Monkees New Christmas Album?

I love the fact that we got brand new songs in 2018 and a Christmas Album! I think it will be much easier following this up then Good Times! Since Mike is still having fun as a Monkee...let’s get him to write and sing a couple more for a new album.

 

If you are really into getting more into the Monkees, I suggest the book, The Monkees - the Day-by-Day story of the '60's TV pop Sensation by Andrew Sandoval. It is literally a day to day history of the band and their activities from filming, recording, touring, etc. In it, there is an alphabetical list of songs they recorded 18 pages full of about 30+ tracks per page. Now there are live takes listed and even First National Band tracks too. I guess that was because that was going on simultaneously to the Changes LP activity. Anyhow, you can get a feel for what is left but with the Missing Links and Good Times, which was half a Missing Links in its own right, plus the Sessions and Boxed sets, there may not be much still out there. But I bet there are 5 or 6 good ones to put with 5 or 6 new ones from the Difford and Tilbrook, Partridge and lets get Elvis Costello in the mix - there is another great CD there! Someone ask Micky and Mike at their March shows!

 

Thanks for the information!

So, Mike was originally going to be part of Changes? What happened?

 

Short version, at the beginning of 1970, Mike negotiated a release from his contract and started the First National Band. You may already know, Peter did the same thing on Dec. 31, 1968. The Monkees were formed differently than most bands and although groups break up all the time and there are bands with changes to personnel; I am not sure any group went from 4 to 3 to 2, without any replacements being added like they did. And I am nearly certain that no group did almost 4 albums of music with just submitting their own tracks with little involvement from the others except the occasional crossovers mentioned previously up in this thread. If you like Mike's contributions to the Monkees, you would almost certainly enjoy a lot of his post Monkees work, as that sound (although even more country) remained.

 

I was a little dismayed to see that Rhino did virtually no promotion for Justus, not even a single. But I remember an old interview from 1979 where Nez was asked about a theoretical reunion, and he basically described what they ended up doing in 1996 -- except it came out on Rhino rather than Pacific Arts. One of the things he mentioned though, was no hype, no ads, etc. He just wanted people to "discover it on its own merits." So I think the lack of promotion may have been quite deliberate.

 

Who do you think would have been best to sing this other Andy Partridge song written for Christmas Party?:

Santa Claus Says Can He Borrow the Monkeemobile

Peter?

 

Have you ever heard his commentary parts on the movie Head? Talk about backpedaling. He's ridiculous.

 

I remember taking a Rhino internet poll to see what fans thought the "single" from Justus should be.

I was working for Tower Records at the time and dealt with Rhino. I pushed the album at my store a lot. I played it at least once a day. There was a lot of confusion with Rhino at the time, but really I was told there would be a bigger push on the album when the tour with all four Monkees came to the US. Once Michael backed out and the album did so poorly and got negative reviews, they had given up.

 

I got into the Monkees around the age of 8 or so, when I was given an old DVD copy of the 1997 release of "Our Favorite Episodes" with all four talking about different episodes of the series. I fell in love with the music, and immediately got the Best of CD. After that, my interest waned for a bit, lost the cd, DVD got scratched, etc.
Then Davy died. I found the DVD in the garage and watched it all day on repeat, because that was all I had. Later that same year I was given three records to start my collection, The Beach Boys' "Smiley Smile", and the 1996 Sundazed reissues of "Headquarters" and PACJ. I ended up listening to those two Monkees albums over and over, and I HAD to get them all. Now I have all the studio releases, the live album, DJBH, most of Mike's solo stuff, and various bootlegs all on vinyl (33 1/3 tv special soundtrack and the 1986 reunion show with Mike are just a couple examples). My love for this band knows no bounds and I learn so many new things here on the forum and I'd like to thank everyone who sheds light on the behind-the-scenes stuff.

 

No, it's a great song! Of course I like REM too, but not enough to think I'm biased. It's a really cool tune and I agree is very Monkees sounding.

 

There are a lot of conflicting pieces of this puzzle, but the previous poster is right: IE, Mike saw a way out and jumped the same way Peter did in 1968.

However, there was a period in late 68 and early 69, where Nez was attempting to try something new within the Monkees project/band. We don't really know what that vision was, or if there even was a real vision, but we know he was recording material up to/after the release of Present with the intention of the other Monkees attaching vocals. Some have speculated that the Changes cover art was actually ready with him on it, and was simply altered to crop him out because of that weird red shadow which would have been the shadow from his guitar. The tricky thing about the Monkees' individual visions for the band, was that they ultimately seemed to have little control over what appeared on records. Even when they claimed that no one cared at all. Another frustrating tidbit, at this point, they are often the least reliable narrators. Nez is often patently wrong about even his own songs, Dolenz isn't joking when he sings "I was there and I was told I had a good time", and Peter wasn't really involved with anything after early 1968, and was pretty shafted by the band/members throughout its entire existence.

If you are interested in late period Monkees, and the material that Nez was generating for the band, I would check out the deluxe handmade editions of Instant Replay and Present. They shed some light on what each member was cooking up, and the unreleased material often far surpasses the material that was released.

 

I haven't seen this yet; but I imagine it would frustrate me to no end as both a Monkees superfan (especially due to HEAD), and a Nez-fan in general. Nothing though, will ever top Jones writing off Head (both the album and the movie) as the product of "stoned hippies with too much money."

It's quotes like these which lead me to believe that poor David and the guys were totally oblivious to what was going on around them. To quote the a recent novel on American class literacy:

"Richard Nixon knew that Vietnam was no longer supported by middle america when Davy Jones said 'The war is just a real bummer, man' while being interviewed by Carson."​

The quote isn't a real quote, the book is satire, but it's dead on.

I would like to think that Nez and Peter were more cognizant of Head's impact, and Nez does seem to regard the album highly even today, but I am not so sure. That recent book on HEAD, The Monkees, & The 60's was more coherent and respectful/insightful regarding the Monkees legacy than anything I have seen in the past decade from the members proper.

Unless you want to consider, "Nemoy became a vulcan!" for the one trillionth time.

 

Really, sometimes they are all so full of it and themselves at the same time! It's like, if they just went back and listened to the first 6 albums or so, they could get a pretty good idea of what they were, but no let's just leave it up to faulty memories and individual interpretation.

 

"my love reaches escape velocity" I love that line.

 

I love the 1996 TV special. Wish it would get a DVD release, though it sadly probably never will.

"What was that?"
"Um.. a lizard sunning itself on a rock."

 

I always laughed way too hard at: "No! I'm Ethel Merman!"

It seriously nailed the hijinx of the original 60's run!

 

Yes! That is hilarious.

There was a chance that a later period Blu-Ray would have come out, but since the original series didn't sell out yet, it's doubtful it will happen. I do believe ONE day this will have to come out and when it does, I hope they put the JUSTUS VHS on there remastered too, because that's almost like a whole other TV special as well.

 

I also love Micky's diatribe on "safe kissing". He does the line reading in a really Patrick Bateman way which is just perfect. "Remember when Davy asked me for that Kiss? That was as dangerous, as it was bizarre! I've seen people catch fire just from shaking hands."

 

LOL! Yes that part is great. The way he delivers that line "That was as dangerous as it was bizarre!" is classic. Micky is definitely like young quirky Micky in that special.

I rewatched the whole thing recently and I was surprised at how solid and funny it was. I also like Mike actually explaining how it's hard to find a plot saying "You know we'd probably own this place by now!" It's really a shame people were so hard on them at the time, between the album, the special and the tour in the UK, which I didn't see live but have a couple different full length videos of and I can't understand why people were so hard on it. That was an awesome tour and an awesome show.

 

The humor of the '96 special was IMO spot on with the 60s humor, just updated for a more modern feel.
"Wanna boil that cabbage down, boys?"
"Tossing Cookies"
and the ever popular Antarctica song!

 

I recently saw an interview of Mike on YouTube, from sometime just in the last few years, and at one point he says, in reference to being in the Monkees, something like, "Have you ever been involved in something and then you look back and wonder why you did it, because that's just not you?" My initial reaction to that was, "Wait, are you embarrassed that you were in the Monkees? If so, why? And don't you realize that was probably the best thing that ever happened to you professionally?"

Also, what is the "Nemoy became a vulcan!" thing?

 

There is an episode of All In The Family
called "Everybody Tells The Truth." My favorite episode of the series. It's based on Rashomon. That's kind of what I think of when I listen to the individual Monkees' recollections of past events.

I remember reading something about Paul Revere & The Raiders, where Mark Lindsay said their story was like a car accident. "I was on one corner, Phil and Drake were on another, and Smitty was across the street..." or words to that effect.

 

Rough translation is that over the years, the Monkees became a real band over time even though the members were originally cast for a TV series.

 

The 1997 TV reunion special is an odd duck. I find moments of it to be quite funny, but on the other hand, it seems awkward. Looking back now, I'm glad it is there for us fans to enjoy. I don't think it will get an official release on Blu-ray or whatever format there might be in the future.

 

I'm happy with the Christmas album. If it is the last release, so be it. (I'd rather see more new releases, of course!) I never thought they would release another album after Davy's passing.

I really hope Peter is doing better soon and we see more of him sometime soon. And it is great to see Mike bounce back from his health problems just a few months ago.