Original made in the USA private pressing LP # 79 (out of 100 copies), cover M-, insert sheet taped to front, NO seam or spine splits, NO cut-out markings, NO ring-wear, orange colored vinyl M-, NO scratches, plays excellent. BOTH have music ONLY on 1 side (BOTH say "For Laura" + "LP1" on the dead wax). ONLY 100 copies were made, but I'm NOT sure if that means 100 copies on red ONLY, or 100 copies in ALL colors? Until I find identical #'s on DIFFERENT colored vinyl, I will NOT know for sure.... Now, when was it pressed? I don't know. There is NO year date ANYWHERE on either disc or cover. Plain white glossy cover with taped on cover sheet of song titles + Jonathan with a bunch of kids, looks like they're shooting dice or something....
When was it recorded? That we know. Recorded by The Modern Lover himself, on a portable cassette recorder, sometime in 1974. Jonathan Richman, solo, with acoustic guitar, playing 10 songs to a friend named Laura, hence the title of the LP, "Songs For Laura (1974)". There were originally 11 songs on the tape, the 11th song (the old campfire favorite "Kumbaya" is MISSING here on this LP). And, who hasn't heard of Kumbaya? We've probably even sung it ourselves a couple of dozen times! I know I have, when I was a kid in the 1960s, in elementary school.... So what are these other 10 songs.....?
The 1st 2, "Government Center" & "The New Teller" we remember from their "more polished" versions on the 1975 LP "The Best of Berserkley Vol. 1" and the 1980 Warner Bros. promo 2LP "Troublemakers", but the heartfelt, stripped down versions here are pure FUN!
The next 2 are new, "Thunderbolts of Joy" and "My Honest Dear" (which could be an early version of "Hi Dear" from his very 1st Berserkley Records 1976 LP "Jonathan Richman and The Modern Lovers").
The 5th song is the 1929 classic "Singing In The Rain" written by Fred Arthur & Brown Naceo Herb and made "Golden" in the 1952 classic movie where Gene Kelly does that INCREDIBLE dance scene in the rain! Again, Jonathan's honest delivery makes it SHINE!
Songs 6 & 7, "So Much Respect For You" and "I'm Not Alone (The Heavens Love Me)" define Richman's new "outlook" on LIFE from 1974 forward.... Having left THE MODERN LOVERS (mach 1 - Jerry Harrison, David Robinson, Ernie Brooks, John Felice) behind him, including changing from the hard rocking, desperation / hard-edged Velvet Underground style sound... he was moving forwards to forming the mach 2 version of the Modern Lovers, a lower volume, softer sound, if you will... He took the "I'm Straight" guy down to being "just a normal, average guy"... noticing the "simple things in life..."
Song #8,"Hi Fred, We Still Love You" is especially curious...? Who is this Fred?
Laura's boyfriend? (in 1974) when Jonathan made this tape for her?
The 9th song is my favorite on the LP! And it is also very familiar to kids that grew up in the 1950s, having been recorded by Billy Lee Riley & The Little Green Men in 1957 as Jonathan matter-of-factly mentions on the tape, it's "Flying Saucers Rock and Roll", and Jonathan tears into it with so much force that he breaks a guitar string after singing the 1st verse and he has to stop & explain to Laura on the tape, then restarts the song again, until he completes it! GREAT.
Finally, he sings "Wonderful Girl" directly "in your face" to Laura herself.
Serenading her, like the mariachi boyfriends in Mexico used to do, when their sweetheart was at the window (and her parents were busy elsewhere), and "love was in the air" and in the night.
It's a great record, if low-fi.