The founder of The Modern Lovers, Jonathan Richman, was heavily influenced by the Velvet Underground. His original band had members that went on to bigger bands (Jerry Harrison to The Talking Heads and David Robinson to The Cars). Richman himself changed musical direction after the dissolution of The Modern Lovers, and has distanced himself from this early work.
This is an interesting album. It’s not really a release by The Modern Lovers but it’s composed of a number of tracks recorded in 1972 & released by the Beserkley label in 1976 (the band had broken up in 1974). The original 1976 release ends with “Modern World”. There are additional tracks with subsequent releases. There is great guitar & organ work on this album, and I really like Richman’s nasally, half sung lyrical style. This all fits so well.
Despite their short existence and not having an album release during their life as a band, their work has been hailed as hugely influential to the punk movement and subsequent “art rock” bands. I can definitely hear elements that may have influenced Television, one of my favourite bands. This is a very fresh sound for 1972, and perhaps they could have achieved some measure of success, however Richman wanted to move in a different direction musically, leading to the band’s dissolution.
Here are links to some more info, should you be interested.
Interview with Ernie Brooks, one of the founding members, here. Album review from Pitchfork, here. Link to the album’s wiki page, here.