Word: richman
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...songs Richman wrote and performed during the early '70s are astonishing; they meld the sound of his beloved Velvet Underground and the Stooges with the typical teen rock concerns of girls, driving and insecurity, shot through with an unnerving simplicity and directness like nothing else in rock then or now. Also distinctive is Richman's voice, which I hesitate to describe as nasal and monotone, because it is far more appealing than that...
During this period Richman recorded his best known song: "Roadrunner." He takes two chords from the Velvet Underground's "Sister Ray" and makes "Roadrunner" one of the best rock songs ever recorded. The simple, affecting music is matched by the lyrics, which are both the typical rock song and about the power of that song: "I'm in love with Massachusetts/I'm in love with the radio on/It helps me from being lonely late at night/I don't feel so bad now in the car." Richman's probably sick of playing "Roadrunner," but people aren't sick of hearing...
...other songs of Richman's are as timeless and universal as the sound and feeling of Richman driving alone "in love with modern girls and modern rock & roll." That sound and feeling have often led to Richman being labeled a "protopunk," and it is true that he played passionate minimalist rock in a time otherwise filled mostly with orchestral, pretentious crap and inoffensive James Taylor wimpery. Richman's influence is all over '77 punk, as you know if you've ever heard the Sex Pistols' massacre of "Roadrunner." And a cover of "Pablo Picasso" appeared in Alex Cox's brilliant...
...Richman's early '70s songs weren't relaesed until 1976. But by this time, he was virtually a different person. What pissed off his new fans--the ones who saw the brilliance of "Roadrunner" and wanted more--was that his new songs weren't just happier; they really were directed at infants. He sang songs like "Hey There Little Insect" and "I'm A Little Dinosaur" and "Here Come the Martian Martians." He stopped playing with professional musicians and picked strangers out of the audience at concerts; they'd drum for him using rolled up newspapers. It took...
...Richman's new album is good, but it's not great. He pointlessly re-records some of his older songs. Some of the new songs are unexceptional and some are excellent; this is more or less the way it's been since 1972. In "Nineteen in Naples," Richman ruefully examines his youthful anger ("I didn't like this and I didn't like that/I was such a little brat"), but the song is musically unimpressive. The titular "I'm So Confused" makes better use of the irritating synthesizers than most other songs on the album. Producer Ric Ocasek has stuck...