Hey gang. Went to the Boston show last night. Splendid time as always with Micky and Peter. Obviously missed Mike (who must be having serious second-guessing-itis based on his Facebook posts) but the show was fun and enjoyable. Starting off with a re-arranged and energetic version of Listen To The Band. It was great fun watching Micky drumming on Saturday's Child.... he played with enthusiasm and skill. Steam Engine was a real highlight... nice vocal and some great guitar playing too. Micky did a spirited take of Johnny B. Good (telling the story of Micky and One Nighters and that THIS very song got him his Monkees contract). Peter followed with a high energy version of Higher and Higher (Motwon meets Appalacia). Shades of Grey was wonderful. Perfectly timed with the audio of Davy singing. Peter sings it better now than he did back then. Micky LOVES the new single, She Makes Me Laugh. He said so and preceded to sing his a$$ off. The crowd really enjoyed it too. Both Micky and Peter were in good spirits throughout... Peter even more goofy than usual. Dancing jigs all over the stage at various points. He also did a fabulous version of For Pete's Sake (he said, so titled by Nez)...playing lead guitar and singing it quite nicely. They also did a excellent version of Let's Dance On.... where Micky premised the song by saying Peter taught him how to play drums to mime for the pilot! Too much going on today with family and friends to give a song by song review, but it was a very enjoyable show. No signs off rust here, as in the earlier shows. The backing band was tight. A few issues.... the Wilbur Theater was HOT. No AC and with temps in the 70's it was a bit uncomfortable for all. So much so, that they allowed people to go outside during intermission, usually a no-no at this venue. The sound was clear, but not very loud. At times Peter was almost inaudible... they boosted him considerably during Grizelda. The bass was too subdued, but the drums, guitar and keyboards were nicely balanced. Finally, the merchandise table had some nice items... and prices were quite reasonable. Not sure if they were sold out, but when I looked at intermission, but there were no Good Times CDs available?! Ron PS The new album is really, really good. Almost shockingly so. Micky sounds reborn vocally... and having Mike so involved makes it that much sweeter. Will they do a sequel? Probably not, but what a winning way to go out. Even Mike is shocked that they are number one on Amazon. He's even looking for is hat
It's so great to be able hear all the track on YouTube before my CD arrives. It's really good and enjoyable. There's only two tracks that I think are a let down - Gotta Give It Time, and Whatever's Right. I can understand the historical significance of the songwriters of those song in the Monkees catalog and wanting to include them, but I think they're not good enough to include. I'm more partial to Whatever's Right, but maybe there was another Boyce and Hart track they could have used? I think Gotta Give It Time should have been left unfinished in the vaults and it's spot given to something else, like Terrifying, as someone previously suggested
Very astute of you. Yeah the production sounds 'thinner'. Sounds like a catchy good tune though. But I gotta ask, why is the band's archivist producing one of these historic tracks in the first place. What's next, midnight swim in Dolenz pool, dating the Monkees daughters . It reminds me of a story. As a starving musician I worked as an extra in a cheesy Roger Corman film, sword & sorcery, eventially I recieved a $40 check ! At one point I told the assistant director, this ain't for me, he said " stick with us kid, Corman doesn't pay much but you'll be assistant director in 2 weeks" Can anybody pm me about this track, I spent 24 grumpy hours straight looking for it. Good song, definitely different thinner sounding production, but seems like a good poppy fun tune, er if I could hear it
How long was the show? I am seeing them at the PNE fair in early September (5th row seats ) and am concerned it might end up being a truncated show due to time constraints. I think I recall 60-70 minutes being the typical length of shows there. I could do without "Auntie Grizelda", "Johnny B. Goode" and "D.W. Washburn", but knowing my luck they'd probably drop "The Porpoise Song", "She Makes Me Laugh" and "The Girl I Knew Somewhere".
Much like "That's Why God Made the Radio," I wasn't expecting this to even be listenable, let alone enjoyable even if you're not a hardcore fan. (And bonus, it doesn't have Mike Love on it.) You wonder, why couldn't they have gotten something like this together before now, when everyone was alive and well? All it took was asking the right people for help. As far as Davy's contribution goes, a song like that isn't familiar to a medium Monkees fan like me, who knows all the major songs from the original quartet albums but doesn't know things like outtakes from Changes or whatever album it was. I think it's fine to use something like that with some tweaks. Some have said they don't think the mix of old and new tracks felt right but I think it was a good idea to have others so they could have a song with Davy on there without it being a sore thumb. But it's too bad there couldn't have been more than one -- there must have been something else like that they could have reworked, surely? (Heck they could have reworked album tracks from those last Monkees records for all I would know.) Nesmith's odd relationship with the Monkees is, well, odd. Wouldn't it be more enjoyable and meaningful working on a record like this and performing for the anniversary than finishing some book few are going to read and that could easily wait a year? I suspect he thought it would suck and only realized at the last minute that it was going to work. It's good that he contributed as much he did but his ambivalence must be exasperating for everyone.
There's no way the PNE show will be the full on tour setlist. But I don't know about 60-70 minutes... I think they're usually 90 min or so. I thought I saw a setlist in the tour thread of the shorter Monkees show they do in that kind of setting.
Day 2 or is it 3, searching for Love"s What I Want. The long clip is tantalizing, can someone explain how our Japanese member acquired it ? Thanks
Thanks. I have the technical expertise of a house cat, so, maybe I have a Japanese friend in the Rolodex, not likely. It'll turn up so far I'm in with tax & shipping about $39 for 16 songs, not doing another $20 plus for one more produced by the archivist. If FYE honors their best price, maybe it'll knock off $4
I think fireworks start at 10pm every night so they'd only be able to do 90 min, and that'd be pushing it.
I don't understand what that means, I hope so. Why are the other 16 available in 50 locations but nothing for this it's wild crazy but not fun. I wanna burn my own comp versions. But I need that one, it's gonna be in my top 10. Based on the 90 sec clip, in spite of thinner sounding production ( sonically ) I'm guessing this tune will be around 6-8th on my faves list, based on the clever poppy vibe. I'm missing Jones more & more, on Good Times, here's why. Dolenz sounds great throughout, on his 8-9 songs or 10. Nesmith sounds outstanding on his 3 ( 1 w/Dolenz) I like the 1 Jones track quite a bit. The 3 Tork tracks, are sung pretty well by him, as good as he can do. They aren't horrible, & some diehard Monkees fans love it like Manna from heaven. But frankly to 85% of listeners, they are the weakest 3, if for no other reason, than Tork is the weakest lead singer, his deeper mellow voice, doesn't really fit upbeat pop. His songwriting on (2-of-3) is weaker also, than the likes of N Diamond A Partridge L, Boyce/Hart etc etc. People who want to pick their fave 10-14 tracks, are gonna be axing the Tork songs in disproportionate numbers. We have an over abundance of Dolenz, doing a lot of the album. Mike only does 3, but his 3 are all really strong. Davy only does 1, & production wise, sonically along with the other (unfinished) 60s tracks, it's a little primitive, compared to the new Schlesinger tracks. I'm not trying to offend anyone, but to me Torks contributions are kinda weak, only 1 short Davy tune, it's mostly Dolenz with 3 great Nesmith. Out of balance. Because traditionally both Dolenz & Jones sang the hits & the majority . Yeah Jones died, we know. But if you're gonna use a posthumous contribution from Jones, use 2-3 good ones, make up for Torks weaker contributions & Dolenz singing more than other 3 put together . It's not rocket science, it's pretty obvious. I dig the album a lot, it's very good, but it's pretty easy to see, as an armchair quarterback, how it could be 20% better Where is that darn loves what I want
Slightly less than two hours. They played for exactly an hour (8:02 to 9:02) with a 15 minute intermission, then almost another hour. Grizelda was funny with Peter dancing all over the stage and Micky on drums. Johnny B Goode was really better than expected. Hearing Let's Dance On and especially Saturday's Child with Micky on drums were unexpected highlights. Ron
Definitely sucks to have to wait for Japan track. I ordered a cd.....looks like June 22nd release and then wait to be shipped. My buddy in Japan is in Germany and then Paris for McCartney shows so looks like a long wait!!!
