jonathan richman: is this guy a class fucking act or what?

yeah, that was a little disconcerting too. i was totally expecting the uber-geek to walk on stage, when out came this dapper fellow (if a little "intense" in the blank stare dept.) i'm sure he could have become the makeout king of montana with any girl in the place, and he certainly had the crowd eating out of his hand.

i had forgetten i wrote this little epic when i woke up from my 11pm nap.

As for my pal Andrew L's understandable interest in his chest, can I just mention that I HAVE TOUCHED JR'S BARE CHEST! Mmmm...

I've seen JR about five times, and was only disappointed once. He has nothing to do with punk, except that he occasionally sings a song called "Velvet Underground." He is a troubador. He sets down his guitar and dances, accompanied only by his own singing and clapping. He's charming, and cute like a bunny. But he tackles serious subjects (cf. "My Little Girl's Got a Full Time Daddy Now", "The Neighbors") that most songwriters wouldn't touch. And he's an extremely nice guy.

I've never seen him live but the rumour is he's playing Glastonbury so here's hoping.

By the way, love your prose, wish I could write like that when pissed.

Kris.

So, I guess my answer is "what". *smiles glassily, backs quickly but politely out of the room*

Yes, and you see that people who are great performers, or something else superlative, often blow away your conceptions of liking or disliking the domain in which they work. Your first paragraph indicates your reluctance to buy into received opinion about "greatness", "importance", etc., and it's true these opinions are often the result of stupid canon-happy past-never-experienced pseudo-worship, but sometimes people who are called great really (still) are when you get to see them. So yeah, Jonathan Richman is great, but what you're really writing about is how suprised you were that your contrary-ness was disarmed in spite of yourself. Hope it happens more often.

[sputtering]...he INVENTED punk rock on The Modern Lovers!

(i was referring to the post above yrs actually, m.)

This is something of which I am well aware. I was describing Jonathan circa now, as opposed to what may be fairly described as a bit of an anomaly in his career. He's never done anything like that record since. "Government Center" may be one of the happiest, most compassionate songs ever written, but it's probably the only thing on the record that wouldn't seem out of place if Jonathan busted it out today. I certainly don't see him playing "She Cracked," "Hospital" or "I'm Straight." Maybe "Girlfriend," but "Pablo Picasso"? I don't think he would curse onstage anymore!

I was at this gig too, Chris and I agree that it was brilliant (inc. Sex Machine cover). Was a tad disappointed that he didn't play "That Summer Feeling" which was the first song of his I heard, but with such a long career & large repertoire such things are inevitable I suppose.

(revive!)

In fact, his sheer un-rock n' roll attitude is what makes him so punk rawk.

Plus, he can write a fuckin mean song.

most memorable, about 6 years ago (a little before "there's something about mary) he did 2 back to back 2 hour sets with a 10 minute break. yes, 4 hours of music. like jess alludes upthread, he held the audience in his hand the entire performance. he is a classic charmer: dashing, bravado, swagger, he makes the boys and girls swoon alike.

(and Matos, I wasn't aware of the man ever using the guitar-keys-bass-drums line-up since the Jerry Harrison years, so I thought it would be clear)

Jonathan Richman
American Music Club
Chuck Prophet & Stephanie Finch
Noe Venable

Great American Music Hall, SF, Nov. 30

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

cf. Modern Lovers 88
-- M Matos (michaelangelomato...) (webmail), November 17th, 2003 3:47 PM. (M Matos) (link)

huh? modern lovers 88 rocks!

Revive -- Everyone can stand a little more Jonathan in their lives!

With great hesistation, i've been laboring to assemble a complete vinyl set of his albums for the last 12 years - which will likely approach completion about the same time somebody lays out a proper reissue series or boxset.

i could stand some more jess in my life! i want to hear him talk about "cuddlecore".

thanks for reminding me, Jonathan is playing here next week and I need to buy a ticket.

Thanks for the revive, christoff. Never seen this thread before. Nice to read something so well-written, enthusiastic and smart 1st thing in the morning (helps that I agree w/ everything he says). Kinda puts a shine on the day.

I slept in the office in his house last year.

My favorite Jonathan story: I saw him in Minneapolis at 7th Street Entry (TINY club) where his support act was a local, female-led band called Beangirl. Jonathan seemed to really like them, he was out on the dance floor watching and applauding.

Shortly thereafter I travelled to Seattle, and Jonathan was playing there at the Bumbershoot festival. I found a big piece of cardboard and a marker, lettered BEANGIRL on it, and held it up from many rows back. He interrupted one of his monologues to ask, "Are you from Minneapolis? Wow! Beangirl is a really cool band... but I don't wanna talk about that right now... 1234" and into Roadrunner.

one of the first songs he played was "springtime in new york" (at least i assumed that's what it was called), and i can't really described the mood it called up, comparable with so very few things in the vast morass of art about nyc, maybe the gentlest work of paul auster (cf. moon palace) or the experience of living in the city itself (which, like that ridiculous song suggests, everyone should do once before they become hardened.) it's a love song to a place which so effortlessly trumps any of the post-9/11 blather (neil young, stick your head up your own arse in abject shame, please.) it made me happy to be alive, which few things do these days.

i'm sure i've said this elsewhere on ILM, but "springtime in new york" was the first song i saw ANYONE play live after 9/11 in new york. it was at the knitting factory, which isn't that far from ground zero. the city was still very much in shock. there was still dust downtown. the stage power went out just before jonathan started playing. so in front of a packed knitting factory, which is not too small, and which includes a balcony, he proceeded to play "springtime in new york" with an acoustic guitar and no microphone. singing with that trademark purity and innocence about lovers in the east village and then that throwaway line about how "demolishing a building brings a smell of 1890 through the breeze" (sung that night AS a throwaway line, with no attempt to wink or raise an eyebrow or in any way acknowlege out loud what had just happened) he completely totally utterly melted the joint. one of my favorite concert experiences ever.

(also, i'm pretty sure i met matos at that show, though we don't actually know each other. he was standing next to me on the balcony with a notebook in his hand and i asked who he was and we chatted for probably a minute and that was that.)

this man is a giant of American music

"Jonathan and Tommy Larkins have just completed a brand new album, Because Her Beauty is Raw and Wild. The album will be in stores in March!!! Jonathan will of course return to the road in support of the new album."

-from vaporrecords.com

played the 5 Spot in Nashville last nite, he was good, sort of an (even more) minimalist rockin' João Gilberto at times, did "Pablo Picasso" using a funny voice.

a couple weeks back i was driving down 18th Street in San Francisco one afternoon and I saw Jonathan just casually strolling down the street with a Spanish guitar in hand. wish i coulda followed him to see where he ended up.

i'm bummed he's not coming to philly on this tour. saw him for the first time last year. excellent set!

Quick question.. he's in town Saturday, should I go see him for $10?
I don't know much about him but will he make me smile like the "I'm a little dinosaur" song or are his other songs not as entertaining?

he is totally worth seeing for $10, totally one of my favorite live performers even though I barely know any of his non-Modern Lovers recorded output.

awesome

Really always worth seeing, even if (like me) you are not familiar with the vast disorganized reaches that are his catalogue.

HE was great at Primavera Sound last year, but thenI would say that because like most people on this thread, I do thnk he's a clas fucing act.

"Because Her Beauty Is Raw & Wild" is, as expected, still top quality stuff. This guy just doesn't let up does he? Highlights include a very pretty song in French that I remember him playing in Barcelona; the haunting "Our Drab Ways"; and "If We Refuse To Suffer" (which is getting me through a self-imposed smoking ban).

I found an old copy of Abdul and Cleopatra / Oh Carol (the chuck berry song) on Beserkley the other day. Yay 4 me.

Interesting Grauniad piece this weekend.

OK, Jess, I've got to know about this four-track Aznavour. Which albums?

How he is live these days? Going to see him next month, with Tommy Larkins on drums. (Vic Chesnutt opening.)

i saw him a year ago and he was good as ever. the last album was v. underrated.

always loved the jess post that kicked off this thread.

He was great. He didn't do "I'm A Little Dinosaur" however. The youtube made me want to see him do that so bad.

is the original modern lovers the only big proto punk act with all members still alive not to ever reform? wonder if it'll ever happen. saw that arthur russell doc a week ago and it had the bass player in it, looking healthy and hale.

I last saw him (with Tommy Larkins of course) about 6 months ago and it was as great as ever. He alwasy focusses on newer material with about a quarter of the show being older stuff or crowd pleasing classics. A great thing about Jonathan live is the connection he makes with the audience, which is quite unlike what most performer can acheive. He does with his conversational presentation and by playing quite quietly, stepping away from the microphone and playing his guitar unamplified a lot of the time. It's almost like watching your friend play the guitar in his living room. Tommy uses brushes or those pom-pom things a lot and barely touches his drums. This was in a venue for about 1,000 and you could hear a pin drop. He even asked for the AC to be turned off because it was too loud. Sometimes it's like a party but this last show was quite hypnotic, with a lot of the songs getting extended instrumental sections where Tommy and Jonathan found a groove and just stayed in it.

By the way, I've seen him probably 15 times over the last 20 years and he's NEVER played "I'm a Little Dinosaur" :-(

yeah my fave thing about seeing him has always been the guitar playing! he's really good -- not something that always comes across on the records.

i just wish he would fucking come to austria... or at least to europe..

I haven't seen him in a while but he has his schtick down so well and is such a fantastic guitar player and performer I can't really imagine he's gotten worse over the last few years. I've never seen him do "I'm a Little Dinosaur" either. (I have seen him do "Roadrunner" and "Pablo Picasso", both of which were kinda shocking)

My favorite record, apart from the Modern Lovers one, is "Modern Lovers '88" - really beautiful, low-key, casual record.

yeah he's got a lot of gems strewn across his career. he probably needs a well-chosen box set or something (i know he 's got several "best ofs") ...

The gf was doing some travel for him and she asked him, in passing, if he'd write an autograph for a fan she knew. He said yes but she thought, 'He'll never remember, whatevs.' Two weeks later she got the autograph. He'd forgotten or misplaced the name but it was an original and sincere sentiment written down, not just a signature nor boilerplate.

I saw him in '84 in London, opening for Orange Juice. Good show.

I saw him in '84 in London, opening for Orange Juice. Good show.

Gah that's awesome. So jealous.

Every once in a while I like to pop on Roadrunner when I am heading to Stop and Shop. It's like having my own personal narrator.

maybe one day i'll be dignified

^^^nice

He even asked for the AC to be turned off because it was too loud.
Ha! When I saw him a couple weeks ago, he asked that the fans be turned off for the same reason. We were on the third floor of a converted clothing mill (The Narrows in Fall River, Mass.) on a steamy night and he apologized profusely for making us sweat.
Then he complained about the bad vibes in the room because there seemed to be a "moat" between him and the audience. He asked everyone to move their seats closer and then, when informed they were church pews that couldn't be budged, told everyone to sit down in front of him like it was a campfire performance.
It was a pretty memorable night. Lots of kids came with their parents. One of them — he couldn't have been more than 3 — kept yelling out for "New England." Finally, his dad brought him right up to the stage between songs to ask Jonathan directly. Jonathan leaned over and politely thanked the little boy for coming. He never did play the song.

i need to see him again, it's been four or five years. has anyone heard any of these somewhat newly discovered modern lovers live boots? http://jojofiles.blogspot.com/2007/11/more-unreleased-modern-lovers-from-1971.html http://jojofiles.blogspot.com/2007/10/great-71-recordings-found.html

Seeing him next week in a small club in Providence. Hope he sings "My Affected Accent," which is probably my favorite JR song now. BTW, this might be the worst concert review I've ever read:
Jonathan Richman: More charismatic than musical, but that’s fine with me

Here is what really blew my mind: there were roughly 70 people at the show. There were no opening bands to pre-sell tickets, this show was all Richman. This guy isn’t local or well known, or even all that good. As far as I could tell, people where drawn to him by his sheer charisma.

jesus christ

there's really no excuse for reading local-paper concert reviews

http://jacksonville.com/files/imagecache/avatar/pictures/picture-16475.jpg

I wonder what his band sounds like

probably sounds a little bit like his hair

Kid looks like he was born right before "There's Something About Mary" came out, but still. He could have at least Googled Jonathan's name.

Richman was by no means a great guitar player

??? He's an excellent guitarist!

yeah his schtick is charming/cutesy but if you watch what he's doing on the guitar its pretty flabbergasting. dude knows his chords inside and out

He can play lead and rhythm at the same time, always impresses me that

yeah he's an awesome guitar player.

does he mainly play acoustic these days? I remember seeing him in the 90s, and he kinda shredded on electric a few times, in his own way.

Here you go: Clayton Bush's myspace:

http://www.myspace.com/claytonbush

that is the most idiotic review of all time

we have a winner

If I put on what I perceive to be a mediocre show with my own band, it eats at me for weeks. Maybe I’m overly self-conscious and resort to tearing other people down to make myself feel better. Or, maybe I’ve been taking the wrong approach by agonizing over tight harmonies and solid grooves. One thing I learned from Richman is that musical excellence doesn’t equal audience entertainment.

Musicianship can and does take a back stage to showmanship. Concert goers are music lovers, but today anybody can hear anything they want anywhere they want any time they want.

would like to subscribe to yr newsletter intresting ideas

taking the wrong approach by agonizing over tight harmonies and solid grooves.

GOP slogan for the '08 election IIRC

concert goers=music lovers

FYI

http://www.claytonbush.com/fr_index.cfm

Or, maybe I’ve been taking the wrong approach by agonizing over tight harmonies and solid grooves.
seems like this concert made Clayton look deep into his douchey soul

in other words, what the writer seems to be saying (and it sounds like he has a plethora of anecdotal evidence to back him up) is that people who go to concerts--and these can be art punks, hippie types, electroclash nerds and Viking drinking chant aficionados, you know, it takes all types: these people who go to concerts actually like to listen to music. this shouldn't come as a surprise, actually: like all people, really, who enjoy things, these music people enjoy the things they enjoy by experiencing them in real life, as it's happening. it's a remarkable observation.

With emphasis added:

If *I* put on what *I* perceive to be a mediocre show with *my* own band, it eats at *me* for weeks. Maybe *I’m* overly self-conscious and resort to tearing other people down to make *myself* feel better. Or, maybe *I’ve* been taking the wrong approach...

clayton bush: is this guy a class fucking act or what?

(he's seriously probably 18 years old, isn't he?)

somebody get this kid a job at pfork

it's true that there is something beyond musicianship that makes richman's concerts great experiences, and he does have a certain kind of (anti-?) showmanship. but these aren't bad things. and they don't imply a LACK of musicianship or great music full stop.

he's a consummate showman imho

also in a weird way what this clayton mcbush guy is saying is not worlds away from what dan perry says about richman (upthread?)--that it seems like a cult who uncritically adores everything he does and is incomprehensible to the uninitiated. i don't agree obviously. i took my girlfriend--not a big jonathan richman man--and she adored him. and read jess's post that started this whole thread.

also i would seriously see j. richman in concert every few months if such a thing were possible. can't imagine getting tired of this dude.

I can't think of that many musicians who can captivate an audience by just dancing around and clapping - James Brown. Michael Jackson. Its a pretty narrow list.

my gf doesn't give two shits about Jonathan Richman or his legacy or anything but she loves his live show

gf? wtf we've been married for 5 years

hahaha

my mistress doesn't give two shits about Jonathan Richman or his legacy or anything but she loves his live show ... my wife, on the other hand ....

she's still yr gfriend

that's ok, amateurist's girlfriend is apparently a man?

aw that's sort of sweet--thinking your wife is still your girlfriend. bodes well for the marriage (honestly).

xpost

shit, cat's out of the bag.

(i meant to type "fan," not "man." yeah. that's what i meant to type.)

also i would seriously see j. richman in concert every few months if such a thing were possible. can't imagine getting tired of this dude.
THIS

Really kicking myself for missing him @ teh Continental a couple weeks back. Also not happy about sharing a real-life first name w/that douche "critic."

My Jonathan Richman collection consists of just the first Modern Lovers album. It took me a while to love it but now I do especially Dignified & Old and Hospital.

Any recommendations for where to go next? I checked him out on amazon, his albums could do with being reissued especially the second and third Modern Lovers albums which are going for quite a lot.

I've always wanted to get some more of his albums as Eddie from Art Brut names him as a major influence and I'm kind of obsessed with them.

Jonathan Sings is one of my faves ...

the post-Jerry Harrison/David Robinson/Ernie Brooks incarnations of the Modern Lovers bear little to no resemblance to the first album. Richman pretty much abandoned the motorik beat/VU obsession in favor of 50s doo-wop sorta structures and melodies (altho this is quite deceptive, there is usually quite a lot going on in his songs). Of the ones I've heard I like Modern Lovers '88 the best, (with Jonathan Sings! a close second) but there's classic stuff on pretty much all his 80s material. They're like an alternate universe of american pop, really clever and gorgeous in their sorta stripped-down way. They all have a casual, house party feel to them. Ed's Redeeming Qualities was clearly taking notes, among others...

This comp my friend put together is kind of a good intro to his post-Roadrunner days: http://doomandgloomfromthetomb.tumblr.com/post/371399670/songs-of-innocence-experience-jonathan-richman
It doesn't have actual album tracks, just random live/television appearances, but it gives a good idea of his style ...

I'm a rabid fan and for me the best album by Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers is "Jonathan Sings", followed by "Rockin' and Romance" followed by "It's Time For Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers". Those ones have the benefit of a full band, backing singers, great songs, good recording quality etc. The rest are pretty good too but have their patchy moments. "Rock'n'Roll with the MLs" is poorly recorded in my opinion and is the worst, but I know others disagree about that.

About 2 years ago, I had the TV on and sesame street happened to be on, and one segment actually used a Jonathan Richman song. It was a song that I hadn't heard, but it reminded me how much I love him. His 80s albums stand up well -- especially the production which weren't 80s-ized at all; no easy feat.

Whenever someone tries to play Beat Happening, I can't listen to it. It just seems like exactly what Jonathan Richman does, but worse.

I saw him live last year of college 07-08. That was a good year for concerts in Athens, GA. I think I saw Sloan and Nada Surf at that same venue. Sloan was probably the best of the 3 with their amazing song request collage for the encore. But I was sort of drinking for all 3 concerts and I can't remember the specifics of any of them, just that they were all great.

I don't have nearly all his albums to know which are best, but I really adore I, Jonathan

Also rep for I, Jonathan, I think my favorite after the 1st incarnation of Modern Lovers. Also re that review - he is a great singer, esp. these days.

Well in the last month since I asked for recommendations on this thread I've bought a few of his albums.

Rock n Roll with the Modern Lovers and the second album were the first ones I found which are pretty good. Then I went for I, Jonathan and Jonathan Sings! which are just incredible, I have been playing them both a lot over the last week.

I've ordered Modern Lovers 88. Rock & Romance and It's Time For the Modern Lovers would be my next choices to get but I'll have to add those to my rare overpriced vinyl list or just get bootlegs/downloads of them for now.

I already asked this in another thread about him but are any of his solo albums worth getting? I've ready so many mixed reviews of just about all of them apart from I, Jonathan.

Of course they are worth getting. He was practically a solo act from the time of Jonathan Sings anyway - he'd just assemble a bunch of musicians and friends to act as the Modern Lovers for a while.

I'm not very familiar with his last four solo albums but I think I have all the previous ones. They are all good. The self-titled one is kinda weak and I'd avoid that. "Having a Party with Jonathan Richman", "I, Jonathan" and "You Must Ask The Heart" are all great. Those would be my first picks. Mostly performed with good musicians with a couple of solo guitar numbers per album. "Jonathan Goes Country" is a full-on guitar album with retakes of some of his earlier songs like The Neighbours and Corner Store which are great. The Spanish album is a novelty which you can ignore.

His more recent albums have not been as enjoyable in my opinion. He tends to re-record two or three old songs per albums, plus the tone of his lyrics doesn't appeal to me the way his earlier one do. Instead of being confidently independent and declarative he can sound whiny and self-centred. And I don't think his tunes are as good either.

And don't ignore Modern Lovers '88 - it's good vintage Jonathan too.

Sorry, when I said "Jonathan Goes Country" was a guitar album, I meant to say, country album, with slide guitars, songs about horses etc.

Duh. I meant to say "Back In Your Life". You said you'd ordered '88.

Xpost. ILM pays me $9.99/year to point out whenever necessary that Rockin and Romance is available here:

http://www.twintone.com/projects/8558.html

It is a regular CD in every respect other than the cover art.

I'm a massive Jo Jo fan. Have everything he's done. 'Rockin' & Romance' and the other 80's Rough Trade albums are excellent. Sad that their so out of print.

Fave albums for me would probably be 'Back in Your Life' and 'Having a Party' but I'm sure I'd pick out a different one every day. I absolutely adore 'Now is better than Before' and 'I' just beginning to live' from 'Rockin' & Romance'.

Duh. I meant to say "Back In Your Life". You said you'd ordered '88.

― everything, Friday, March 12, 2010 11:09 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark

Yeah 88 should be with me early next week. I wasn't sure about Back In Your Life I'd seen some not so great things written about it but I'll get that one ordered too.

I think Jonathan Sings is the one to beat. I just played it again and I'm just loving it so much. It has a really great sound to it, it really suits him having the female backing vocals. In the sleeve notes it say's he isn't a massive fan of the album himself, he likes the band but hates his vocals and the production.

Xpost. ILM pays me $9.99/year to point out whenever necessary that Rockin and Romance is available here:

http://www.twintone.com/projects/8558.html

It is a regular CD in every respect other than the cover art.

― dlp9001, Saturday, March 13, 2010 12:55 AM (17 hours ago) Bookmark

Thanks for the tip (also in the other thread) I'm one of those people that still wants to own the actual album before downloading or getting it any other way. I think i would rather fork out for the vinyl than paying for a CD copy even if it is close to owning the real thing.

It's really annoying, I think I just pick bands to get into that have rare back catalogues to make it hard for myself (see also The Cardiacs)

Twin Tone also has the excellent Yung Wu record -- I think it's the only place you can get it (other than used record stores ...) Kind of fun to see how much those records sold.

Xpost. ha-ha. Fortunately I'm blessed with a huge collection of Jonathan and Cardiacs spread across ridiculous amounts of formats. I have actually found the 80s era Modern Lovers albums to be quite easy to find in second hand, but that probably depends on where you live. Back in You Life starts off with a pretty weak song (Abdul and Cleopatra) but then the rest of it is solid. I always consider it to be a companion piece to Modern Lovers Live - it has the same killer line-up - Asa, Leroy and D.Sharpe and the tone of the songs is similar - some uptempo dance numbers with great backing harmonies (and some of that conversational stuff where Jonathan asks the Modern Lovers what they think), a couple of faux-naive numbers, a great rock'n'roll cover of "Lover Please" and a sprinkling of his more sincere/confessional material.

Regarding the female backing vocals - Jonathan likes to use his backing vocalists as foils and when he's singing with women that can often work really well. I think that Jonathan Sings and Rockin and Romance are the only ones where there is female backing vocalists all over the place but there's a sprinkling throughout the catalogue. The Neighbours has some great dynamic. Her sarcastic response to Jonathan's explanations is just classic. Also, "Just Because I'm Irish" from You Must Ask The Heart which has Julia Sweeney is pretty great.

I'm incredibly jealous of you right now. I live in the UK where the second hand record shops are really struggling. I've asked in quite a a few shops recently about about both The Cardiacs and Jonathan Richman, Most reactions have been no chance mate!

I can't believe up until a few years ago you could get Cardiacs records in shops and on their website and now they go for over 60 pounds. I just got a copy of The seaside through the post today, which is great.

Anyway back to Jonathan Richman. I'm bidding on Back In Your LIfe on Ebay now. I'm not quite rich enough to bid on the one copy of Rockin and Romance that's 85 pounds.

The Neighbors is probably my favourite song of his at the moment. I love how both the versions of That Summer Feeling are really different but both equally amazing.

Holy Shit. Eighty five quid? That's ridiculous. Especially with the Twin/Tone version available for a tenner. Both these artists need comprehensive box-set makeovers right now. BIYL is one I have not seen around much. I don't have it on vinyl - I have had the cassette for about 20 years and thankfully found a CD of it more recently. I think I mentioned upthread that there's a great version of The Neighbours on Jonathan Goes Country which is killer, but there's a third rendition on his Spanish album (like I said, not essential).

Yeah it's one of those buy it now jobs so no-one is going to ever bid on it. They are pretty much wasting their time and...well mine!

So yeah if anyone has any spare copies they would like to sell of that or It's Time for the Modern lovers or can just point me to somwhere that might have them on vinyl, I would be so grateful.

If your really liking 'Jonathan Sings' I'm pretty sure you'll love 'Rockin' n Romance', it has similar production and, to me, a stronger set of songs all round. That's crazy it's selling for so much now. I even think I have two copies, I might be able to help you out. I managed to find all the Jonathan LP's a few years back. Think the one I most struggled with was the 'I'm so confused' album.

'Back in Your Life' is essential. 'Affection' is one of my favourite Jonathan songs.

Totally forgot to mention the self titled album earlier. It might actually be the best of the LP's for me. Some outstanding songs on there i.e 'Micicals Will Start to Happen', 'A Mistake for Me' and 'Closer'. That album has some of Jonathan's best guitar playing.

Just had a look and it's 'It's Time For the Modern Lovers' that I have two copies of, not 'Rockin' n Romance'.

Does anyone know if 'Havin a Party', 'You Must Ask the Heart' and 'I, Jonathan' ever got a vinyl release?

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4021/4585196011_5180679db6_o.jpg

looool

class fucking act

I am seeing him in two days, seriously anticipating.

He is right on about the 4 seasons.

I see he's at the Casbah in San Diego in two weeks. Sounds like a magical night, love him and that place so much. Last thing I heard that moved me: "Time Has Gone By So Fast." All-time favorite: "You Must Ask the Heart."

He is right on about the 4 seasons.

― Band Fag X (u s steel)

i think i know what that letter is in response to... a review of a bryan ferry album by dave marsh, right?

funny--i've been listening to jonathan richman nonstop today.

ok that was great.

anyone heard him do this newer version of "Old World"? probably the most radical rewrite i've ever heard an artist do for a song, the new version is a total rejection/kissoff of the old world with its "secrecy, torture, and keeping women in their place". the line about "I still love my parents" is gone, and it seems like whatever reactionary value the old song had in the early 70's isn't worth including anymore.

also A+ for the closer about how depression is good and you need to sit by the stinky pond instead of going to the plexiglass apartment.

been listening to his latest LP a lot lately. i suppose it seems almost passé to praise a new jonathan richman album (does anyone buy his albums anymore?) but i quite like it.

i mean, it won't make any converts, but if you're willing to indulge him, it's quite moving.

the shambolic arrangements even have an artsy edge, which in a sideways sort of way returns him to his musical roots.

I for one will ALWAYS buy the new Jo Jo record.

I thought the last one was great, stronger than 'Her Mystery and Not of High Heels' and 'Not so much to be Loved as to Love'.

I thought it was great to hear him pick up the electric again, albiet very briefly.

i was just in a nostalgic mood (for the mid nineties, lol) and thought i would photograph this picture and stick it up here. he was sort of an asshole to my friends but was super nice to me and he held my hand a lot. this picture was in market square in knoxville, tn. he had arrived in town early for my friend to interview him and we got to chill for a while...

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs058.snc4/35253_10150214895280076_846520075_13710560_2172710_n.jpg

awwww. when is that from? 1990s?

you must have a disorder that prevents you from reading parantheticals!

This is Steve Shasta btw.

rockin' and romance is, right now, my favourite jr album. the new one is good too.

Not sure if he's a class act, but have you guys heard this?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjEtJ0T61SQ

I thought it was someone doing a Modern Lovers-era Jonathan impression at first.

it was a 2008 vinyl only single. as you might expect it's pretty fun live.....going by reports :-( should have been included on Because Her Beauty is Raw and Wild tbh. and it's bside is another version of when we refuse to suffer, itself a good song. not sure if it's got the wonderful electric guitar the 2nd version has though. fun live version of when we refuse: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ds33tuGRE64

elsewhere, 'i have come out to play' is actually the greatest song ever. sorry hey jude.

this is great - Jonathan Richman Reads A Poem For MOJO
http://soundcloud.com/mojomagazine/jonathan-richman-reads-a-poem
"Yes it feels strange. Yes it feels strange."

this guy is a class fucking act.

still got the moves despite his advancing years (either "old, almost forty" or "almost fifty") too.

he played 'old world' and 'girlfriend', has he been doing more of the old stuff lately or did i just get lucky?

i heard him do "girlfriend" a few years back, never heard "old world"... even though the approach of the original modern lovers stuff is different, not like a lot of those songs wouldn't fit into his set...

I haven't seen him in at least a decade but he would occasionally break out Roadrunner, Old World, Pablo Picasso when I saw him several times in the late 90s/00s. Altho he was equally inclined to just play Sex Machine for half an hour.

i have a ticket to see him tomorrow which i had been trying to get rid of because i have other commitments, but now i'm considering just slipping out of those hopefully unnoticed...

new song 'bohemia' is a lot of fun, has a feeling more akin to the 70s and 80s stuff than to the last few albums

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rh0_0XJ7PSM

as is his way, Jonathan re-wrote and re-recorded Old World for the 2008 album (don't remember the album name currently) so that's probably been a bit of a regular lately. He does a fair amount of Modern Lovers stuff really. There always seems to be at least one Modern Lovers song a night. It's the 1976 to about 1986 stuff that gets ignored, unless he's re-wrote and re-recorded it (Vincent Van Gough)

iirc what I just said is pretty much said by him here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjpuUNqCZQ8 but i'm not in a position to watch that right now

The Modern Lovers had a rhythm section
― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Monday, November 17, 2003 11:42 PM (8 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

the entire city of Olympia doesn't
― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Monday, November 17, 2003 11:44 PM (8 years ago

yeesh

Other than having a catchy chorus, "Bohemia" doesn't strike me as being that far removed from the stuff on the last couple of albums. He's definitely developed a more abstract style of songwriting.

"heathercroall ‏ @heathercroall
I was standing up front right next to Nick Cave as Jonathan Richman sang about being pretentious and finding the Door to Bohemia. too funny"

So when Nick Cave attends a Jonathan Richman concert, do you think Jonathan recognizes Nick?

i really have no idea how aware or tapped in Richman is to people like that who you might consider his peers or at least familiar to most of his fanbase

Is Nick looking at Jonathan and thinking,"Is this guy a class fucking act or what?"

Can't help but hear the title of this thread being spoken by the voice of Mike Damon from Fast Times at Ridgemont High

went to the Union Chapel gig last night and I can confirm that he is the fucking classest of acts.

saws him last night in berlin in the festsaal kreuzberg. it was packed and i sweated a lot. just him and a drummer. a very short set, only about one hour and three short encores. but i don't remember having smiled as much at any concert before. he finished with the song where the mind gets asked about love, can't handle the question and directs the asker to the heart. somehow he reminds me a lot of neil young, the same kind of innocence, the same kind of realness.

sp: i saw him last night...

it's funny how much of this guy's oeuvre was 20-30 years ahead of its time with the de rigeur hipster-lifestyle topics - organic farming, hating cars, locavore foods etc

i dunno if he was that ahead of the curve on caring about those things, but he was definitely ahead of the curve in thinking "hey i can write a song about this" about lots of things he writes about

Wow, Jess. Your opening post here is fan-fuckin'-tastic! It so perfectly evokes the feeling of being really truly surprisingly into something you "should" dislike, and that's one of my favorite things--and something you can never ever plan for.

i saw richman live for the first time within a year of this thread being started (but don't think i had seen it then) and jess really does sum up really well why he's one of my favorite live acts ever.

he was definitely ahead of the curve in thinking "hey i can write a song about this" about lots of things he writes about

writing a song about how awesome the local falafel stand is, for example, fits right into today's indie landscape - but I can't think of anybody doing that kind of thing besides him back then.

I've been on a "backfill" with the Bezerkley albums, I only had the first one for ages. Now I have up to the live one.

saw him a couple of months ago and he was great, I could just listen to his song introductions by themselves. loved his whole rap about apologizing to the moon for the way all of our artificial light competes w/"her", and the version of "Old World" that he does nowadays is spine-tingling.

Bezerkely albums are all really solid

I'm a bit of a Jonathan obsessive. Own all his albums, mostly on vinyl. Those Rough Trade released 80's LP's that have never really been available on CD are absolute corkers. I'm also a big fan of the 1989 'Jonathan Richman' and 'Having a Party With Jonathan Richman' albums as well; some of his best electric guitar playing.

Have seen him many times, but not in a decade or more. Not in this century in fact. Maybe next month.

Jonathan does not have a computer and does not like to do interviews but he responded via hand-written poems on paper to 2 questions from a writer(musician) who works for the Washington Post. Jonathan is gonna be in DC tonight

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/going-out-guide/wp/2013/02/21/jonathan-richman-wrote-me-a-poem-no-really/

and the answer comes again: a class fucking act

tbh I never really noticed how much he uses Dr. Seuss cadences before

saw jonathan this weekend! or er, the last half of his show -- i couldn't get down to denver until about 10 and apparently richman starts shows on time. but what i did see was aces, turning one of the diviest colfax bars (really not worthy of the dude) into a perfect setting. the last song was "her mystery not of high heels and eyeshadow" which turned into this beautiful free associating thing...almost van morrison-ish? weird comparison, but that's what it made me think of. a class fucking act!

picked up a copy of "Modern Lovers "Live!"" (1977) on which Jonathon flaunts some kind of puffy shirt and pencil mustache. More than any other record, this seems to be where the childlike/naif persona stuff got cemented. It's something he's toyed with on and off since ("Not Yet 3" etc.) but man nearly every song on here sounds like it was written by a little kid - airplanes, dinosaurs, insects, etc. Not a bad record in all but more one-note than some of his later 80s records, which I like way more.

I used to play that for my my kid

I just found a copy of that record two weeks ago and it made me so happy, "I'm A Little Airplane" is really intense in terms of the rhythm/delivery even with all its goofiness

i like, “I do not accept messages transmitted via cell phones":

http://www.todayszaman.com/news-343832-jonathan-richman-vs-commonwealth-of-massachusetts.html

http://radiovalencia.fm/waxcracklepop/2014/03/03/wax-crackle-pop-show-15-special-guest-jonathan-richman-helps-celebrate-lous-birthday/
great VU stories / music / thoughts from jonathan.

Was reading this on the subway when I heard somebody say something like "I walked four blocks to your house" and I looked up and around to see if Jojo was there.

Interview on Michael Shelley's show on WFMU today. Shelley says "it's wasn't my best work but it was interesting."

i paid homage to this thread's title in print this week: http://www.citypaper.com/music/short-list/bcp-the-short-list-dillon-francis-jonathan-richman-say-anything-more-20141118,0,1146964.story

I don't think Jojo himself what approve of the cussing.

Michael just described the interview once more and is playing one more tune before he actually airs it. Jojo kind of evasive, pretending he doesn't understand questions. Sounds typical to me, looking forward to it.

this is adorable

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qYbrxe_nKM

backstory and description of that tape (but so glad it's all in one download on the Tube; so tired of big o track by track and rename em all and put each one in new folder whiiiiine) http://bigozine2.com/roio/?p=1481

Thanks for that. Not sure I realized before the similarity of "Government Center" to "I Think We're Alone Now."

I didn't realize it until now!

More JR on Big O:
Vinyl Rarities (tracks from various shows)
http://bigozine2.com/roio/?p=2295

Brooklyn 2010
http://bigozine2.com/roio/?p=462

The Lost Album
http://bigozine2.com/roio/?p=164

cool, I didn't know about that lost album, and the early '80s is one of my favorite eras for him

Doesn't look like the Top of the Pops clips have been posted on here before. I just saw this for the first time:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Im1NQm57wws

OK, it's not Top of the Pops! It's a Dutch show called TopPop.

Never saw that will take a look. Think I actually did see a Top of the Pops video once for one of the alternate, later "Roadrunner" takes.

Just got home from his show here in Durham, NC on the Duke campus. It was wonderful. If you like him at all, and you've never seen him play before, and you get a chance to, you should take it.

Ishkode! Ishkode!: Jonathan Richman’s first new album in five years

Have not heard this yet

it has terrible distribution!

i've heard it, it's good!

It is good, and it does have terrible distribution. Not sure if the no-digital thing was part of the plan or if they just don't care

richman is pretty anti-internet, i don't even think he does email.

all his shit has been terribly distributed since, like, forever. the one exception being that album that came out after TSAM

it's not even on amazon. or in my local record store. you kind of have to buy it from the label (which is a tiny label run by a guy who has a record store in cleveland; i don't think they've signed any other artists).

i get the feeling that richman is either totally ignorant of, or more likely, totally indifferent to the record industry. i'm not sure that his albums are afterthoughts per se (certainly his /songwriting/ is not an afterthought) but the actual distribution of them is obviously not foremost on his agenda.

similarly, he seems positively sanguine about the fact that the majority of his old records (most of the ones not on rounder) are out of print. but i don't think it's helped his legacy. imagine deluxe editions of his 80s records, for example, would get a fair bit of press for him.

but oh well, he's jojo! he just does his artisanal masonry stuff a few months out of the year, and tours w/ tommy larkin the rest of the time. don't think he gives much of a shit about the rest of it.

i missed his closest concerts this time out. but i saw him on his last two tours--the last one not even supporting a record IIRC.

he was still great the last time i saw him two or three years ago. but yeah, i think he reallllly does not care about the business side of things. he could easily have the profile of at least someone like robyn hitchcock, but even that tiny level of cult fame must be unappealing to him.

I don't blame him really. He's a great live show, great songwriter, great player, good for him for just focusing on the stuff he likes to do.

yeah, it's totally refreshing really -- I hope he makes enough dough to just keep doing it his way. (though yeah, i wouldn't mind reissues, or a nice box set or something)

Saw him for like the 5th time live last night. It definitely had its great moments but this may have been the first time I was a tad disappointed. A short gig-an hour, and he raced through some cuts--"That Summer Feeling" and started and stopped others quickly.

I liked his delivery though of "When We Refuse to Suffer," "Take Me to the Plaza at 2 am"(not sure of the exact title), and “As My Mother Lay Lying"

No merch for sale at the show. He strolled onstage in a winter coat carrying his acoustic guitar in its case. He threw down the coat on the stage, opened the case and started strumming. I was told he likes to take the train from town to town when he can. He said he doesn't have a tv and doesn't like having one in his hand.

He encouraged the crowd to clap and dance and said "I don't do concerts, Beethoven does concerts (and he does them well)."

Saw him on this tour, too. Wasn't utterly moved the way I have sometimes been in the past, but I was charmed as always, and as always I left feeling like I understood him and his world view a little better. I teared up a little at "As My Mother Lay Dying," too.

Paramahansa Yogananda composition on the new album.

He made a vague yoga mention at the show I saw

huh never noticed this before for some reason

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVfCOfh_7VE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdZAQwIMx7k

He played near us the night of the San Bernardino shootings. There was just a heaviness in the air and going to see him play in a Costa Mesa strip mall seemed like the right thing to do. 34 years of going to gigs and somehow I'd never seen him before or even made note of the albums after than one with "Velvet Underground" on it.

At first I was freaked out. Jonathan sounded depressed! He moped. I thought of Margaret Keene paintings. He interrupted songs with a routine about not wanting to go back to an earlier time. His eyes bugged out unsettlingly. He sang in French and Arabic about Van Gogh and I was overcome with this feeling that I (as an audience member) really didn't want to disappoint Jonathan Richman. After about twenty minutes of this he broke and in that unmistakable voice, shouted to someone in the back of the room "HEY, IS THAT BAG OF FRIES STILL THERE? LEMME HAVE THOSE FRIES." I think I was so caught in all the odd stories about him that not once did I consider that he's a master showman and works the crowd like a fucking pro. Great show. Definitely go see him if he passes through.

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/776/23494874812_c71702f28f_z.jpg

He also came on stage in the big coat and did the same routine with throwing down the coat, opening the case, and go. Couldn't tell you if it's all part of the act, but he definitely seems to have constructed his own space out of things. As noted upthread, he definitely seems indifferent to the business/marketing/hype cycle of the world.

haha that sounds fabulous. I can see how he would take on the local vibe of an evening to some degree, and work with it until he got it right.

how long has he been touring w/ tommy larkin? must be over 20 years now.

No, not as long as that but still TOO LONG! Wish he'd put together a little and and tour. He got really unambitious after There's Something About Mary.

I think he's been playing with him like 23 years, actually, but I don't know if that was all duo?

there's about zero chance that jonathan richman is going to get a band together.

He has grown very complacent it is true.

yeah, but he's retirement age, so it's OK.

he's a master showman and works the crowd like a fucking pro

otm

He got really unambitious after There's Something About Mary

tbf it's probably hard to go more ambitious than Major Role as Singing Narrator in Hollywood Blockbuster. then again he had been doing the stripped down music thing for decades by then.

maybe it's more ambitious to not do the easy thing and just slap together a band that runs through Roadrunner every night.

last saw JR in Athens at the 40 watt club and the experience was a lot like described above. most charming performer i have ever seen.

I've seen him with a band inside the last 20 years, but I couldn't peg a date to it …

August 96, it turns out.

what was it, drums and bass?

wait you're saying richman did a drum'n'bass album in the 1990s??

yeah a collab with µ-Ziq iirc

maybe it's more ambitious to not do the easy thing and just slap together a band that runs through Roadrunner every night.

Ok, forget about the first Modern Lovers album. I'm with Jonathan in that don't rate it that highly. And I don't have a problem with him performing solo, or with Tommy on drums - I've paid money many, many times for just that, but I'm not gonna pretend that I'm seeing the best Jonathan Richman show. He was a much better performer in the 70s and 80s than now, and one of the reasons is because he was writing songs that involved other people in their performance. Yeah he's a charming performer, but even more charming were the harmonies and the call and response thing that formerly featured in so many of his songs. Often his performances sound mawkish and self-indulgent. Every song ends the same way (by softly singing the title) and a big chunk of his repertoire hasn't changed since the 90s. Let's not pretend he's doing anything edgy.

edgy is overrated

ive never looked for edginess in the music of jonathan richman

Keep meaning to pause this summer feeling set, but not yet not yet (from the Burger Boogaloo, or something like that, last year in Oakland; 39 minutes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4TjC20AOds

Now that's a band.

it's true that the early-mid 1980s was the high point for him, viz.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ta6EnFN48xk

There's so much wisdom, purity and personality in his current live act that I hadn't even considered the idea of him touring with a full band.

But it'd be interesting to see; even on the new record he's got a ton of backing singers all over his songs, and he has a lot of fun playing off of them. I kept hearing them in my head when he played "Let Me Do This Right" live (great song, btw).

xpost. Pretty much any live recordings from the Rockin' Robins period are essential!

absolutely class act

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbUYJfbZ-Qc

Nobel Prize one day surely.

last year's album has finally been put on the bandcamp they created for him the other month

https://jonathanrichman.bandcamp.com/

The ancient weird guy in his toga
Staff in hand
The ancient bearded guy doing yoga
On the sand

Really glad to get to hear Ishkode! Ishkode! all the way through and all the other recent material. It's a really good album, I think. I find what he has to say to still be very interesting and I love his musicality. The abstractness in his compositions has obviously gotten even more extreme.

From Bandcamp: JONATHAN RICHMAN DOES NOT USE THE INTERNET. ALL EMAILS WILL BE SENT TO BLUE ARROW RECORDS, HIS LABEL.

I wish I could say more than "I love his musicality." I suppose it's not the simplest thing to discuss. He's obviously exploring the use of very minimal melodic and harmonic materials more and using more dissonance. I live his voice as an improviser, too, in his singing and his playing.

*like*

Jonathan re-wrote and re-recorded Old World for the 2008 album

years late but ty for this, had no idea that new version was on an album. as I mentioned upthread, it floored me

New single:

https://jonathanrichman.bandcamp.com/album/penchant-for-the-stagnant-b-w-not-so-much-to-be-loved-as-to-love

Nice

:)

Old and New at the same time; so divine.

M. White!!! hail fellow well met

this guy is a class fucking act

Jerry Harrison plays on b-side!

Okay, now you’re speaking my language

have been enjoying the Action Packed compilation that's on Spotify and really this guy is just the classiest act

Took my 7 year old daughter to see him a while back. After the show she gave him a drawing of beavers partying at a dam and he was very appreciative and talked to her about the joys of drawing.

Klassy all the way.

Bit of a "Sister Ray" groove on the new one. (:

Weird keyboard drone even

I may have to travel to the states to see this guy

He used to tour elsewhere

makes sense, songs in French and Italian too... but seems he's only toured US the last 10 years?

I'm pretty sure I saw him in the UK in 2009

...so the Astral Weeks book has a long section on Jonathan & the Velvets.

xp aah ok, and now I see there was actually a 2012 euro tour as well

I guess I'll write him a letter

x-post--

I got the Astral Weeks book but haven't yet read the chapter on Jonathan & the Velvets. I saw the author do a book reading & talk. He said the Velvets played Boston a lot, and that young Jonathan sometimes was driving them around the city.

New album! Co-produced by Jerry Harrison who plays Mellotron, harmonium, and clavinet!

https://jonathanrichman.bandcamp.com/album/sa

Coool!!

what the hell?!

There was the Paramahansa Yogananda song on the last album. Eastern influence becoming much more prominent!

this is what the world needs now

i understand your dating bar ways

Can't go back to fainting couch and corsetry
Can't go back to pompadour and cummerbund

Saw Jonathan last night in Denver — still a class fucking act. A fair amount of vintage French and Italian poetry set to song.

He was doing the French and Italian a bit last time I saw him, plus a Sufi poem. My buddy wanted to see that Denver show but he said it was sold out by the time he tried to buy a ticket.

I plan on visiting the states with the sole purpose of seeing Jonathan

this is good
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6dBDc82om0

That was really great... until Andrew Bird's song at the end.

I really like the one Trouser Press article on him from back in the day.

From TP 44, November 1979

https://trouserpress.com/magazine-covers-5/

I mean of course it is really about the first few Modern Lovers incarnations but still.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9hYp3X76iE

Nice.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNh-IAXaB7I

That previous post is such an amazing clip. Bless all these UK/Euro shows that had amazing quality footage of these 60s/70s performances.

Also, I'm not sure I've ever seen Jojo with a Jazzmaster...?

Full set, apparently:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rm4bd7gYCRI

I guess he played a Jazzmaster right when he started.

Jonathan had a band with David Robinson, who was the drummer, and another guy named Rolf, who was playing bass, and they played these free shows on the Cambridge Commons. Jonathan had this blue Jazzmaster guitar with like two strings and had decorated it with the Howard Johnson’s decals. He had painted it light blue and orange like the Howard Johnson's colors—and almost all the songs he played were in E minor—it was very minimalist. "I see the restaurant. It is my friend" was a line from one of the songs.

Human race is justified in existing just for that performance of "I'm A Little Airplane" imo

otm

He was the last show I saw in early March before the shutdowns, w/ Bonnie Prince Billy opening.

wow jealous, cant think of a better last show to have seen before quarantine.

Love how that video of the full set starts with them bickering over how to start egyptian reggae

He has had a million guitars!

Right, his Wikipedia page has a long discussion about that.

Yeah, the opening bickering is priceless

I remember seeing him once, I think around the early years when he had started playing with Tommy, and he was still playing electric and had a fuzzbox for leads. It was one of those moments where you see him changing - I don't think that late '70s group would have used fuzzboxes!

Happy 70th birthday to the one who seems to habe found the secret to happiness.

Was supposed to see him (and Will Oldham) the day everyrhing shut down here in Rhode Island. Some day, again!

Wow, that means he was around my current age when I saw him play in college (and he seemed like an “old dude,” ha ha).

"Sa" is really great and worth a listen, that's all I got here

Is he still living in San Francisco?

Radio on!.

love seeing a couple songs from "jonathan goes country" on your list, alfred. "you're crazy for taking the bus" is stone cold classic for me.

Somewhat bizarrely, someone booked a festival slot claiming to be JR; the scam was exposed when a radio station reached out for an interview.

Ha, I was thinking that it might be fun, but challenging, to try to imitate Richman's voice. Then this, from the article:

"I just heard of your wonderful festival, and (it) sounds like an ideal place for me to play someday," the musician wrote. "Did the guy who called you up manage to imitate my voice pretty good? If he did, you’ve got to hand it to him. Most people can’t do it."

Heh, I’d like to think I can imitate him pretty well but it wasn’t me this time.

Customers at Green Apple Books on Clement Street didn’t expect to find a man with a guitar wandering among the fiction and cooking sections as they shopped.
It was Independent Bookstore Day, which occurs annually on the last Saturday of April, so they assumed he may have been part of the festive ambiance. But once they got a closer look at him, they couldn’t believe who it really was — and why the legendary musician was playing an otherwise unadvertised gig in San Francisco.

https://www.sfgate.com/local/article/Jonathan-Richman-plays-surprise-SF-show-17140442.php

Visualizing Jonathan walking down the book store aisles with guitar in hand serenading customers . Yep would be great to see that.

https://cdn.quotesgram.com/img/30/25/1694698770-jonathan-richman3.jpg

https://dependableletterpress.com/jonathan-richman/

https://jojofiles.blogspot.com/2015/11/work-in-silence-jonathan-richman.html

DAMN I need a mason who does old-style, wish he lived around here (I couldn't afford to live around Frisco, wonder how he does, must be a helluva old-style stoneworker-mason, DAMN)

he lives in Chico!

Beginning in the fall of 2022, Onmivore Recordings began reissuing Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers’ original Beserkley catalog on both CD and LP, exactly as they were originally issued. Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers, Rock ’n’ Roll With The Modern Lovers, Modern Lovers ‘Live’, and Back In Your Life rolled back into the marketplace followed by the Sire Records release, Jonathan Sings!

Because that was a lot to grab in a short span of time, we’d like to help you get these releases, er, back in your life. Starting Wednesday, May 3 through Friday, May 5, we’re offering these five titles on both CD and LP for 50% off!

This is the perfect opportunity to pick up the titles you may have missed, or to surprise a friend who may not know you’re introducing them to what may become one of their all-time favorite artists at a super discount. (Plus, there are even a handful of Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers on limited edition orange vinyl!)

Here’s the catch: Titles are limited to stock on hand, so there are no back orders, but you can order as many copies per title as you’d like. Please don’t include pre-orders in your cart during the sale, as that will delay your shipment, and you’ll lose out on the 50% off deal!

So, don’t hesitate, as these titles will go fast. Faster than a Dodge Veg-O-Matic, faster than the Roller Coaster By The Sea or The Wheels On The Bus! Get That Summer Feeling a few months early, and complete your Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers collection Wednesday, May 3 through Friday, May 5!

That’s an absolute steal

what's the best one out of those?

all great, but Jonathan Sings might be my favorite out of all his records ...

yeah they all have their charms and at least 1-2 classics on each

Sorry to fanfic, but if this was a Rydodisk project circa green jewel case era 1991 there would undoubtedly be a compainion compilation of the best songs from all of these (which would rule). Sings! is by far the best, but "Back In My Life" is my favorite song from all of these.

Coincidentally, I've been listening to these records for the first time over the past several days. Just gave Jonathan Sings! my first listen this afternoon. "The Neighbors" cracked me up. "Important In Your Life" from the s/t and "Afternoon" from Rock 'n' Roll have been my other favorites so far.

Sings > Live > Rock n Roll > Back In Your Life > JR & TML

They’re all good, but Sings & Live are the classics out of this run. Live is seriously underrated and sometimes it’s my favorite thing he’s done. The never ending Ice Cream Man is sooooo good!

Rock n’ Roll has a really nice set of instrumentals.

Back In Your Life has my least favorite JR song, "Nature's Mosquito." I normally have a high tolerance for his cutesy stuff but the cloying quality to his singing on this one pushes it over the edge. "I Like Gumby" from a Gumby tribute album is also rough going.

Favorite tucked away song: "Our Dog Is Getting Older" from a various artists thing called Colours Are Brighter.

I'm a JR super fan and I've got just about everything there is to get, without collecting different cover variations and whatnot. One thing that has eluded me for a long time is an Academy Awards "for your consideration" promo CD. It contains instrumental music from How Stella Got Her Groove Back, Dr. Doolittle, and There's Something About Mary. The Jonathan Richman section contains:

There's Something About Mary
11. Mary Walks Down The Stairs 1:50
12. Theme... Tucker... Crutches 1:00
13. Ambulence 2:01
14. Herpes Sweet 0:56
15. Mary Sweet 1:49
16. Excellent News 0:22
17. Brett Faru 0:16
18. Jam - A Minor 2:19

I even wrote to the one person on Discogs that has this but they never wrote me back. I check periodically on Ebay but it's pretty hard to search for. You wind up with the individual soundtracks or a glut of For Your Consideration discs.

Yeah, from when he was produced by Ric Ocasek,right? "Let her go into the darkness..."

xp do you have that damn Penthouse live LP? it's eluded me twice on Discogs...

(if you do, plz YSI)

I didn't even know about that one! The only bootleg LP I have is Songs for Laura, which is pretty good.

Live is seriously underrated and sometimes it’s my favorite thing he’s done. The never ending Ice Cream Man is sooooo good!
Tell them, Cow_Art.

^Yep Live is the best, "The Morning of Our Lives" one of the most uplifting songs I know

I love Sings and the followup quit a bit because of the backing vocals. Jonathan paired with a female voice is really nice. "That Summer Feeling" is dreamy.

"Monologue About Bermuda" from Having A Party is very good, and has a great explanation for why his music shifted after recording The Modern Lovers. He plays a bit of "She Cracked" in it in a very self-mocking way.

People always mention moving to SF softened him, but I also wonder how much fatherhood fostered Jojo's stylistic shift.

I love Sings and the followup quit a bit because of the backing vocals. Jonathan paired with a female voice is really nice. "That Summer Feeling" is dreamy.

100%... this is the album I tend to favor, for the same reasons (not that I've heard 'em all, by any means)

(Sings, that is... will have to look up which is the follow-up)

The songs on Jonathan Sings! also have a certain degree of, I guess, "sophistication" that a lot of his other stuff is lacking for me... and I don't even mean that as a criticism, I'm just not into the really simple/silly songs as much.

If you mean shifting gears from The Modern Lovers VU style rock to what came immediately afterwards, that was way before he was a dad. Listen to Bermuda Monologue on youtube, he explains it better than I can. But the short of it is: OG Modern Lovers wound up at a miserable gig playing at a resort in Bermuda. It was not a good fit. But Jonathan heard some of the local guys music and realized how much more there was in terms of rhythm and tone; he realized that his band was stiff and rigid and he wanted to get away from that.

I love that first (not really an) album, but I’m happy he moved on.

This is one of those discussions that I'll be looking for two years from now and have no idea what thread it was in.

― Lily Dale, Sunday, February 25, 2024 8:32 PM

Post a controversial music opinion

Oh well, some prefer other genres to nasal voiced rocker gone acoustic singing alone .

Ya think?

And that's . . . OK.

And here's why

What wait did you say?

This is a brand new shirt!

Didn’t I just take this shirt out of the package, Modern Lovers?

yeah, yeah, yeah

dum de-dum-dum, de-dumma-dum day

Ohhhh, New England.

Little Kookenhagen is so damn sweet.

I didn't realize Bell House had four shows booked for him, and the first and last aren't sold out. Setlist.fm seems a bit incomplete for his recent shows, but is it worth going multiple nights on the same tour or is it pretty much the same show each night?

I would imagine there are significant differences, but have not put that to the test

I dream of flying to the US to see Jonathan some day

He used to play in London quite regularly in the 80s, at least. First time I saw him was the best - supporting JR & Modern Lovers supporting Orange Juice at the Hammersmith Palais. He hadn't actually been to the UK for a while at this point, and it was almost a 'comeback' gig - and he was absolutely full Jonathan, almost glowing with good vibes. He got a rapturous reception, and we were not alone in being there for him rather than the headliners. I rather regret we didn't stay for Orange Juice now, but we just didn't think ANYBODY could follow what we'd just seen.

I saw him on Glasgow years ago. It was the period when he used to have a mike set up at this feet to pick up the sound of him dancing. Don't know if he still does that. I also know people who hung out with him afterwards and said he was almost uncomfortably intense - maybe a post gig thing.

Pre-gig too iirc

I saw him in Brooklyn many, many ages ago. He was great, and I hooked up with someone who was massively out of my league, so technically it was the greatest show I've ever been to.

I was only able to catch tonight's show and it was amazing. He may be in his 70's, but between his voice and his dance moves, he seemed as youthful as ever. His face obviously looks older, but surprisingly as I watched him up close, he reminded me of Henry Fonda around the eyes - he has the same twinkle in them that Fonda carried into his 70's.

Anyway, thanks to the MTA, traveling there kind of sucked, so I made the most of it - loaded up on merch (got the last Modern Lovers T-shirt my size) and stuck around with a few fans who wanted to meet him afterwards. During the show, there was a guy with an eyepatch off to the side that looked like David Johansen - when Richman came out, that guy was with him, and I said out loud "you know, that guy looks like David Johansen," to which someone replied "he IS David Johansen." I didn't know they even socialized together so that was pretty mind-blowing. He went straight home but Richman hung around for a bit and was very sweet. Class act all the way.

Must've forgotten this - they played on the same bill once back in the day:

http://www.furious.com/perfect/newyorkdolls.html

One more detail, when someone asked him to sign a CD of Precise Modern Lovers Order (Live In Berkeley And Boston), he said "THIS album captures how we REALLY sounded," or something like that, and he repeated it with a bit more emphasis, so I'd take that as a very strong recommendation.

Indeed.

Must've forgotten this - they played on the same bill once back in the day:

http://www.furious.com/perfect/newyorkdolls.html🕸

was there last night as well. Jonathan was on fire. have seen him many times over the years, but that was near the top. his affection for the "old world" came up in recent discussion here. Jonathan is very much in the old world needs to go mode these days.

thanks for sharing your experiences

as I think I've stated many times already it's a big dream of mine to see him someday

not so likely to happen

so I enjoy these second hand reviews

I’ve seen him many times but haven’t been paying attention recently so am also appreciating the reviews