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Rating: 
Summary: An informative, unauthorized, rock music biography.
Review: Exclusive interviews with Richman's band Modern lovers, ex-members of the Velvet Underground and others who knew him well contribute to a well-rounded unauthorized biography which examines the works and legacy of the rock musician. Recommended reading for fans of the artist who want to know more.
Rating: 
Summary: totally useless, not even for diehard fans
Review: There is too much gushing about Jonathan and too little hard information. It really gets sickening very quickly. And much of the author's praise is directed at praising the profundity of the lyrics, which is ridiculous. The early Modern Lovers lyrics were clever and they had that beautiful crazy, confused teenager intensity and authority that teenagers have about their emotions, but they're not profound. In fact, they're embarrasingly self concious, pretentious and preachy at times. Anyway, the author totally kills all the spontaneity of the songs by analyzing them that way. Also, the analysis seems very cold and academic, like someone writing a PhD thesis. The whole book comes across as more of an effort by the author to bask in Richman's reflected glory, than as a serious musical biography. Also, the author writes as if he's talking to himself, as if he's not even aware that other people might try to read what he's written.I have to admit to being a big fan of the original Modern Lovers. And also, that I never had much use for the follow on, mostly acoustic, backing bands that Richman assembled. That said, I have to say that, in my opinion, this book does an incredible disservice to Jerry Harrison and his contribution to the original Modern Lovers. The whole band was very good, but I believe Harrison was crucial to giving the Modern Lovers their musical (as opposed to lyrical) originality and overall riveting feel. This book relegates Harrison to just some interchangable back-up musician. Without Harrison, I bet that the Modern Lovers and Jonathan Richman wouldn't be remember half as well as they are today. This book was a real tedious chore to plow through, and the nuggets of real info were so few and far between, that any possibility of a coherent picture emerging was completely lost. The title is supposed to refer to a movie that Richman had a hand in, called "Something About Mary". A better title would have been "What's It All About, Jonathan"?
Rating:
Summary: totally useless, not even for diehard fans
Review: There is too much gushing about Jonathan and too little hard information. It really gets sickening very quickly. And much of the author's praise is directed at praising the profundity of the lyrics, which is ridiculous. The early Modern Lovers lyrics were clever and they had that beautiful crazy, confused teenager intensity and authority that teenagers have about their emotions, but they're not profound. In fact, they're embarrasingly self concious, pretentious and preachy at times. Anyway, the author totally kills all the spontaneity of the songs by analyzing them that way. Also, the analysis seems very cold and academic, like someone writing a PhD thesis. The whole book comes across as more of an effort by the author to bask in Richman's reflected glory, than as a serious musical biography. Also, the author writes as if he's talking to himself, as if he's not even aware that other people might try to read what he's written. I have to admit to being a big fan of the original Modern Lovers. And also, that I never had much use for the follow on, mostly acoustic, backing bands that Richman assembled. That said, I have to say that, in my opinion, this book does an incredible disservice to Jerry Harrison and his contribution to the original Modern Lovers. The whole band was very good, but I believe Harrison was crucial to giving the Modern Lovers their musical (as opposed to lyrical) originality and overall riveting feel. This book relegates Harrison to just some interchangable back-up musician. Without Harrison, I bet that the Modern Lovers and Jonathan Richman wouldn't be remember half as well as they are today. This book was a real tedious chore to plow through, and the nuggets of real info were so few and far between, that any possibility of a coherent picture emerging was completely lost. The title is supposed to refer to a movie that Richman had a hand in, called "Something About Mary". A better title would have been "What's It All About, Jonathan"?
Rating: 
Summary: Read The Liner Notes
Review: Tim Mitchell tried, and he should be commended for his efforts to bring this unknown folk virtuoso to light. Unfortunately, this book is a bore. Richman's polite decline to comment on his past in the Modern Lovers probably has something to do with the lack of new, interesting information, but it does not excuse the overall quality of this book. Page after page of tedious explanation of the Modern Lovers' changing line-up and setlist, peppered only occasionally with uninteresting tidbits of "insider information" (one time Jonathan's mother embarrassed him by making him try on a "woolly sweater" in front of the other Modern Lovers!) make this book impossible to get through. I'm a huge fan of the Modern Lovers and Jonathan's solo work and only made it about halfway through. Outside of a few unreleased photographs, there is no information in this book that cannot be obtained from the liner notes of the original Modern Lovers album, the Precise Modern Lovers Order/Live At The Longbranch Saloon live album, or the Original Modern Lovers bootleg.
Rating:
Summary: Read The Liner Notes
Review: Tim Mitchell tried, and he should be commended for his efforts to bring this unknown folk virtuoso to light. Unfortunately, this book is a bore. Richman's polite decline to comment on his past in the Modern Lovers probably has something to do with the lack of new, interesting information, but it does not excuse the overall quality of this book. Page after page of tedious explanation of the Modern Lovers' changing line-up and setlist, peppered only occasionally with uninteresting tidbits of "insider information" (one time Jonathan's mother embarrassed him by making him try on a "woolly sweater" in front of the other Modern Lovers!) make this book impossible to get through. I'm a huge fan of the Modern Lovers and Jonathan's solo work and only made it about halfway through. Outside of a few unreleased photographs, there is no information in this book that cannot be obtained from the liner notes of the original Modern Lovers album, the Precise Modern Lovers Order/Live At The Longbranch Saloon live album, or the Original Modern Lovers bootleg.
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