Sunday, August 28, 2011

Put Down The Cigarette And Drop Out Of BU



Evan recently posted "Modern World" by The Modern Lovers over at Swan Fungus, which re-acquainted me with how much I love the song. The file Evan posted is pretty quiet, though-- maybe it was from a CD or something, I don't know-- which spurred me to rip a better-sounding one from my own copy of the LP. The ingeniously lame handclaps and the weird solo towards the end are two of the best things ever. This is probably my third favorite anti-hippie song of all time, after "Dope Smoking Moron" and Poison Idea's "I Hate Reggae".


The Modern Lovers -

"Modern World"


14 comments:

jeffen said...

Hey shouldn't The Queers "I Don;t Want To Be a Granola Head" factor onto that anti-hippie song list?

Brushback said...

Well, it was just a top 3. I presume I've forgotten a bunch of them...

Deadbeats "Kill The Hippies" would probably be next on the list

Brushback said...

Jack Tragic and The Unfortunates' "I Kill Hippies" would be somewhere in the top 30 or 70 on the list

jeffen said...

"The Thing That Only Eats Hippies" By The Dead Milkmen

(I like this game...)

P.S. my captcha was 'kilme'

ib said...

Yeah. The handclaps are sheer class. And that Stooges guitar fill.

"How Much Longer b/w You Bastard" by ATV. Before they recanted.

Or how about Merle Haggard & The Strangers' "Oakie from Muskogee" for unadulterated vitriol ? Cowpoke Punk.

ib said...

To be anal for a second, Sanctuary Records made a decent job of their 2007 reissue of Beserkley's 9-track classic. An additional 8 songs; 3 alternative versions - including one of 'Modern World'.

Haven't heard it yet, so I'm not sure of the mastering, or how it holds up to its analogue counterpart.

ib said...

Or, hey:

'I'm straight' ?

Brushback said...

I know, definitely "I'm Straight" would be one of them -- most people like that one instead, but I like "Modern World" better...

"Hippy Johnny"!

The best Modern Lovers stuff is the "Original Modern Lovers" Kim Fowley demos LP...

Brushback said...

As far as anti-hippie songs, I should mention a couple of others that I've already posted here in the past -- Those Melvins "Wasted Hippies" (which kinda sucks) and Nobunny "Hippy Witch" (which is kinda great)

ib said...

Nobunny is hugely cool. And I heard it hear first.

Yes. We've had this discussion before. I prefer the Kim Fowley 'demos' too; marketed on Mohawk and BOMP! in 1981 as dating from "Spring, 1972". In fact, JR himself refutes that, stating in the 2000 CD reissue that the songs were recorded with Fowley in 1973.

To compound matters further, the 9 songs on the 1976 release were recorded in 1971 and 2: at A&M and Warner Bros. Intermedia Studios, Boston in Autumn, '71 (including "Hospital"; "Modern World"; "Girl Friend") and a later session produced by John Cale in LA, in April 1972.

So... these recordings definitely predate the Fowley demos.

Matthew Kaufman simply remixed the older Cale and Warner/A&M sessions at Beserkley, while JR was busy working on what he assumed would be his debut: "Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers".

It certainly confused the hell out of me.

ib said...

That said.

The Sanctuary reissue with bonus tracks which appear to be - in the main - recordings between 74-5 (or from these earlier Cale & A&M sessions) does not appear to offer any massive leap in remastering.

I just listened to some of it in redbook FLAC and it is not much of an advance on a Beserkley CD rip @ 192 kbps.

Your vinyl rip wins hands down.

Brushback said...

I have the Rhino re-issue from 1986, and yeah, that track ripped very cleanly.

I guess the "Jonathan Richman and The Modern Lovers" LP came about after he disowned all of his earlier recordings, which is a shame.

RossK said...

Jeebuz!

I just forgot.

Completely.

How much I liked this thing.

.

Brushback said...

Oh, yeah-- that happens with me lots of times.