Friday, September 10, 2010

Pablo Picasso is not an asshole



Modern Lovers - Modern Lovers (1976)

Rating 5.0/5.0
where 5 is not a Velvet Underground album

The band's name is really zee pits! I was in this record store in Christchurch many moons ago and for me it was like what my wife feels when she goes to a sale - absolute, unhindered delight! India doesn't have a single decent music store - not one and here I was -  buying The Pixies - Doolittle (I always wanted to own a copy), Surfjan Stevens - Illinois and Elvis Costello's This Year's Model and I came upon this album - the record store owner - Brian, recommended it but I didn't like their name. Mistake. Noone would every buy a Beefheart album if they went just by name, will they?

I do not take any responsibility for the trash downstairs. Now lets go through the rubble.

Who influenced Modern Lovers?

Velvet Underground. If for a minute you forget that the Velvets were the pappy mummy of all that is rock in a strange, twisted creme brulee mixed with alligator soup sort of way, then Modern Lovers' existence and their continuing influence would make much more sense.

Who did Modern Lovers influence?

And here's where I might be completely wrong but then I like UFO theories. Two influences that seem like Frisbee to my untrained ear are -


The Fall - You got to hear Someone I care about and then tell me that Fall released their first album in 1979! This song can be in any good Fall album (which means nearly all of them) and it came 3 years earlier! Now this is controversial, because you could easily say that Fall were influenced by Velvet Underground and to that I would say ding ding ding.......which means maybe the musical approach influence is valid but not the SPIRIT - Velvets were serious people and they generally sung songs of desperation/addiction/depression and stuff like that..not the Modern Lovers and subsequently the Fall - their songs are playful, sarcastic, odd and still happy (most of the time).


The Fleshtones  - they were formed in 1976 (the same year that the Modern Lovers' one and only album was released) - ok ok...not good enough eh? Listen to the Lovers sing Government Centre with the organ happily whistling in the background and then switch to Fleshtones' first album - Roman Gods (1982)...


Why are we establishing this connection?


Nothing better to do. Please get this album. Please.


Allmusic link for a pointed review
Buy it here

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