Jonathan Richman Previews New Songs, Dances Up a Storm in New York

Three songs into his Tuesday-night set at the Bell House in Brooklyn, N.Y., Jonathan Richman made like he was going to play 'Pablo Picasso,' one of the classics he wrote as leader of '70s proto-punks the Modern Lovers. Then, he stopped, claiming he doesn't do "retrospectives."

"If I don't feel 'em, I don't do 'em," he told the audience, still playing the riff on the nylon-string acoustic he cradles without a strap. "But I like the guitar part."

True to his word, the inscrutably charming Massachusetts native offered nothing resembling a career overview. More so than usual, he drifted in and out of songs, changing up rhythms, improvising lyrics and drawing heavily from his two most recent albums, 2008's 'Because Her Beauty Is Raw and Wild' and its follow-up, 'O Moon, Queen of Night on Earth,' due out Nov. 9.

It was a chancy move, although fans unfamiliar with such new songs as 'If You Want to Leave the Party, Just Go' and 'We'll Be the Noise, We'll Be the Scandal' needed not strain to grasp their meanings.

Like most Richman tunes, they're plainspoken, childlike odes to purity and true love. On 'These Bodies That Came to Cavort,' he lamented the fact that people park themselves behind desks all day rather than surrender to the rhythmic urges coded into our DNA.

Richman certainly isn't one to deny himself the pleasures of dancing. Of the many ways he's able to stretch out a song -- switching suddenly to Spanish or Italian, commenting on his lyrics with meandering asides, accompanying longtime drummer and touring partner Tommy Larkins on sleigh bell, etc. -- busting moves is by far his favorite.

Tuesday night, as Larkin supplied his beloved calypso, doo-wop and Sam Cooke-style soul rhythms, Richman twitched and shimmied like a Cuban bandleader, occasionally striking poses reminiscent of Rodin's 'Thinker' statue.

"Not just me -- everyone dance!" Richman begged at one point in the show. If only we all could move to the beat of this guy's drummer.