4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
They will play this for me in Heaven, June 6, 2001
If you're too cynical for Jonathon, you're too cynical! This is real music for the inner kid. Not the pastel-newage-therapy 'inner child', but the actual inner kid, the one you might have thought you'd left behind! Honest, warm and real vibes WAY full of heart. Not too proud to make snot jokes, nor too tough to dialogue with a mosquito. This is one of my favourite Jonathon albums, right up there with the first Modern Lovers album and the (apparently) unavailable "Jonathon Sings" and "Rockin' and Romance". I've been fortunate enough to see JR twice in concert and the man is a solid gold entertainer. No one else will ever make this music:
1. Abdul and Cleopatra: best lyric: 'how I wonder where she's at-ra'. Genius.
2. (She's Gonna) Respect Me: A cute yet unromantic song about being true to oneself and honest with the one you love. Sample:'Hi-yo, hi-yo silver, she's gonna, someday she's gonna... respect me!'
3. Lover Please: An instrumental covered in the inimitable Richman style.
4. Affection: One from the heart. This album's deepest cut.
5. Buzz Buzz Buzz: A silly sorbet cover version to cleanse the palate after listening to track 4. Delicious, light, complete.
6. Back in Your Life: Gonzo Jonathon torch song
7. Party in the Woods Tonight: The silliness deepens!. Try not to grin.
8. My Love Is a Flower(Just beginning to Bloom): The silliness builds and somehow deepens. Marilyn Manson would never have the balls to sing *this*. Sublime love song.
9. I'm Nature's Mosquito: The silliness collapses in on itself. Parental advisory: you may wet your pants *or* your eyes.
10. Emaline: This one is another cover version. Jonathon makes it his own.
11. Lydia: Another cover. A groovy romp through the flowery meadow of infatuation!
12. I Hear You Calling Me: Another cover- NOT that that is a bad thing. (Jonathon really MEETS the songs he covers. You still get Jonathon!) This song pushes the limits of poignancy, but the raw and artless production never quite lets it tip over into the maudlin or kitsch.
I haven't kept up with his later albums, so I can't say this is his best, but it is definitely one of my all time favourites!
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Didn't know this was available, September 10, 2000
A very important record to me in my unemployed post-college days. I am really glad to find it. I sold this album in a garage sale so I could buy new CDs. Now, I really want to play this for my five year old son. Very few previous-owned albums inspire me to re-purchase them.
I met Jonathan in New Orleans while I was walking my dog and I told him the song "Natures Little Mosquio' was one of the most important songs in the world (to me). He kind of shrugged and paid more attention to my dog, but it was an important moment for me, anyway...
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5.0 out of 5 stars
fun! fun! fun!, June 4, 1999
By A Customer
Kiddie rock or clown time? With Jonathan it's a little bit of both. A hard to find recording that is, without a doubt, an example of Jonathan Richman at his zaniest. It may be too corny for some, or a little over the top for others, but if you're tired of pretentious twaddle get BACK IN YOUR LIFE, and get happy.
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