It's been a busy wee week round these parts, what with me pestering the Scottish blogosphere into getting their votes in for this years BAMS award, getting ready to start a new job next week and finally recording the second Peenko Podcast last night. I have to admit that I am bloody knackered, thankfully though I have a pretty good weekend ahead of me. Tonight I'll be catching up with friends, then heading along to catch St. Deluxe and Mondegreen at the Captain's Rest. It's been ages since I last caught the St. Deluxe boys playing live, if my memory [...]
We left Jonathan Richman (see ABON 0188 ) having just been deserted by his first band - the, original, Modern Lovers - because of his decision to junk their Velvet Underground-inspired back catalogue and sound in favour of a new musical style that seemed to take Jonathan's eternally optimistic world-view that had always fuelled the original Modern Lovers' lyrics and apply it - in spades - to the music, the instrumentation, the production, even the album covers of everything he would do from then on. His new incarnation, Jonathan Richman And The Modern Lovers, comprised a completely new line-up, and sounded [...]
Happy Almost Friday my fellow music friends! Bruce from Some Velvet Blog here with another edition of Something Old & Something New . This week has been a great one on the interwebs with some fine new jams, so let's get right to it: Something New - Just in time for your summer mixtape, Indiana's Triptides have a tasty new single out on Beachtapes that reminds me of the breezy AM pop of The Association, the earlier quaintness of Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers and - of course - the [...]
Not quite Egyptian and not quite reggae either, Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers big 'hit' Egyptian Reggae oddly earned him one-hit-wonder status amongst most music philistines. However, as leagues of new indie acts worth their weight in Pitchfork reviews will attest (including a name drop in in LCD Soundsystem's self consciously referential Losing My Edge ), his influence on the burgeoning punk and new wave movements of the late 70s cannot be overstated. Despite that, his instrumental Egyptian Reggae is still [...]
Not even X-mas yet and I´m thoroughly sick of the white stuff already. As Jesse Winchester sings: "I was tuning in the six o'clock newscast, and the weather man mentioned snow, as soon as I heard that four-letter word, I was making my plans to go..." Snow, be gone. A cold cold six pack. Jesse Winchester - Snow (demo version) MP3 Little Feat - Six Feet Of Snow MP3 Galaxie 500 - Snowstorm MP3 Simon Joyner - Out Into The [...]
Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue. [...]
Well, hi. Hello! It's been a while. I hope you had a good time with E. Isn't he a great host? In the meantime, we've got some catching up to do. What I Did On My Summer Vacation: Drove. A lot. Over 1,600 miles, to be exact. I also took trains, buses and light rails in lots of cities and states. I attended two separate family vacations in two idyllic northern locales. I ate lobster and almost swam to Canada. That pretty much sums it up. I've always had a [...]
Talking Heads: Once in a Lifetime Feist: Mushaboom Big Star: In the Street Jonathan Richman: Rockin' Shopping Center The Monkees: Pleasant Valley Sunday Jeannie C. Riley: Harper Valley P.T.A. Earlimart: Parking Lots Weezer: In [...]
Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers: Here Come the Martian Martians [ purchase ] Jonathan Richman has never released a real children's album, but with some of his mid-'70s albums, he came pretty close. The songs were not meant for kids alone however, as anyone who has experienced Jono playing "Here Come the Martian Martians" to a 21-and-over crowd will attest. That song, from 1977's, Jonathan Richman & the Modern Lovers , is pretty typical of his kid friendly material: a mix of '50s rock and [...]
I'm guessing almost everyone who read this blog likes going along to see live music, in all its shapes and forms, whether it is unknown, unsigned bands in tiny sweaty venues or the weekend-long music festivals that dominate the summer months (or what passes for summer these years in the UK) and all points in between. Sadly, there are certain companies we have to deal with when trying to get our hands on many of these valuable bits of paper that will gain us admission to the venue. Its changed entirely from my early concert going days in [...]
So, after the train wreck that was the Mr. Ahhh interview about the Jen Horton interview I've decided to post something that everyone has been asking for... Jonathan Richman! People ask me all the time "Mr.Ahhh who are your favorite artists?" I respond "WELP, THERE'S JONATHAN RICHMAN, THE FALL, AND MAYBE TODD RUNDGREN OR THE BEATLES???" "Jonathan Richman??" "HE'S FROM THE MODERN LOVERS." "Oh yeah, I like them. What are some good Jonathan Richman albums?" And that's the problem. There aren't any Jo Jo albums worth recommending just amazing singles. Here's what I'm going to [...]
Eating a banana on the Aran Islands We've been having some strange weather here in Ireland this past week. A country that is more used to grey skies and lots of rain has been experiencing bright blue skies, sunshine and warm weather for the past nine days. The beaches have been filled with eager sunbathers and many people are taking early holidays. Sales of cider, ice cream and sun tan lotion have gone through the roof and everyone is happy. Well, everyone except secondary school students who've just started their exams. And even they were given a [...]
That Summer Feeling! No. 2 [MP3]: Jonathan Richman :: That Summer Feeling (Live at the Schauberg, Bremen 1985) Submitted by Scott Summer Cats "It's from a live gig from German radio from I think 1985. I bought it on cassette at a Sunday market that had a bootleg table: I do love a good cassette bootleg table... and this version really makes you believe, though I guess it's kinda a sad/reflective summer ode. I was never a huge fan of [...]
Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers : Hey There Little Insect [ buy ] No creepy crawlies edition would be complete without Jonathan Richman pledging his love to the insect kingdom, provided the little creatures don´t bug him too much of course. Jonathan certainly doesn´t want to risk any insect bites. "Hey there little insect, please calm down, then we´ll have fun and fool around..." [...]
This spell of lovely weather in the UK led to wax lyrically about Jonathan Richman and post a wonderful single called That Summer Feeling.Now I normally write my pieces two or three days in advance of publication....so if in the intervening period someone else beats me to the punch, I need to make some late alterations. In this case, the highly talented Drew from the always entertaining Across
After a 37 year absence, The Baltimore Orioles finally bring the word "Baltimore" back to their road uniforms today. It's about time. Those who don't understand the relationship between Baltimore and Washington and their respective sports teams will probably have trouble understanding why this is such a meaningful development to Baltimore sports fans. But it always struck many of us as a slight against the city and its people that our own baseball franchise refused to put the word "Baltimore" on its uniforms for so long. Baltimoreans (and those like me who grew up in the Baltimore/Washington suburbs [...]
A.k.a the boy is back in town. Yup, I´ve finally returned from my summer hibernation... Sorry I´m a little late, had a great time thank you very much. Now it´s back to the grindstone of the blogosphere to bring you loads of musical goodies I just know you´ve been craving. Stay tuned, many a great tune in the pipeline. Let´s start off with the first song from the Mega City Four´s excellent Tranzophobia debut (´89). Short but sweet, as punkpop should be. Start! Mega City Four - [...]
it's formula one season here in singapore, where the city's playing host to the first ever night race in f1 history, and i can't wait to be there tonight at qualifying and the at full 61-lap race tomorrow! it's been a childhood dream of mine, since following the prost-senna duels more than 15 years ago, so countless thanks to jeanie beans for the fab tickets! what i have for all of you, then, is jonathan richman and the modern lovers' "roadrunner". obviously smitten with the velvet underground, richman adopted the structure of "sister ray" (with who [...]
I was flicking through the channels the other day during one of the many commercial breaks that accompany Sky Sports coverage of the Ryder Cup when I discovered that one of the movie channels was showing There's Something About Mary. Now besides from being a fairly funny film - Ben Stiller usually makes me laugh y'see - the appearance of Jonathan Richman makes it a firm favourite in Villain
Peenko
A Barrel Of Nails
T S U R U R A D I O
Versions Galore
For The Sake Of The Song
COCO'S OCD
One Sweet Song
Pretty Goes with Pretty
Star Maker Machine
THE VINYL VILLAIN
Hi Fever
A Town Full of Losers
S K A T T E R B R A I N
Flowering Toilet
i'm waking up to...
Beach House covers Queen
The Bee Gees – Tragedy (Equateur Remix)
Video: Nas – “Daughters”
