No matter how good a new Ramones album is, there's always someone complaining that it should have been better. Too slow, too quiet, even — in these days of high-priced CDs — too long: If it doesn't include fourteen tracks in under half an hour, something's very wrong. So strike 1: Mondo Bizarro has thirteen tracks in more than thirty-five minutes, including one, "Poison Heart," that goes on so long it's virtually an album in itself. I mean, four minutes isn't much for most bands, but these are the Ramones. Dee Dee would never have tolerated that!

Ah, but Dee Dee's gone now, and it's C.J. whose counting brings down Armageddon. And that's another thing: Since when have the Ramones sounded like Steppenwolf? C.J. takes the vocals two times, and both times you wonder: Could it be John Kay? Or could it be the Lizard King, whose "Take It As It Comes" wrings such a great voice out of Joey that if Morrison himself wasn't in the studio with the Ramones, then you know he must be dead?

The Ramones sound fiercer than they have in years on Mondo Bizarro. In terms of its lyrics, "Touring" is nothing spectacular, just another ode to life on the road; musically, though, it's hilarious, a spitball medley of the Ramones' greatest hits, so cunningly crafted that in years to come, it could be the ultimate show stopper. Come to think of it, it could be the entire show, seventeen songs in under three minutes and none lasting more than a riff or a lyric. That would be perfect Ramones — and it might even silence their critics.

“Youth Knows No Pain”

“Like on 'Youth Knows No Pain' — we are the ones that should demonstrate, because we can take it,” Likke Li said. “We can pierce ourselves, take Ecstasy, dance all night and still go to work at our McDonald's jobs.” Despite the hedonistic sentiment in the song, the Swedish singer also admitted in hindsight her youth had repercussions. “I remember when I was 18-19 and feeling that I know it all,” Li said. “I always feel that I know it all. But that song is about realizing you don’t, and reflecting, ‘Boy, if I only knew what would follow.’”