The second album from the Modern Lovers – but one that's completely different than the first! In an oft-told story, Jonathan Richman had a complete musical turnaround in the space between the records – shirking off the proto-punk of his roots (which was also a huge inspiration to the UK and US punk scenes to come) – and instead going into more personal material, delivered with the upfront and open emotionality that would mark Richman's music for decades to come! The shift is actually a great one – a way of really finding his own mark, and creating a sound that's completely unique – music that's surprisingly ageless, and with themes that nobody else could deliver this well. Titles include "Rockin Shoppin Center", "Back In The USA", "Important In Your Life", "New England", "Lonely Financial Zone", "Hi Dear", "Hey There Little Insect", and "Spring Time". LP, Vinyl record album

The second album from the Modern Lovers – but one that's completely different than the first! In an oft-told story, Jonathan Richman had a complete musical turnaround in the space between the records – shirking off the proto-punk of his roots (which was also a huge inspiration to the UK and US punk scenes to come) – and instead going into more personal material, delivered with the upfront and open emotionality that would mark Richman's music for decades to come! The shift is actually a great one – a way of really finding his own mark, and creating a sound that's completely unique – music that's surprisingly ageless, and with themes that nobody else could deliver this well. Titles include "Rockin Shoppin Center", "Back In The USA", "Important In Your Life", "New England", "Lonely Financial Zone", "Hi Dear", "Hey There Little Insect", and "Spring Time". CD

... 7-inch, Vinyl record

A real lost treasure from Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers – a record that has them breaking from the kid pop of some of their other late 70s albums, setting the stage for Richman's unabashed love-inspired pop of the 80s. There's some really wonderful tracks on the set that have Jonathan opening up once again – sharing those sublimely heartfelt emotions that first made his early records so great, crafting simple love songs that have an indescribable power in their starkness. Titles include "I Hear You Calling Me", "Back In Your Life", "Affection", "She's Gonna Respect Me", "My Love Is A Flower", and "I'm Nature's Mosquito". LP, Vinyl record album

The great city of Boston lost Babe Ruth in 1920, and it was pretty much all downhill until the Modern Lovers showed up at the end of the 60s. The two chord proto-punk, pomposity-busting brilliance of Jonathan Richman and his organ-heavy (courtesy of pre-Talking Head Jerry Harrison) Modern Lovers sounds better and better every time we hear it! This is the classic first album – with "Roadrunner", "Hospital", "She Cracked", "Modern World" and the rest, the one that they recorded around 1970 and which languished as a heavily bootlegged cult classic until it's first official release in the mid 70s! CD

Raw, sweet, deadpan pop songs about summer mornings, the ice cream man, rollercoasters, and cars from the strangely whimsical Jonathan Richman! This is Jonathan's third album for Beserkely (and the second to come out in early '77) – and the true beginning of the second phase of his career, which cast him as an oddball manchild who rattled out weird, three chord tunes about whatever seemed to be going through his development-arrested mind at the time. It's all still very sweet, very catchy, and all about acoustic stream of consciousness cuteness. This was all still very amazing in the mid 70s – well before tongue-in-cheek hipsters like the Violent Femmes used Richmond-esque quirkiness as pure gimmickery. It may a notch below his previous couple of classic albums – but Rock And Roll is still a gem! "The Sweeping Wind", "Ice Cream Man", "Summer Morning", "Fly Into Mystery", "Roller Coaster By The Sea", "Coomyah", "Egyptian Reggae", and "The Wheels On The Bus". CD