Jonathan Richman, Charmingly Quirky and Reflective on ‘Only Frozen Sky Anyway’: Review
by Jeff Burger
The word “eccentric” could have been created to describe Jonathan Richman, who has traveled his own charmingly quirky road for decades. His 18th studio album, which is no exception, includes a song title that can serve as a warning of what to expect: “But We Might Try Weird Stuff.”
Weird, perhaps, but virtually everything works on the CD, called Only Frozen Sky Anyway, which Richman recorded in less than a week with backup from two longtime associates: Talking Heads keyboardist Jerry Harrison, who shared stages with the singer in the Modern Lovers, and drummer Tommy Larkin. Richman co-produced the mostly self-penned set with his wife, Nicole Montalbano, who plays tamboura on two tracks, and Harrison.
Jonathan Richman (photo from his Bandcamp page)
On many of his albums, Richman has projected a sense of childlike innocence. On portions of this CD, however, he eschews that side of his personality as he ponders mortality. His liner notes mention the loss of two musician friends, David Johansen and Andy Paley, and suggest that the record is largely “about how our friends are leaving, in their dying, on an errand, only to return.” Richman underscores that theme in “Se Va Pa’ Volver,” whose French title translates to English as “he’s leaving to come back.” Then there’s the album’s opening track, “I Was Just a Piece of Frozen Sky Anyway,” where Richman, 74, contemplates his own death and sings, “When I make my transition, I want everyone to know I only changed position…It’s not a big change.”
The end of life isn’t the only topic on this rhythmic, eminently listenable set, which contains more lyrically upbeat moments than the above paragraph might suggest. “The Older Girl,” for example, looks back on a 14-year-old’s attraction to a 15-year-old, while the acoustic “Night Fever” injects elements of the Bee Gees hit by that name into a very different song about a Saturday night in Europe.
The album, released in July 2025, is available in the U.S./worldwide here, in Canada here and in the U.K. here.
Related: Our picks for the best classic rock albums of 2025
Burger wrote one of the first interview-based profiles of Bruce Springsteen to be published in a national magazine. He has interviewed many other music-world luminaries as well, including Steve Van Zandt, Roger McGuinn, John Sebastian, Wolfman Jack, Tom Waits, Foreigner’s Mick Jones, Billy Joel, Steve Forbert, Tommy James, the Righteous Brothers, Gordon Lightfoot, Deep Purple’s Tommy Bolin, and members of Steely Dan and the Marshall Tucker Band. He has also interviewed many other public figures, such as Suze Orman, Daymond John, James Carville, Donald Trump, Sir Richard Branson, F. Lee Bailey, and Cliff Robertson.
His books include Dylan on Dylan: Interviews and Encounters, Lennon on Lennon: Conversations with John Lennon, Leonard Cohen on Leonard Cohen: Interviews and Encounters, and Springsteen on Springsteen: Interviews, Speeches, and Encounters, all of which are published in the U.S. and Canada by Chicago Review Press. The books have been republished in numerous other countries.
Burger has been the editor of several periodicals, including Business Jet Traveler, from which he retired in 2024. During his 20 years at that
publication, it received more than 120 major editorial awards, including multiple wins for the world’s Best Consumer Travel Magazine in the annual Folio:Eddie competition.
Burger lives in Ridgewood, New Jersey. His wife, Madeleine Beresford, is a puppeteer and former preschool director and teacher. The couple have two grown children.
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