Consumer Guide Album

Jonathan Richman: Only Frozen Sky Anyway [Blue Arrow, 2025]
Begins "When I make my transition/I want everyone to know I only changed position/'Cause I was only just frozen sky/Anyway." So while admittedly confused by the frozen sky stuff, I don't get why some deny that this is a death or mortality album, or brush by the possibility that at a mere 74 pioneering protopunk novelty artist Richman has been diagnosed with something not just worth keeping an eye on but actively ominous albeit far from impending—vague but all too common distinctions that I've had on my mind as an 83-year-old ever since being fitted for an ablation and a stent over the past six months. My guess is that he's happy to have such themes available, drolly at times, and note that what sounds like "dark star" here is actually "dog star": to be precise, Sirius, the very brightest in the sky. Going somewhere, Jonathan? Not yet. B+