2 posts tagged “jonathan richman”
Thank you all for following the detour on gravel-dirt roads for the last several posts. We could travel with these (sometimes corny) country classics for days, weeks or months. Alas...
It's time to ask for directions back to the Interstate, back to civilization.
Corner Store
Jonathan Richman ~ Jonathan Goes Country
Jonathan's first band was prominently featured in a previous post. The genre of this album differs greatly from most of his career, though the passion is the same. Always true to whatever genre he takes on, he booked seasoned musicians for this album, including Tom Brumley, Buck Owens original steel guitar player. Striking is the adherence to the traditional country style, with inspired covers of country classics and pure original, modern themes, my favorite of which is this number.
So here goes a MUSIC TRIVIA question. If the response is more than the chirping of crickets, I'll make it a regular gig. All trivia questions will connect, in some way, to previous posts, distant or recent.
What was his first (and most influential) band?
I'm gonna catch some hell for this. Everybody catches hell from somewhere with a declaration of the "first this" or the "epitome of that." What was the first punk album? Those of us who've had these debates concede variables to subjectivity, regional bias and myriad irrational hairsplitting. Or you just go with the gut. Punks aren't supposed to care. Or are they?
People usually start out with Sex Pistols, Ramones or maybe Generation X if they read Spin. To delve deeper chronologically, others might rewind to the Stooges, who heralded the dissaffected loser. That's legit for the attitude, for sure, but not a huge sonic departure from the loud, hard rock in vogue at the time.
The most desperate go so far to declare that the Kinks or The Who's "My Generation"
qualify. What's next? "? and the Mysterians"? These folks still get
points for recognizing 60s-Garage as a primary influence on this "keep
it short and sweet sour" genre, but they aimed to far and overshot. So where's that put us?
In my opinion, 1972. Four young guys from Massachusetts cut an album produced by John Cale of the Velvet Underground. These songs were so out of sync with the charts that they wouldn't be released in album form until 1976. These were songs about teen angst, mental distress, loneliness, lost love and alienation. Every last one of them was administered with a clear, simple, edgy style antithetic to the blues-derived and conceptual anthems of the time. Anti-anti-establishment, with a good deal of disaffection with the whole lot.
I. LOVE. THIS. ALBUM. I listen to it nearly every day and it never grows tired.
She Cracked
Modern Lovers ~ Modern Lovers
The irony is that the Lovers disbanded as their star was rising, a year before the album was even released. Jonathan Richman, Jerry Harrison (Talking Heads), Ernie Brooks, and Dave Robinson (The Cars) would go on to greatly influence the direction of alt/pop music for the next decade or so. This recording from 1972, could have easily fit on the charts a decade later, as if it were vacuum-packed for freshness. I didn't hear this album until 1986, and it was a breath of fresh air even then.
