There's Something About Jonathan

Most younger readers know of Jonathan Richman because of his appearance as the guy doing the musical interludes in the movie "There's Something About Mary". Most of his solo stuff is not too dissimilar from that - the words "naive" and "childlike" are often used to describe his playful lyrics and tunes. But before that he slept on the couch of the Velvet Underground's manager and worked with John Cale and had a bit more grit and backbeat to his sound. Listen to "Astral Plane" and the take on "Roadrunner" on the Original Modern Lovers LP and hear that screaming organ and manic energy and know there was a reason the Sex Pistols performed that song during soundchecks. "Roadrunner" actually went to #1 in the UK, ironic considering it's the best song ever written about cruising around in the car in suburban USA. But the first s/t Modern Lovers LP wasn't released for a while after it was recorded, and by the time the follow up arrived, more years had passed than people realized and his songs had that much more time to get... what's the word - nicer? This progressed throughout his solo career - although he plays almost 50's style rock-n-roll chords he doesn't really seem interested in rocking you anymore. The batch of songs here are certainly, well, nice. They may not rock, but they roll. They follow 1983's "Jonathan Sings!" which followed his several-year hiatus from playing, and also feature then-wife Gail accompanying him. They are classic, honest, timeless tunes that somehow seem like they should have always existed, yet it took Jonathan Richman to take a determined stand away from popular music trends to bring them to life. If you're not that familiar with Richman or the Modern Lovers, you need to add some to your collection, even if it's a greatest hits package - in twenty more years you'll be playing it more than anything else you buy this year. Check out Insound for the Jonathan Richman and Modern Lovers albums you need to be adding to your collection and check out Jojoblog for news and links and good stuff.

Jonathan Richman

West Side Club,
Lyon, France
July 7, 1984

01 Egyptian Reggae
02 The Beach
03 My Jeans
04 Here Come The Martian Martians
05 Hey There little Insect
06 Stop This Car
07 This Kind Of Music
08 Give Paris One More Chance
09 Affection
10 When I'm Walking
11 Ice Cream Man
12 Circle I
13 Time For Foolin Around
14 That Summer Feeling
15 When I Dance
16 Walter Johnson

"The Beach" is especially nice and will hopefully appear on a few of y'all's own summer mixes! Much thanks to the taper of this show, DimeADozen user lolive, who recorded it for for Radio-Bellevue, and who has tons of other high-quality shows upped on Dime, search "Lyon Tapes" and if you don't have an account keep trying and if you don't know what I'm talking about, check out the white BitTorrent how-to on the right sidebar.