4. It's Alive

I can still hear the opening lines: "Hey everybody, it's great to be back in England and it's great to see you all again and take it Dee Dee. Onetwothreefour..."

It's Alive was the second Ramones album I purchased, after Rocket to Russia, and the band sounds better on this record--tighter, faster, edgier--than on any of their early studio recordings.

I initially balked at the price--$28 was fairly expensive in 1987 even for an import. But this has been seminal album for me, and I still play it from time to time (in particular, the final sequence of "Oh Oh I Love Her So," "Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue," and "We're a Happy Family," because it really rawks).

The Amazon review of It's Alive sums it up:

It's Alive is not just the best Ramones album, it is easily the best live punk-rock album of all time, and perhaps one of the best live albums ever set to wax.

Aside from that, this is album is notable because it's one of the last I bought at SU records, which was Edmonton's best independent record store before it closed in 1988 or so. Everything that wasn't available from commercial record stores at the time--including things like early REM and hip hop--could be found somewhere in SU Records' acres of vinyl.

The other cool thing about SU Records was that it was run by the University of Alberta Students' Union. When it closed, hundreds of people lined up down HUB mall (a combination residence and mall) for a chance to buy their left-over stock. Shame, really, that there are no more independent stores with the breadth of selection of SU Records.