Producers: Tony Bongiovi, T. Erdelyi.

Reissue producers: Bill Inglot, Gary Stewart.

Engineers: Ed Stasium, Don Berman.

Principally recorded at Media Sound, New York, New York. Includes liner notes by Legs McNeil and Arturo Vega.

Digitally remastered by Dan Hersch and Bill Inglot (Digiprep).

Personnel: Joey Ramone (vocals); Johnny Ramone (guitar); Tommy Ramone (drums).

Audio Remasterers: Dan Hersch; Bill Inglot.

Photographers: Bob Gruen; Robert Matheu.

The third of the Ramones' original quartet of albums, 1977's ROCKET TO RUSSIA is actually a big improvement over the slightly disappointing LEAVE HOME, released earlier in 1977. While not as solidly perfect as RAMONES, ROCKET TO RUSSIA contains very little fat and boasts possibly the finest songs in the band's entire repertoire, "Rockaway Beach" and the immortal "Sheena Is a Punk Rocker." "We're a Happy Family" and "Teenage Lobotomy" are only slightly lesser tracks, and the covers of the Trashmen's gloriously silly "Surfin' Bird" and Bobby Freeman's "Do You Wanna Dance" are conceptually perfect, linking the Ramones neatly with their garage rock and bubblegum roots.

The bonus tracks on the 2001 Rhino reissue are less revelatory than the 1976 concert contained on the LEAVE HOME reissue, a motley but entertaining collection of demos, single mixes and one B-side, "It's a Long Way Back to Germany," but this disc's carefully remastered sound makes it sound better than all previous incarnations of the album, highlighting the extent to which the cleaner production complements the group's poppier, slightly more complex new songs.

There aren't many bonus tracks -- only five -- on Rhino's 2001 expanded edition of the Ramones' third album, Rocket to Russia, but it doesn't really matter because the album itself is so good and the presentation is so fine. Like the other editions in Rhino's Ramones reissue series, this has a terrific booklet with the original artwork, full lyrics, plenty of photos, and great notes (this time from Legs McNeil). And while the bonus tracks are a little slight -- single versions of "I Don't Care" and "Sheena Is a Punk Rocker" are nice to have but not drastically different than the album versions, while a previously unreleased version of "Needles & Pins" is charming but rather anemic -- the demo of the non-LP "Slug" is really excellent (but probably too pop for the Ramones in 1977) and it's good to have the U.K. B-side "It's a Long Way Back to Germany" along for the ride. Apart from those two songs, these bonus tracks don't pack the punch of the full concert on Leave Home, nor do they have the historic importance of the tracks on Ramones. But that's minor quibbling, since the music is good, the package is excellent, and the album is one of the best records ever made. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine