JONATHAN RICHMAN & THE MODERN LOVERS ON BERZERKLEY

[JSngry]

Ok, my daughter's getting into Shonen Knife, and I want to play her "Abominable Snowman In The Supermarket" to give her something to think about (and maybe even DIG, but I doubt THAT will happen since SHE didn't discover it, but Dads get used to that, don't they), but all I got are these 20+ year old Berzerkley/GRT cassettes that I bought as cutouts in an Albuquerque Sound Warehouse one late morning in 1981 when I was on the road (sorry, I don't remember what I was wearing at the time), and I'd like an upgrade for both sonic and practical reasons. Thing is, I've got a complete set (one of those things that happens when unpopularity meets cutoutdom meets curious hopefully-fan with miles of travelling to look forward to meets chain store in a market that couldn't care LESS about Abominable Snowmans in supermarkets and Pablo Picasso never being called an asshole and stuff like that), and I'd like to replace it with same.

Anything available?

As always, thanks in advance.

[BruceH]

Right now I don't think there's anything. Back in the late 80's Rhino came out with a CD called "The Best of the Beserkeley Years" that looked like a good selection of highlights, but it's out of print now. Perhaps I should have bought it, because I've got all those albums on vinyl only. I recently made a tape for my son that has quite a few of them on it (as well as his favorite song, "Dr. Worm" by They Might Be Giants). Most of the Beserkeley Richman stuff (with the exception of "Pablo Picasso") seems like it would be good for kids, but you never know what they're going to like. Hopefully a new compilation will come out before your kids are in high school.

[JohnJ]

Although there are a couple of fairly recent greatest hits compilations, it seems that neither of them contain "Abonimable Snowman in the Supermarket". It is probably true to say that there is no inprint CD containing this song although "The Beserkely Years" should not be too hard to find.

Ever since seeing Jonathan live in England in the mid '70's I have been a big fan. His outlook on life is definitely somewhat unusual, eccentric even, but he is a wonderful writer of strangely evocative and powerful songs. I think he deserves the box set treatment.

[BERIGAN]

Here is a 2 cd set from 1998 (OOP of course) that I bet you could find on ebay....

http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&u...l=Ax9em97u0krst

[BruceH]

I've long thought of Richman & the Modern Lovers' "Roadrunner" as the unofficial state song of Massachusetts. Good luck with the search, J.

[Jason Drake]

the first album w/roadrunner on it is coming out on cd in the UK/Europe in a month or two.