This next installment of Boston/LA wasn't intentional.
It just happened because both of them have "Modern" in their name and ended up next to each other in the SSC file folder.
Man in Black ep (1983)
Toxic Shock records. West Coast punk rock circa 1983.
It's everything you hope for and expect from that tidbit of info.
Not the best. Not the worst of the bunch.
If I were Robert Christagau, I might give it a B-/C+
New England (live) (1977)
In the middle 70s the Modern Lovers 2.0 did a jaunt through the Old Country (or "Old World", you might say) and came away with a really sweet live Lp out of the deal.
I picked up all those sweet and goofy Beserkley lp out of the cut-out bin and the Musicsmith at the Hanover Mall sealed for a couple of bucks a pop and treasured them through high school.
It wasn't until I got to college that I finally secured a copy of the first Modern Lovers lp. That was a game changer.
Anyway. Jonathan was trying to move forward from the previous incarnation of the band, but he kept "Roadrunner" as an encore (which was put on the b-side to a different single from the set) He also apparently thought enough of "Astral Plain" to keep it available and it ended up as the flip to the live version of "New England"
It's a really sweet version too. I have no complaints about it.
(B-) for Modern Industry from me. Satisfied with Man In Black. Dig it. Old rocker Jonathan doesn't need my votes or evaluation, he is an institution of original (or proto-) indie pop anyhow.
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