A truly unique Ramones collectible–an original master tape of unreleased Rough Mixes for their 1977 ROCKET TO RUSSIA album.

We acquired these from Ramones producer/engineer/mixer (and all around great guy) Ed Stasium, and included is his signed letter of authenticity detailing the history of the tape, as well as a high resolution digital transfer on CD made by Ed.

As noted in Stasium’s letter, these versions were quickly mixed after the completion of Joey’s vocals (and Ed’s background vocals), early one morning in September 1977. As Ed explains in his letter of authenticity, “The individual track balances, panning, EQ, compression, reverb/delay effects etc. are entirely dissimilar from the ones used on the final mixes that appear on the record. When doing final mixes, we only mixed a song a day (maybe two) spending considerably more time on the mixing as opposed to the “ruffs” which were probably done in one take.” He notes “these are my personal original “ruff” mix reels for “Rocket To Russia” that I used for my own evaluation and to play for visitors to the studio. I always had a reel ready in the event that if anybody…would drop by the studio i would be able to quickly play the “ruff” instead of interrupting the session, pulling up the multitrack masters and getting a mix up on the recording console. I don’t believe that even the members of the band had a copy of this tape, although Tommy may have gotten a cassette copy. Ruff mixes really never got out tfo the studio as the artist would not want copies of unfinished tracks floating around…probably still don’t !!”

As Ed explains in an accompanying document, tapes from the 1970’s need to be “baked”–or heated in a controlled environment–before playback; the binder used to attach the magnetic particles to the backing can be unstable after many years. Ed baked this tape before transferring it digitally in his recording studio; we suggest the owner not try to play it.

This auction is for this tape, transfer and documentation, sold as a collectible only. No rights of reproduction or copyright are included or inferred. As illustrated below, we have commissioned a frame for this tape which can be hung on the wall or displayed on a table. The frame can easily be slid open and the tape removed. The frame is shown only as an example of how this tape might be displayed and is NOT INCLUDED but can be ordered separately.

A unique opportunity to obtain a truly one-of-a-kind Ramones collectible.