Notes

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HARVARD SQUARE SOLO DEMOS
Jonathan began his performing career performing solo, often in public places, most famously in Harvard Square area. This tape provides a fleeting glimpse of what those performances sounded like. The resulting recordings are very rough, with Jonathan's guitar almost inaudible at times and his voice wavering badly, but the songs are present and correct, with quite a few differences in the lyrics compared to the later band versions. Also worth noting is a much rockier version of Hospital, played at a faster tempo, with the rhythm of the chord changes owing just a little to Hendrix's All Along the Watchtower.

The dating of this tape is a bit of a guess, but we do know that Astral Plane wasn't written until Jonathan went to NYC in late '69.

*Waiting for the Man (5-second fragment appears on SoR)
*Hospital (SoR)
*Astral Plane (SoR)
*Ride on down the Highway (SoR)
*Cosmic Plane of the Arcane
*She's Taking The Pill For Me
*Sunshine Your Eyes
*Someone I Care About

Boston, Summer 1970

Jonathan Richman - vocals, guitar

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INTERMEDIA DEMOS
The details of this session are somewhat under dispute, but Jonathan himself has confirmed this date and location, so let's go with that. The sound and arrangements on these are very similar to the Cale '72 sessions, though the vocals are rougher and the band is a little hesitant. The version of Hospital on the Songs of Remembrance boot is the same performance that appeared on the first album, but it sounds just a little different - my guess is that this version is the same mix before it was mastered for release.

Hospital (ML, SoR)
* Roadrunner (SoR)
* Someone I Care About (SoR)
* Ride on down the Highway (Rt128)

Intermedia Studios, Boston, Fall 1971

Jonathan Richman - vocals, guitar
Jerry Harrison - keyboards, backing vocals
Ernie Brooks - bass, backing vocals
David Robinson - drums, backing vocals

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JOHN CALE (Warners) DEMOS
In early 1972, the band traveled to the West Coast to get themselves a record label. Warner Brothers paired them with John Cale for a set of demos that eventually made up the bulk of the The Modern Lovers album. These first Cale sessions are very crisp and clean, with a touch of reverb on the vocals.

The story goes that John Cale, still sad that these sessions weren't released, shared this tape with UK journalist Nick Kent in the mid 70s. Kent flipped, and so did his pals, who included future Sex Pistols and Clash members, leading to the Pistols' meandering cover of Roadrunner and the early Mick Jones tune "Jackson Pollack" (ala Pablo Picasso).

Clinton Heylin's From The Velvets To The Voidoids says nine tracks were done at these sessions, and Record Collector ups the total to ten (with Girlfriend and another Roadrunner), so the list below might actually be complete!

* Such Loneliness (SoR)
Astral Plane (ML)
* Modern World (SoR)
* Girlfriend
She Cracked (ML)
Roadrunner (ML)
Someone I Care About (ML)
* Roadrunner
Old World (ML)
Pablo Picasso (ML)

Elektra Studios, Los Angeles, March 1972

Lineup as above, plus:
John Cale - mellotron on Girlfriend

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ALLAN MASON (A&M) DEMOS
Upon their arrival on the West Coast, the Lovers also did a set of very similar demos (perhaps slightly less produced and more 'direct'-sounding) for A&M Records. And, believe it or not, they only did these three songs.

Girlfriend (ML)
Modern World (ML)
Dignified and Old (ML Rhino)

A & M Studios, Los Angeles, March 1972

Lineup as above

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KIM FOWLEY DEMOS
After the Lovers returned to the East Coast, Kim Fowley befriended the band and took up their cause. He led them through a set of very primitive demos in soundman Dinky Dawson's basement. These recordings were done live (no overdubs) and very little (if any) compression was used, meaning that when the band gets quiet, the tape gets quiet.

It's worth noting that when Roadrunner, Astral Plane and Walk up the Street were released on the Original Modern Lovers album, they were mastered at too high a speed, hence the tinniness and strange-sounding vocals on those tracks. To listen to them as they were recorded, you need a turntable or tape machine with a variable speed control.

Roadrunner (on OML as Roadrunner #1)
Astral Plane (OML)
Walk up the Street (OML)
Don't Let Our Youth Go to Waste (OML)
Dance with Me (OML)
I'm Straight (OML)
* A Plea for Tenderness (Electric Piano version - SoR)
* Song of Rememberance for Old Girlfriends (SoR, Rt128)

Dinky Dawson's Basement Studio, Boston, June 1972

Lineup as above

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JOHN CALE LP SESSIONS
The band returned to California to record a proper album for Warners, and their first attempt with John Cale imploded quickly. It's doubtful that any tapes from these sessions survived - Warners doesn't have them, and any track listings from these sessions probably come from interviews with the participants.

* Who knows?
* Hey There Little Insect???

Elektra Studios, LA, Summer 1973

Lineup as above

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KIM FOWLEY PRE-LP DEMOS
After the Cale sessions fell apart, Warners brought in Kim Fowley to produce the band's debut album. Before the (planned) start of the sessions proper, Fowley took them into Gold Star studios to record a (roughly) 20-track demo, comprising more or less the band's entire set. Unfortunately, before the actual album could be recorded, the Modern Lovers more or less split up, and Jonathan parted company with Warners.

The demo sessions they left behind, however, were the closest that the band came to recording an actual album. By this point, Jonathan was trying to reshape the band's sound, and he changed around a lot of the lyrics to distance himeself from them - several of the songs begin with little narrations that make half-hearted attempts to place the lyrics in the past (Girlfriend) or in the third person (Plea For Tenderness). The production on these sessions is great, and quite different from the Cale/A&M tracks (compare Government Center to the rest of the tracks on Rhino's reissue of the 1st album to get the idea). Another distinctive feature of these sessions is the presence of a piano, complementing and sometimes replacing Jerry's amplified keyboards on some tracks (i.e. Mystery, Plea, Girlfriend).

10 tracks from these sessions were cut onto acetates - the circulating tracks are from these acetates. It's unclear - even doubtful - that any of the other tracks cut at these sessions survive.

She Cracked (OML, BG)
I Wanna Sleep in Your Arms (OML)
Girlfriend (OML)
Roadrunner (OML)
I'm Straight (TM, ML Rhino)
Government Center (TM, ML Rhino)
* Modern World (BGems)
* Fly into the Mystery (BGems, SoR)
* Hospital (BGems)
* A Plea for Tenderness (Grand Piano Version - Rt128)
* Yea Pretty Life
* Falling In Love Must Be Two Ways
+ about 8 unknown others