Don't Worry About Me (CD - 2002)

Personnel: Joey Ramone (vocals); Al Maddy (guitar, bas, background vocals); Daniel Rey, Mickey Leigh (guitar, background vocals); Joe McGinty (keyboards); Jerry Only, Andy Shernoff (bass); Frank Funaro, Marky Ramone, Dr. Chud (drums); Helen Love, Veronica Kaufman, Captain Sensible (background vocals).

Recorded at The Magic Shop, Water Music, Baby Monster, and Loho Studios, New York, New York.

Personnel: Joey Ramone; Dr. Chud, Helen Love, Jerry Only, Marky Ramone, Mickey Leigh.

Shortly before his untimely death in April of 2001, punk rock icon Joey Ramone finished what would be his very first (and ultimately last) solo album, DON'T WORRY ABOUT ME, which was issued almost exactly one year later. It's understandable that some will automatically assume that it sounds like a new Ramones album would in the early 21st century, but DON'T WORRY ABOUT ME comes off both reflective and even (gasp!) mature at times. "I Got Knocked Down (But I'll Get Back Up)," for example, appears to have to been written while Ramone was battling his illness (especially with such lyrics as "Sittin' in a hospital bed, I want my life"). But longtime Ramones fans need not worry-- there's plenty of gritty, loud, fun rock & roll to go around. Witness the spot-on cover version of the Stooges' early classic "1969," and the quirky "Maria Bartiromo," a tribute to the CNBC TV stock market announcer of the same name (one of Joey's latter-day avocations was day trading). minimize