Full Albums: ‘The Modern Lovers’

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May 162026
 

Full Albums features covers of every track off a classic album. Got an idea for a future pick? Leave a note in the comments!

A happy birthday to Jonathan Richman, who turns 75 years young today. We’re celebrating with a Full Album post of The Modern Lovers, his magnum opus, which is itself celebrating its golden anniversary this year. Of course, it’s actually older than that; most of the songs were four- or five-year-old demos. But as Rolling Stone said when they named it one of the top 100 albums between ’67 and ’87, the band was so far ahead of their time that when the album was finally released, it was still ahead of its time.

With two future Rock and Roll Hall of Famers backing him (a pre-Talking Heads Jerry Harrison on keys and a pre-Cars David Robinson on drums), along with bassist Ernie Brooks, Richman explored proto-punk sounds and attitudes mixed with a generous helping of naïveté. It was like a textbook on how a teen sees the world, wanting to be tough but unable to hide the joy and exuberance of youth. Capped by “Roadrunner,” a highway anthem that’s lost none of its power, The Modern Lovers was one of the greatest and most influential albums of its time.

A follow-up with this lineup was not in the cards, as Richman was becoming what Robert Christgau called “an almost powerless case of arrested development,” writing gentle children’s fare like “Here Come the Martian Martians” and “Hey There Little Insect” while his bandmates would have preferred to keep their amps cranked up. Still, whether they served as an inspiration for future bands (including their own) or a cautionary tale, the Modern Lovers continue to make and keep fans, thanks to their work getting cobbled together into one brief shining moment.
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Low Cut Connie Hit the Dive Bars for Rollicking Alex Chilton Cover

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Jun 202018
 
low cut connie alex chilton

Last year, President Obama’s favorite Philly garage-revivalists Low Cut Connie placed pretty damn high on our Best Covers of 2017 list. The choice cover, a rollicking roar through Prince’s “Controversy,” came out on their album Dirty Pictures, Part 1. Well, Dirty Pictures, Part 2 was just released, and it includes another killer cover, this time of Alex Chilton’s “Hey! Little Child.”

The source material shift to Mr. Big Star from Mr. “Baby I’m a Star” couldn’t be more pronounced, but in Low Cut Connie’s hands the songs find common ground as barn-storming, beer-chugging, piano-smashing rock and roll. A new video features the band drinking and jumping around and acting like animals, which is pretty much what they’re like in concert too (plus more climbing atop pianos). Continue reading »

Under The Radar: Hem

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Aug 262016
 

Under the Radar shines a light on lesser-known cover artists. If you’re not listening to these folks, you should. Catch up on past installments here.

hem

Writing an “Under the Radar” piece inevitably forces the writer to address the elephant in the room: Why is an artist you like enough to spend time researching and crafting a piece about considered to be “Under the Radar” by the vast majority of people? Hem, a band that formed in 2002 and sporadically released music until last year, would seem to have had so many advantages – intelligent songwriting, fine musicianship, a distinctive sound and, maybe most importantly, a lead vocalist with a scarily gorgeous voice. Seven of their songs were used in national commercials for Liberty Mutual Insurance, a classic Christmas cover was used in an ad for Tiffany’s, and other songs have appeared in television shows. They created music, which was well received by The New York Times, for a production of Twelfth Night for New York’s legendary Shakespeare In The Park program, featuring Anne Hathaway, Audra McDonald and Hamish Linklater. They were touted by outlets as diverse as NPR and Entertainment Weekly. Yet it appears that radar just doesn’t pick them up.
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In the Spotlight: The dB’s

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Apr 042014
 

In the Spotlight showcases a cross-section of an artist’s cover work. View past installments, then post suggestions for future picks in the comments!

Rock history is full of bands who created something truly special, with inherent value, that for whatever reason never got their due in the music marketplace. The dB’s (that stands for decibels, don’t you know) could be a case study in how to make great music and influence other musicians, but miss out on commercial success. Passed over by labels hunting for the next Knack, the band, led by guitarists Chris Stamey and Peter Holsapple, signed with British label Albion Records at the very beginning of the ’80s, which meant that both their stellar debut and its follow up weren’t officially released in America for years.  The band only signed with an American label, Bearsville, after founder Stamey left to forge a solo career. When they submitted a video  to MTV for their suicide-themed song “Amplifier,” they were rejected.
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They Say It’s Your Birthday: Neil Innes (Bonzo Dog Band)

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Dec 092013
 

They Say It’s Your Birthday celebrates an artist’s special day with other people singing his or her songs. Let others do the work for a while. Happy birthday!

neil innes covers

The United States and Great Britain are two countries separated by a common language. – Unknown

Neil Innes turns 69 today. For more than forty years he has been acclaimed as a songwriter, musician, and performer, acclaimed by allmusic.com as “the most important figure in British musical comedy since the heyday of vaudeville.” He’s been on both sides of a plagiarism lawsuit – he has to credit John Lennon and Paul McCartney as co-writers of Rutles songs, while the Oasis song “Whatever” is now required by law to credit Innes due to lifting the opening of his “How Sweet To Be an Idiot.” So Innes has talent to burn and no-such-thing-as-bad-publicity to boot, but in the United States he remains relatively unknown. For all his accomplishments, Innes may be one of those whose peculiar talents simply aren’t appreciated as much on this side of the Atlantic. This is best described as “America’s loss.”
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This Week on Bandcamp: Jay Sharp, SAYS, Ashley Robyn, Sea States, Puzzle

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Jun 172011
 

This Week on Bandcamp rounds up our favorite covers to hit the site in the past seven days.

Today’s Bandcamp feature (our 20th) takes an unexpected theme: girl power! Four of the five songs at least come from female artists or lady-fronted bands. They range from icons embodying the spirit of rock in a female frame (Beth Gibbons of Portishead) to groups who embody something less than the feminist ideal (the appropriately-named Sugababes). And then there’s a song originally by Big Star, who represent none of these things, but just couldn’t be skipped. Continue reading »

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