Rockin' and Romance is the fifth album by American rock band Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers, released in 1985 as part of a two-album deal for Richman with Geoff Travis's Rough Trade Records label in the UK. Originally planned for release in the U.S. by Sire Records, it was issued there by Twin/Tone Records.
John Leland of Spin wrote, "On an album of absolutely no musical sophistication, Richman uses eight backup singers. Behind his lovably clumsy and tuneless singing, they harmonize on oohs, ahhs, and other exquisite nonsense syllables. The rest of the sound is Richman's cheaply recorded and sometimes out-of-tune acoustic guitar." Richie Unterberger praised the album on Allmusic, stating "while it is generally true that many of Richman's post-1980 albums are all but interchangeable, with their earnest naive cheerfulness, this stands as one of the best." Robert Christgau wrote in the Village Voice, "It's a thin line between ooh and ick, and when he starts saying bum for ass (butt, buns, behind, backside, rear end, tush, I'll even settle for bottom) you can figure the feybirds have flitted off with another album. I like Walter Johnson myself, but Jonathan should realize that maybe Vincent van Gogh deserved to be called an asshole."
All songs written by Jonathan Richman.
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