Jonathan Richman – ¡Jonathan, Te Vas A Emocionar! (1994)

I've no idea where I picked up Richman's 1994 Spanish language album, but a JR album isn't something I'd leave sitting on the racks. It doesn't get listened to that much, and there's a fairly obvious reason for that, but let's listen to it.

This is likely to be fairly brief - there are fifteen songs on the album, delivered in Richman's minimal style, but obviously with a Spanish feel, and mostly classical acoustic guitar accompaniment, and all are a good listen. But without understanding the language, the usual Richman humour passes me by, and the songs lose something. And while the 'spot what the song was in English' game is fun, I haven't heard one where the Spanish version (not just language, but also arrangement) is superior to the original.

Perhaps my highlight is Melodia Tradicional Ecuadoriana, a flamenco style version of Egyptian Reggae, which raised a smile, but to a non-Spanish speaker, this experiment doesn't work. To paraphrase, Dr Johnson, perhaps the notable thing is that this was done at all, rather than whether it was done well.

Link to album tracks

3* - a nice listen, but Jonathan's humour fails to come through in the Spanish lyrics.