So what do you think is the best track on The Modern Lovers classic self-titled record?

i'll go with the pre-Ween masterpiece of a son that "I'm Straight" is

Roadrunner, then Modern World, then Hospital

honorable mention for Government Center

Government Center!

SO!

Dignified and Old is pure; Government Center is, by comparison, a throwaway (if an all-time keeper for most other bands).

there's a reason why it's the "hit"

Roadrunner, by a very very very wide margin

She Cracked. Love the much later monologue about "Bermuda" where he uses it as an example of how young 'n' snotty he once was.

ASTRAL PLANE

She Cracked

'I'm Straight', one of my favourite songs ever. It's a bit unnecessary to pick one innit.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Hard poll...went with "I'm Straight," one of the best songs ever written

No duds on this album

Went with Road Runner, partly because I'm Straight wasn't on the original release. It's close second.

lotta good options here, but "Pablo Picasso" is the one stone classic noone's mentioned yet, so I'll go with that. Richman's new one's not bad, too.

I'm Straight wasn't on the original release

Did not know this!!

"I'm Straight wasn't on the original release

Did not know this!!"

me too, butr it does make sense, cause it sounds different - the drums sound is awesome, and teh keyboards very clear, thanks to kim fowley

I once had to go to the Government Center in Boston, and could hardly contain myself.

"I'm Straight", not just because it's a great song but because it's a great performance. It's the kind that couldn't just be overdubbed in the booth later, it's so live.

"She Cracked," "Roadrunner," and "Hospital" in that order. But that sped-up part of "Hospital" before the non-chorus, followed by the line "I'm in love with this power that shines through in your eyes" is goop of a very high order.

All good, but tonight I'm voting for the "Astral Plane."

Roadrunner, Astral Plane, Dignified & Old, Government Center, I Wanna Sleep In Your Arms, all pretty much tied.

HOSPITAL you goons

The last 5 cuts in the list weren't on the original LP. "Gov't Center" was on an early Berserkely sampler. "Dance With Me" and "I Wanna Sleep In Your Arms" are from the The Original Modern Lovers release of 1981 (but recorded much earlier). I like JR's liner notes from that LP -

"Then there's "I Wanna Sleep In Your Arms." I know that wasn't done in '72 'cause I didn't hear the song by the Stooges that I stole the riff from 'til then and it took us a while to figure out how to play it and even longer for me to get as bored with the whole song as I sound on this version."

Wonderful LP full of great, great songs. First thought was "Roadrunner," but I can't believe nobody's repped for the touching G...I...R...L...F,R,E,N.

That's something that I understand.

i'm straight

i had to be boring and go with Roadrunner. Probably one of the most perfect rock songs of all time. WHAT A GOOD ALBUM, THOUGH! Ain't a thing wrong with it. When is the reunion, Jonathan?

everybody in the original modern lovers is still alive, right? are they going to be the only big influential proto-punk band to not reunite in any way shape or form?

"Hospital." So unspeakably sad and haunting.

urgh, tough.

what makes the album so great is that the songs feed a very specific view of the world, and I don't know that any one of them sums it all up. torn between "astral plane", "pablo picasso", "hospital".

"hospital" is the odd one, so much of the material gets by on exuberance and on richman's stubborn will to avoid other people's psychic death traps but "hospital" gives in and totally wallows in it.

"I'm straight" is great performance but the manifesto / judgmental angle to it kind of grates on me. I like the version on precise modern lovers order where the character's name is "hippie ernie". speaking of that album, if "a plea for tenderness" were on this I might vote for it.

Not everything will get a vote

But lots will get loads!

but "hospital" gives in and totally wallows in it.
maybe because it was "donated" by Jerry Harrison!

Jerry Harrison 'donated' the recording that was used for the album, the composition was still Richman's.

I can understand wanting a ML reunion but it'd be foolish to expect or ask for one, considering that Richman made a firm decision not to perform those songs in that style with that kind of band 30 years ago and has stuck to it ever since (although his shows these days with Tommy Larkins are awesome and he occasionally plays stuff like "Pablo Picasso" or "Old World").

I saw him solo in early or mid 90s and he did some stuff off this album, was kind of surprised. I think he did "pablo picasso".

Yeah, I know what the "donated" meant. I just wanted to say "donated."

ok, I just didn't understand your post, then. why would you attribute the wallowing of "Hospital" to Harrison then? is he a miserable bastard or something?

He did some surgery on Jonathan and pulled that one out from his Modern Lover entrails.

"Roadrunner".

Contrarians be damned.

put the phone back in place

i like dignified and old the best

she cracked / i'm straight coin flip.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Nothing like a quick round of voting.

Aah, only "Dance with me" got zero.

No 'modern lovers' here then?

haha I forgot to vote

the awful sub-dirge "hospital", the prototype of every sad-sack indulgent song richman would get around to writing later, got 7 votes -- and "old world" got 1?????

"Hospital" is not awful. Every song deserved 100 votes.

otm

that optimistic, new-world synth melody that pops up in the middle of "old world" is maybe my favorite thing on the whole record, and the lyrics sound like an edward hopper painting

well the old world may be dead
my parents can't understand
but i... still love my parents
and i still love the old world

i had a new york girlfriend
and she couldn't understand, how i could...
still love my parents -- and still love the old world

so I told her:
i want to keep my place in this old world
keep my place in the arcane
cause i... still love my parents
and i still love the old world

well i see a fifties apartment house
bleak in the morning sun
but i... still love the fifties
and i still love the old world

i wanna keep my place in this old world
keep my place in the arcane
cause i... still love my parents
and i still love the old world

i see the fifties apartment house
it's bleak in the 1970s sun
but i... still love the fifties
and i still love the old world

alright now we say "bye bye old world"
gotta help the new world
i say bye bye bye bye old world

sorry, hospital is horrible

I almost voted for "Old World."

But I almost voted for most of them.

You don't even like the "1969"-style raveup chorus of "Hospital," Tracer?

i never make it that far, by then i've skipped to "government center" and then it's over

Having problems with the idea of "Government Center" even being associated with this record, it's a totally different era surely?

I'm stuck with the original record as I first heard, can't include any of the bonus tracks in my head.

Yup. That's why I didn't consider voting for "I'm Straight" for too long, although that one fits the best.

He's STONED, hippiejohnnyis..

How'd I miss this? In any case, the answer should be 'I'm Straight'

Here's the tracklist I knew:

Roadrunner
Astral Plane
Old World
Pablo Picasso

She Cracked
Hospital
Someone I Care About
Girl Friend
Modern World

Yes, tho for some reason I knew "I'm Straight" as well?

The history of this record is too confusing to go over

I think there may have been a very first version with "I'm Straight" but it was taken off right away, but I'm just guessing.

So yeah, too confusing.

"Gov't Center" was on an early Berserkely sampler.

Further confusion, this was a different, later, version

I voted "Old World" and it looks like I was the only one.