Although he's been around for a minute beforehand, many were introduced to Jonathan Richman's musings as the musical filler between sequences of the Farrelly Brothers' film "There's Something About Mary":http://www.thestore24.com/Music/SearchResults.aspx?sec=all+music&SEARCH=there%27s+something+about+mary&si=rhino but one listen to "Not So Much to Be Loved as to Love,":http://www.thestore24.com/Music/Album.aspx?p_id=P+++++5268&a_id=R+++695690&PersonID=P%20%20%20%20%205268&prodid=SAVP89404.2&si=rhino and you'll find many reasons to continue doing so. "My Baby Love Loves Me" is catchy in an acoustic Ziggy Stardust kind of way and "In Che Mondo" sounds like a Gipsy Kings outtake gone all kinds of wrong but in a good way. "Cosi Veloce" will have the listener reaching for a bottle of grappa while dancing a little Anthony Quinn jig by the speaker. Who else would have the minerals to put out an album containing asides to Ver Meer, odes to smelly alleys, flamenco tunes with French lyrics and an accordion-backed lament in honor of the imprisoned Mumia Abu Jamal? You gotta love JR, if only for his range - there's a couple of hidden versions at the end too. It must be said, to those new to the artist, that the drumming is still loose as hell and the guitar strums are doubly so at times but if you're a Richman fan, all this is not a new bulletin and you'll be happy to know that stylistically, he's "still a little aeroplane." Get yourself a copy of NSMTBLATL PDQ - it's definitely worth many listens.