Modern Lovers' Debut LP Re-Released, Expanded; More Reissues On The Way
Sadly, not getting nearly as much play at lesbian bar as Kelis

Good news for everyone! The Modern Lovers' back catalog is getting expanded, album by album, by the wonderful Castle Music over in the UK. Back in August, Castle re-released the Modern Lovers' incredible, quintessential, and downright bad ass debut Modern Lovers. Recorded in 1973 and produced by John Cale, the first recording from Jonathan Richman and compatriots stands as one of their strongest. Bound with problems from the start, the album wasn't first released until 1976, and has gone in and out of print over the past three decades.

Castle's reissue of Modern Lovers sports eight bonus tracks, including the incredible "Government Center" (seriously one of the greatest songs ever fucking written), and alternate versions of three album tracks. Though the album has never been reviewed by the 'Fork, I'd wager a testicle it will rank in the 10.5-11.8 range. Tracklist:

01 Roadrunner
02 Astral Plane
03 Old World
04 Pablo Picasso
05 She Cracked
06 Hospital
07 Someone I Care About
08 Girlfriend
09 Modern World
10 Dignified & Old [bonus track]
11 I'm Straight [bonus track]
12 Government Center [bonus track]
13 I Wanna Sleep In Your Arms [bonus track]
14 Dance With Me [bonus track]
15 Someone I Care About [alternate version] *
16 Modern World [alternate version] *
17 Roadrunner [alternate version] *

What's more, the Modern Lovers' extremely difficult-to-find second album, 1977's Rock 'n' Roll with the Modern Lovers, is due for a re-release and expansion in March. The album, which contains the Richman classics "Fly Into The Mystery" and "Egyptian Reggae," will include an extended version of "Dodge Veg-O-Matic" as a bonus.

With and without the Modern Lovers, Richman has produced an astounding body of work, which has streamed continuously from his start in the '70s. While one of the most underrated songwriters of our time, Richman's knack for writing clever, timeless, and most of all lovable pop tunes has prompted his embrace as one of history's greatest songsmiths by those even vaguely familiar with his catalog. His work is highly regarded among his peers-- David Bowie's cover of "Pablo Picasso" on last year's Reality being but the most recent example.

If you haven't, track down any of many early (through the '70s and '80s) Richman recordings-- Modern Lovers, Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers, or the seminal compilation Beserkely Years are good places to start-- and be reminded how it feels to fall in love with music.

Jonathan Richman: http://www.sjrp.org