Review Summary: Breezy carefree serenades, from Jonathan to you. Best listened to outdoors in warm weather.
There's something wonderfully enchanting about 'I, Jonathan' that I can't quite put my finger on. I don't know where Jonathan Richman has been all my life. I know I've heard his music in passing over the years (the 'There's Something About Mary' soundtrack for one), and his band The Modern Lovers have hovered in my periphery for years. And then he showed up in Todd Haynes' 2021 Velvet Underground documentary, radiating this positive energy and passion for music - it was as if I was being unconsciously willed towards his music. In a way I've always felt that music finds you and not the other way around.
I was instantly taken with 'I, Jonathan', and not only because it's chock full of undeniably catchy bops, wistful ballads and feel-good summer vibes. These traits may have been what initially hooked me, but what kept me coming back was something else, less concrete. There is something in Jonathan's musical persona which I find incredibly endearing and sincere. It's almost goofy at times but the songs are never outright jokey (or if they are, they somehow work). While the songs themselves are not taken too seriously, the craft decidedly is - this man respects the craft and is damn good at it. On a surface level it might seem easy to dismiss a record which so blatantly harks back to a "simpler time", where the songs feel familiar even though you're hearing them for the first time. In this regard there's a built-in comfort, a tangible sense of nostalgia (even for a time you've never experienced), and yet it never feels cheap or forced, but earnest. To my ears, at least.
From the opening chords of 'Parties In The USA' you get a good sense of what you're in for. And if you didn't, Jonathan comes right out and says it: "Hi everybody! I'm from the 60s, the time of Louie Louie and Little Latin Lupe Lou, and I know we can't have those times back again, but we can have parties like there were then". This kind of self-aware, tongue-in-cheek disposition could've easily veered into eye-rolling territory in lesser hands but in Jonathan's it's genuinely endearing. It's a record proudly wearing its influences on its sleeve - 60s pop, surf and rocknroll of yesteryear transplanted to the 90s without missing a beat. A tribute record in a sense, but as someone who doesn't listen to a ton of music from that era, I'm probably more lenient on its derivative qualities. And yet I still feel like there's something utterly unique going on here, in large part due to Richman's witty lyrics and affable personality.
'Parties In The USA' sets the stage and is a clear highlight but there are many memorable numbers to be found. "Velvet Underground" is a delightful ode to the New York legends, a frolicking romp with lines like "How in the world were they making that sound?" and "rock and roll but not like the rest, and to me America at its best". 'That Summer Feeling' evokes exactly what it says, a melancholic, soothing tune that's just begging to be played on a late August evening when the party is winding down and guests are making the difficult decision to call it a night or stick around for one more - it's that specific of a song. 'A Higher Power' is a nostalgic-soaked love song with unabashedly cornball lyrics one has no right getting away with but Richman does with flying colours.
At the end of the day, 'I, Jonathan' may not be more than a collection of simple, catchy pop tunes made with effortless charm by a man who loves making music and is good at it, but at the end of the day, sometimes that's all I need or want. It's a fun and uplifting record that isn't trying to be anything more than it is. It just wants you to have a good time. And now I am. So thanks for that, Jonathan.
