a little sonic candy-o to flesh out the songs (dig those New Wave synths), and since Richman needs help from his supporting players as much as the next rock & roll eccentric, the lively production keeps the beat moving while Richman plays a mean skiffle guitar and broods over lost love: "The night is still young/And the bed is still cold/And I'm tired of hanging around all alone." After a decade of drab, interchangeable records, it's a shock to hear Richman face up to adult loneliness with so much soul – in "Hello From Cupid," "The Night Is Still Young" and "I Can't Find My Best Friend," he really sounds like a forty-seven-year-old guy sleeping by himself and hating it. I'm So Confused delivers an emotional punch that nobody expected again from Jonathan Richman – probably not even Jonathan himself. (RS 800)

ROB SHEFFIELD