Customer Reviews

Original Modern Lovers

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I don't know a whole lot about the Modern Lovers, so I can't place this CD in an esthetic context with their later recordings, but I can tell you that I absolutely adore these tunes. The sound quality may be a bit rough for some tastes but I think the "primitive" sound only adds to their charm. I find that the early Modern Lovers are the geeky, sensitive, poetic, nervous and twitchy, pocket-protector-proto-punk counterpoint to the primal, snarling, surging, Id-made-flesh proto-punk of the early Stooges.
On these recordings Johnathan Richman is Iggy Pop's musical little brother: raw and unpolished, determined to somehow subvert or ignore the reigning musical zeitgeist, but with more poetry and less (none, really)of the menace.
If you're interested in exploring the origins of proto-punk, or if you just want to hear Mr. Richman at his most youthful and raw then this recording is a must.

A collection of demos produced by Kim Fowley; four of the songs were re-recorded under John Cale's supervision and appeared on the legendary 1st Modern Lovers LP; the others - with the exception of "I Wanna Sleep In Your Arms" - are included in the set for the "Precise Modern Lovers Order" live album. The sound quality is predictably poor, and the performances not considerably different from the other recorded versions. This item is basically for collector's only. Song list: (1) Roadrunner #1, (2) She Cracked, (3) Astral Plain, (4) Walk Up the Street, (5) I Wanna Sleep In Your Arms, (5) Don't Let Our Youth Go To Waste, (6) Dance With Me, (7) Girlfren, and (8) Roadrunner #2.

This is rough. Some songs from their first album, some that didn't make it. Actually, this is just about as good as that classic first album. There's nothing exactly heavy here, I think the "early punk" rep comes from the brutal (& naive?)honestly in the lyrics, the recordings not being the smoothest, and the fact that there is a sort of drone going through most of their early music. Excellent songs, excellent execution, all from the most interesting period of this great band.

First album of Jonathan Richman, produced by Kim Fowley (who also has produced at first the Runaways). With an amazing version of the self written song „Road Runner". Jonathan Richman has arisen from the surroundings of the Velvet Underground. Their influence is undeniable. Peculiar, sensitive forerunner of punk rock. Highly recommendable.

I don't know if that title even makes any sense. I am trying to give you a visual of playing loud riff music in your garage and smoking mad pot.

Boston Mass, 1974ish and this is what I'm talking about. Not quite punk, not quite pop, this stuff is very cool.

This is not the first album by THE MODERN LOVERS instead its a mix of tracks from the first album, along with some lost tapes, demos and whatnot.

This is the stuff that WBCN was probably playing back in the day. I wouldn't REALLY know because I wasn't born yet, but Boston seems to have been a pretty cool place to live in the early/mid seventies. When BCN was an indie rock radio station, making famous the likes of Aerosmith, J.Geils Band, The Cars (most of the latter actually belonged to this band first, and are all over this cd.)

Anyway if you're in love with your radio on, and rock and roll, and being out all night-

THIS IS A COOL CD AND YOU SHOULD BUY IT.

Jonathan Richman was more than just a fan of the Velvet Underground; he worshipped them, followed them and copied them, and it shows on this early album. The Underground weren't a particularly good band, but they were a very original band, and much the same can be said about Richman in this phase of his career.

The musicians can barely play their instruments, the lyrics make Brian Wilson's sound sophisticated, and the songs all sort of sound the same, and yet there's that germ of raw energy that characterized the best of the garage bands, and that todays' formulaic punk bands have never been able to copy. Maybe the current crop of punks should give this disk a listen.