roses on the front cover...wait a minute, has C.J. Ramone made a Grateful Dead tribute album?!? Thankfully, no -- C.J., the latter-day bassist with the favorite sons of Forest Hills, is still clearly a Ramone at heart, and on this album, he sure sounds like one. American Beauty boasts ten songs full of poppy punk-rock hooks and an unrelenting supply of downstroked guitars, just as one might expect, and here C.J. seems perfectly happy to give fans of his old band just the sort of music they want. That said, C.J. happens to be pretty good at this stuff, and if none of these songs reinvent the old-school punk wheel, they deliver plenty of sturdy rock action while allowing the bassist to put some of his own touches on the Ramones template. The two-guitar attack on these sessions (featuring Steve Soto and Dan Root of the Adolescents) gives the music a different texture than Johnny Ramone delivered with his Mosrite, and with drummer Pete Sosa, C.J. generates a different sort of groove that's effective but also has a life of its own. And C.J. has his own point of view, quite separate from the goofy tales that dominated the Ramones catalog. He can write about good times on the road in "Let's Go" and "Steady as She Goes," but "Moral to the Story" shows he knows plenty about the dark side of the rock & roll life. "Yeah Yeah Yeah," "Run Around," and "You'll Never Make Me Believe" are unpretentious but deeply personal, short stories of life as an uphill battle. And there are two genuine surprises -- "Tommy's Gone," a brief acoustic tribute to original Ramones drummer Tommy Erdelyi, and "Pony," a spirited Tom Waits cover gussied up with mariachi horns. C.J. Ramone proudly carries the torch for the Ramones on American Beauty, but thankfully he's not just copying the band's old glories, but giving their legacy a fresh dose of energy and a different perspective. ~ Mark Deming