The Modern Lovers- Route 128 Revisited

 

 Now for something completely different! I'm taking a brief break from Elliot Smith's early bands to post something I've been meaning to post for a while. It's a (old school) Modern Lovers vinyl bootleg of some rare and alternative versions of Lovers songs. There are some demos, early sessions, live versions and a couple songs I haven't heard before. Plea For Tenderness is an epic (8 minutes) live-in-the-studio version unheard until here and Cambridge Clown I've never heard before, that is fast and rocks pretty good, though it suffers from horrible sound. As a matter of fact, a few other songs sound muffled, probably from a higher generation tape, while other songs sound incredibly fine, so overall the sound is inconsistently decent. Included in the files is a track-by-track review of the record with more detail about the songs than I can provide. This bootleg was a numbered edition and limited to 300 copies, so finding an actual copy may prove to be difficult (note: I do NOT own the physical album!). It was "unofficially" released in 1988 (or 1989?), but has the low budget look of bootlegs from the 70's (before tapes and CD's were more commonly used) with a plain white cover sleeve with xeroxed pages glued to the front and back with typewritten notes. So cool!

Enjoy!

Please do NOT sell or profit from this recording!

Do NOT convert to lossy formats, except for personal use.

Please share!

 

 

The Modern Lovers

Route 128 Revisited (1988?)
No label black vinyl
Matrix TI-002 A/B

 

A01 Plea For Tenderness
A02 Songs For Remembrance Of Old Girlfriends
A03 Ride On Down The Highway
A04 Wake Up Sleepy Head

B01 Cambridge Clown
B02 Such Loneliness    
B03 Womanhood
B04 Dignified And Old

 

JONATHAN RICHMAN & THE MODERN LOVERS- Route 128 Revisited FLAC. rar

 

Modern Lovers- Live At The Longbranch And More

 

Jonathan Richman is such an entertaining showman, you must see him live in concert to fully appreciate his charm, charisma and his surprisingly good musicianship. There are many (bootleg) live recordings of Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers (and solo) from the late 70's to present and there was an official live album released in 1978. This record, Modern Lovers Live was credited to the Modern Lovers, but live recordings of the "classic" line-up of the Modern Lovers (Richman, Jerry Harrison, David Robinson, Ernie Brooks) are harder to find and rare. The only live recordings I've heard are from the Longbranch Saloon and Harvard University. I have a cassette I dubbed from the Precise Modern Lovers Order Live CD (from my sister?) in the mid-90's which include the previously mentioned gigs in Berkeley and Boston. I'm posting the remixed, reissue that is pretty much the same recordings with four different songs during the Harvard university portion. The sound quality is better than I remember it and considering it's not a soundboard, it's not bad. If there are any other decent live recordings from this Modern Lovers era (before the Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers album), please let me know so we can share.

Enjoy!

Please do NOT sell or profit from this recording!

Do NOT convert to lossy, except for personal use

Please share!

 

MODERN LOVERS
Live At The Longbranch And More (1998)

01. Someone I Care About       
02. Dance With Me               
03. She Cracked                      
04. Hospital                       
05. Girlfriend                       
06. Foggy Notion                   
07. Ride Down On The Highway       
08. Pablo Picasso               
09. A Plea For Tenderness       
10. Walk Up The Street               
11. Modern World               
12. Old World                       
13. 96 Tears                      
14. I'm Straight               
15. Wake Up Sleepyheads               
16. Don't Let Our Youth Go To Waste
17. Roadrunner                       

Edited and remastered in 1998 at Archer Studios in Winooski, Vermont.
Previously released on Fan Club / Newrose in 1992. The 1998 version includes four songs not on Live At The Longbranch Saloon.
Tracks 01 to 08 recorded at the Long Branch Saloon, Berkeley Cal., April 1972.
Track 09 recorded in Cambridge, Mass. 1973.
Tracks 10 to 17 recorded at Harvard University, 1971 (maybe 1972). 

MODERN LOVERS- Live At The Longbranch And More, FLAC. rar

The Modern Lovers- Unreleased Demos

It's hard to believe the Modern Lovers formed almost 44 years ago. Though they formed in 1970 and performed and recorded until they're breakup in 1974, the band's debut album wasn't released until 1976. In fact, the Modern Lovers album was a compilation of demo tracks recorded years earlier with the original band while Jonathan Richman formed a completely different version of the band and debuted the album, Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers, also in 1976. It's kind of strange Richman abandoned the rock-art sound of the Lovers for a quieter mellower sound. The Modern Lovers album would go on to be one of the most influential and classic albums of the 70's. Richman's career would take on a more low-key approach with a still strong cult following (except for some commercial exposure with appearance and songs in variety of Farrelly Brothers films) right up until present.

Autographed ticket stub

It's been awhile since I've seen Jonathan Richman live, I last saw him in 1999 in Fargo (see photo) and at least three previous times in Winnipeg. I'm going to the show tomorrow, don't know quite what to expect, I haven't listened to any of his most recent recording at least for over 10 years, so hopefully he'll play some of his older "hits". More later, I hope to have something to post from the show. Stay tuned!

The unreleased demos I'm posting I downloaded from Dime years ago. Thanks to the original poster! I included the info file which details the recording session history of these tracks. I real find for a real fan of the Modern Lovers!
Enjoy!

THE MODERN LOVERS
Unreleased Studio Demos 
1971-1973


1.  Ride Down on the Highway  --  Intermedia Demos
2.  Such Loneliness  --  John Cale demos
3.  Girlfriend  --  John Cale demos
4.  Hospital  --  Dinky Dawson demos
5.  Astral Plane (false start)  --  Dinky Dawson demos
6.  Modern World --  Kim Fowley LP sessions
7.  Fly into the Mystery --  Kim Fowley LP sessions
8.  Hospital  --  Kim Fowley LP sessions
9.  A Plea for Tenderness --  Kim Fowley LP sessions
10. Dignified and Old --  Probably Kim Fowley LP sessions
11. New England Summer Song (instrumental) -- unknown source

MODERN LOVERS- Unreleased Demos FLAC. rar