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.
― everything, Wednesday, 20 April 2016 19:59 (eight years ago) link
edgy is overrated
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 20 April 2016 20:03 (eight years ago) link
ive never looked for edginess in the music of jonathan richman
― trickle-down ergonomics (jim in glasgow), Wednesday, 20 April 2016 20:32 (eight years ago) link
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
― dow, Wednesday, 20 April 2016 23:05 (eight years ago) link
Now that's a band.
― dow, Wednesday, 20 April 2016 23:29 (eight years ago) link
it's true that the early-mid 1980s was the high point for him, viz.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ta6EnFN48xk
― wizzz! (amateurist), Thursday, 21 April 2016 19:11 (eight years ago) link
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).
― Evan R, Thursday, 21 April 2016 19:23 (eight years ago) link
xpost. Pretty much any live recordings from the Rockin' Robins period are essential!
― everything, Thursday, 21 April 2016 21:01 (eight years ago) link
absolutely class act
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbUYJfbZ-Qc
― niels, Friday, 14 October 2016 08:55 (seven years ago) link
Nobel Prize one day surely.
― (SNIFFING AND INDISTINCT SOBBING) (Tom D.), Friday, 14 October 2016 09:13 (seven years ago) link
last year's album has finally been put on the bandcamp they created for him the other month
https://jonathanrichman.bandcamp.com/
― Isi, Wednesday, 18 January 2017 12:44 (seven years ago) link
The ancient weird guy in his togaStaff in handThe ancient bearded guy doing yogaOn the sand
― AdamVania (Adam Bruneau), Saturday, 8 July 2017 14:52 (six years ago) link
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.
― timellison, Monday, 10 July 2017 00:09 (six years ago) link
From Bandcamp: JONATHAN RICHMAN DOES NOT USE THE INTERNET. ALL EMAILS WILL BE SENT TO BLUE ARROW RECORDS, HIS LABEL.
― smug dinner-jazz atrocity (Dan Peterson), Tuesday, 11 July 2017 21:56 (six years ago) link
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.
― timellison, Thursday, 13 July 2017 03:49 (six years ago) link
*like*
― timellison, Thursday, 13 July 2017 03:53 (six years ago) link
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
― sleeve, Thursday, 13 July 2017 04:07 (six years ago) link
New single:
https://jonathanrichman.bandcamp.com/album/penchant-for-the-stagnant-b-w-not-so-much-to-be-loved-as-to-love
― timellison, Wednesday, 23 May 2018 23:49 (five years ago) link
Nice
― curmudgeon, Thursday, 24 May 2018 03:56 (five years ago) link
:)
― Et Dieu crea l' (Michael White), Thursday, 24 May 2018 04:24 (five years ago) link
Old and New at the same time; so divine.
― bodacious ignoramus, Friday, 1 June 2018 16:56 (five years ago) link
M. White!!! hail fellow well met
― Οὖτις, Friday, 1 June 2018 17:07 (five years ago) link
this guy is a class fucking act
― niels, Friday, 1 June 2018 19:21 (five years ago) link
Jerry Harrison plays on b-side!
― Cow_Art, Friday, 1 June 2018 19:30 (five years ago) link
Okay, now you’re speaking my language
― omgneto and ittanium mayne (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 1 June 2018 20:02 (five years ago) link
have been enjoying the Action Packed compilation that's on Spotify and really this guy is just the classiest act
― niels, Wednesday, 13 June 2018 07:57 (five years ago) link
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.
― Cow_Art, Wednesday, 13 June 2018 09:55 (five years ago) link
Bit of a "Sister Ray" groove on the new one. (:
― timellison, Monday, 18 June 2018 17:34 (five years ago) link
Weird keyboard drone even
― timellison, Monday, 18 June 2018 17:40 (five years ago) link
I may have to travel to the states to see this guy
― niels, Monday, 30 July 2018 06:47 (five years ago) link
He used to tour elsewhere
― curmudgeon, Monday, 30 July 2018 12:46 (five years ago) link
makes sense, songs in French and Italian too... but seems he's only toured US the last 10 years?
― niels, Monday, 30 July 2018 16:17 (five years ago) link
I'm pretty sure I saw him in the UK in 2009
― lilcraigyboi (Craigo Boingo), Tuesday, 31 July 2018 06:14 (five years ago) link
...so the Astral Weeks book has a long section on Jonathan & the Velvets.
― that's not my post, Tuesday, 31 July 2018 06:19 (five years ago) link
xp aah ok, and now I see there was actually a 2012 euro tour as well
I guess I'll write him a letter
― niels, Tuesday, 31 July 2018 06:19 (five years ago) link
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.
― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 31 July 2018 12:54 (five years ago) link
New album! Co-produced by Jerry Harrison who plays Mellotron, harmonium, and clavinet!
https://jonathanrichman.bandcamp.com/album/sa
― timellison, Tuesday, 2 October 2018 15:30 (five years ago) link
Coool!!
― niels, Tuesday, 2 October 2018 15:31 (five years ago) link
what the hell?!
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 2 October 2018 15:39 (five years ago) link
There was the Paramahansa Yogananda song on the last album. Eastern influence becoming much more prominent!
― timellison, Tuesday, 2 October 2018 17:38 (five years ago) link
this is what the world needs now
― niels, Wednesday, 3 October 2018 07:56 (five years ago) link
i understand your dating bar ways
― reggie (qualmsley), Friday, 5 October 2018 22:56 (five years ago) link
Can't go back to fainting couch and corsetryCan't go back to pompadour and cummerbund
― timellison, Wednesday, 19 December 2018 04:29 (five years ago) link
Saw Jonathan last night in Denver — still a class fucking act. A fair amount of vintage French and Italian poetry set to song.
― tylerw, Sunday, 20 October 2019 15:01 (four years ago) link
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.
― curmudgeon, Monday, 21 October 2019 15:36 (four years ago) link
I plan on visiting the states with the sole purpose of seeing Jonathan
this is goodhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6dBDc82om0
― corrs unplugged, Friday, 15 May 2020 07:03 (three years ago) link
That was really great... until Andrew Bird's song at the end.
― Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Friday, 15 May 2020 17:56 (three years ago) link
I really like the one Trouser Press article on him from back in the day.
― How I Wrote Neuroplastic Man (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 4 June 2020 15:19 (three years ago) link
From TP 44, November 1979
― How I Wrote Neuroplastic Man (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 4 June 2020 15:20 (three years ago) link
https://trouserpress.com/magazine-covers-5/
― How I Wrote Neuroplastic Man (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 4 June 2020 15:21 (three years ago) link