It's taken 25 years, but the world has finally discovered Jonathan Richman. Sure, it may seem odd that such an underground hero would get his break by way of "There's Something About Mary," but believe it because Richman, the guitar- weilding muse who bridged scenes with his profoundly simple storytelling, is a "Mary" kind of guy. And he always has been. Even back when he and the Modern Lovers were applying shades of the Velvet Underground and the Doors to such classics as "Astral Plane" and "Pablo Picasso," there was something friendly about Richman. The kicker was that it was, and still is, genuine friendliness.

Who else could pull off earnest lines like, "We gotta rock at the government center/ to make the secretaries feel better/ when they put the stamps on the letter," without getting laughed out of the underground? Maybe David Byrne, but for all his earnestness, Byrne is simply a Richman imitator (something the not- so- discerning and discerning listener alike will realize the minute Richman opens his mouth). But sincerity can't be imitated.

I'm So Confused is the same old Richman, if a little more reflective about relationships. During the middle of the album, he goes through various naive stages of love-- "I'm So Confused," "True Love Is Not Nice," "Hello From Cupid," "If She Don't Love Me"-- that would make you think the ol' forty- something was just starting high school in Mayberry. Even without love, the innocence comes through like a gee-whiz flashback on "Nineteen In Naples," which features the perfect lyric, "When I was nineteen I was insecure/ Now ain't that nineteen?/ I was over- intellectual, that's for sure/ Nineteen in Naples."

Producer Ric Ocasek makes himself known, which is to say that many of the synth-pop touches sound like the Cars. But with Richman singing and playing acoustic guitar, it's not pop you're getting-- it's true folk for the modern age, where thinking about things has superceded doing things.

But Richman's style is so face- value that it takes a certain mood to not become annoyed occasionally. But the irony of this unironic batch of instant singalongs is that many who come to Richman by way of "Mary" will write off I'm So Confused as a kitsch, Stuart Small-ish self- reflection-- complete with the undercurrent of sadness-- when in fact Richman is one of the most universal guys in music.

You can take "Love Me Like I Love" as a Mister Rogers tune for grownups, but when Richman sings "I want to open up my lunchbox/ And find a peanut- butter- jelly sandwich there/ Just like when I was six years old/ And someone loved me," you can't help realize: that's exactly what everyone wants.

-Shan Fowler