Jonathan Richman

Sanctuary/Castle's Home of the Hits!: The Best of Jonathan Richman & the Modern Lovers is an odd, and oddly satisfying, double-disc collection. The first disc is the one that lives up to the title, containing 20 selections from Richman's recordings for Beserkley, including five selections from the classic first Modern Lovers album from 1971 ("Astral Plane" and "Pablo Picasso" aren't here, but there's no arguing with what was included), while rounding up the highlights from his enjoyable, but occasionally inconsistent, late-'70s followup. The second disc has nothing to do with Jonathan Richman and everything to do with Beserkley Records in general, collecting 22 highlights from the classic New Wave label, including classic sides from Greg Kihn, the Rubinoos, the Tyla Gang, the Spitballs, and Earth Quake, among others. Not quite a definitive Beserkley compilation, since it's missing a few cool oddities, but close enough all the same. The only wonder is why these two albums were packaged together like this, billed as a solo Richman compilation. Regardless of the reason why, this disc is a hell of a lot of fun, delivering almost all of the best of Richman's early years (the first Modern Lovers album is still essential, of course), and almost all of the great Beserkley sides. Pretty nifty trick, that. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide