MY MOST LOVED ALBUMS - Rock 'n' Roll With The Modern Lovers by Jonathan Richman - 1977

 On reflection someone like Jonathan Richman should not exist. But that he does, is a curious triumph of the will for the odd man out in humanity, for the lone outsider. He is gauche, full of sentimental whimsy, a love for the deliberately badly rhymed lyric, and a coy but mischievous sense of humour. But despite all of that, he is deadly serious about stripping rock 'n' roll back to its most basic original elements. The latter being the main reason for his ascendancy in the aftermath of punk.  

He is quite largely forgotten now. If you hear Egyptian Reggae you'll probably realise you've  heard this as a kid, but not know who it was by. Yet in his heyday a Jonathan Richman live performance could be the most uplifting joyful life enhancing thing you could ever imagine attending. He was fun, playfully childish, with a lot of tongue in cheek faux naivety, and was an innocent pleasure to spend a couple of hours with. More quite often, for at a Jonathan Richman concert the number of encore's became legendary. You fall in love with him, this unique individual, and simply surrender for a while into his quirky uncomplicated arms. 

Rock 'n' Roll With The Modern Lovers, from 1977, on first hearing, sounds as though it were recorded in someone's badly soundproofed garage, and eschews the use of any amplified instruments. All the four albums he recorded for Beserkley Records at this time are great in there own way, but this one, for me, captures the spirit and ethos of Richman's approach to music making to near perfection. Sometimes it reminds me of the youthful brio of early Beach Boys songs, if you take way the endless extolling of surfing or girls.. 

The subject matter of Richman's songs, are quite ordinary, everyday and often overlooked ones. So he writes these modern love songs to an urbanised world, about the lonely financial zone, the government center, the bank teller. On Rock'n'Roll With The Modern Lovers he lauds the Ice Cream Man, The Roller Coaster, sings about leprechauns coming back to rock'n'roll, watching an old car decay in the street, or the qualities of a late afternoon. And, yeah, on first listen, you know I get it, it does sound twee or infantile. But in the hands of a nasal off key Bostonian, if you can stay open to it, some how it can utterly charm the socks off you. Replaying this album is like spending an evening with an really old friend whose company you really value, because they reconnect you with a less cynical, more innocent open hearted awareness for just being alive.