Another tape from the box is this compilation from Jonathan Richman And The Modern Lovers released in 1990 covering his most commercially successful period on the Berkley label from 1974-1980. Many people probably know Jonathan Richman as the guy who pops up now and again singing to accompany the plot, once up a tree , in "There's Something About Mary".
A Velvet Underground influence is quite evident on the earlier tracks , this was a guy who left home at fifteen to go to New York to meet them and had John Cale produce many of their early demos which were eventually released as the classic album "Modern Lovers" ,from which many tracks make up the the first side of this compilation including "Roadrunner","She Cracked","Pablo Piccasso" and the anti hippy/stoner "I'm Straight" .
By the time Punk and New Wave were exploring and expanding on the territory laid down on these early recordings , Jonathan Richman had moved on to a more mellow sound accompanied with more whimsical lyrics with songs about Abominable Snowmen,Roller-coasters and Ice Cream Men which have a kind of laid back charm to them but unfortunately probably influenced a number of god awful fey indie type dross in the past but lets not hold that against him. Wiki Here. 23 Great Recordings Here .
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