The Monkees - Worth checking out?

Thanks for the interesting songs posted folks - stuff I have never heard before. It all shows that the band had as much to offer as other POP bands of the time. They were working around the same styles and themes as Love, Country Joe, Lovin' Spoonful, Hollies, Zombies,... even some of Spirit (who I love). So I can see that it is a shame that their reputation as a manufactured TV boys band is detrimental to their image and the actual talent that they had. However this is a genre that I don't really enjoy, even though I am a total Beatles and Byrds nut.

 

Glad we were able to help you broaden your views on the Monkees.

 

Here's one from the Pisces album, was almost released as a single.

 

Another from the Pisces album.

 

Nah, they'll just say they're all photoshopped.

 

I mean, in terms of the time and effort spent into this one song.

 

Never saw it. My bad.

 

Not avoiding the greatest hits. I love them. Just saying there's more than just that. And want to be clear here, I'm not trying to change the mind of anyone who doesn't like their music. Fans are trying to bring to light the fact that they have other music than Davy Jones just crooning to 13 year old girls. I also want to bring up the fact that engaging antiMonkee people usually goes like this:

Anti Monkees person: "The Monkees were a pretend band on TV. They suck because of that."

Fan who knows the actual history: "The project started that way, yeah. But all four were musicians prior, were peers with all the usual 60's folks, always performed live as a unit (unlike The Mamas & Papas, bleoved Motown acts, etc), Nesmith was the pioneer of Country Rock (again, whether you like his music or not) and producing way before nearly all the classic 60's act, rebelled against the machine that created them, and has had some of the most successful reunions of any of their peers.

Anti Monkees person: *never heard from again. No further engagement.*

Anyway I seriously doubt that anti-Monkees people would ever give any of their music a fair shot. The tinge is there forever but anyway here's one I like a lot. Enjoy:

 

Just beware: I'm stuck at home on my computer all night doing grad school homework, having a "few" pints, and the only way to alleviate the boredom is to periodically post Monkee clips as a response to your inquiry. They have a huge catalog, I'm a huge fan, and that pile of Guinness bottles next to me keeps getting higher & higher...

 

Not a great clip, but jeez, can folks finally at least admit they were musicians? (boo RNRHOF) (one step at a time):

 

Jones was always the lightweight musically in the group, but he had some enjoyable stuff. Here's one he had Neil Young play on:

 

And Dolenz was the new kid on the block when it came to writing songs. So his were usually ape $h*t crazy that didn't follow any established rules. Results were often mixed but always fun and interesting. Like a kid in a studio trying out whatever idea pops into his head. You can almost see the looks on producers' faces (if Dolenz wasn't in fact producing-which he often was.) I think his great voice is kinda undisputed. Still holds up. Anyway, here's a weird one he wrote and sings with his sister guesting:

 

One last one before I get back to this homework. a "Barn Burner" written and produced by Nez:

 

Ha. Yeah it is. But don't worry us Monkee fans will try to help. Most Mono mixes are either on 2 Disc Deluxe sets or the 3 Disc sets.

 

Curious, as a Byrds fan how do you feel about Nesmith's material? I'm also a Byrds fan, but they really cheese me off at their instance of saying they invented Country-Rock (Hillman's 1967 Time Between) despite Nesmith producing these songs since 1965 and dismissing Nesmith in general, even after The Monkees (who's musical partner was Red Rhodes). Hillman thinks Time Between was the first Country Rock song? I'd say this is (and it's probably very distinctly Country and Rock. You can almost hear the separation. Was done a year before Hillman's song. And Nesmith rules if for no other fact than he insisted on bringing Country to the masses in any way he could. :

 

I am not familiar with Nesmith's material but that "Propinquity" from Missing Links Vol.3 posted yesterday is very nice and as good as anything from The Byrds and I could imagine Gene Clark doing it. It's clear that if Nesmith had taken a different path to that of The Monkees, he would have become big in his own right (perhaps at the head of a straight country pop band).

 

You might want to check out the First National Band:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLSW0x8yiPavrCSlbMxGCSMzv06UQ9tabS

 

I recently bought the Monkees "Original Album Series" CDs containing the first 5 albums.

Spent a couple of weeks listening to the first album, of which prior to that I only knew the "Theme" and Last Train To Clarksville. Really enjoyed it, there's some great stuff on there.

Today I've listened to the 2nd album for the first time (of which I only knew I'm Not Your Stepping Stone and I'm A Believer), and I'm not sure I've been this disappointed on first listen to album for a long time. Where are the songs!? I really have no desire to listen to that again.

Really hoping it gets better from Headquarters onwards.

 

I'm an uber fan and I never listen to the first two albums. Truth be told most of the great songs are the unreleased ones. head scratchily so. Anyway the first 5 albums only represent a very small fraction of what they ultimately have done. Actually, roughly 1/4th of their total output in terms of "style".

 

I personally find their hit period (the first five albums) more enjoyable than perhaps 2/3 of the acts in the RnR Hall of Fame.

I don't care whether they played on their albums or not, or whether they wrote their own songs.

 

I agree with you that the first album is way better than the second. I'm not sure why most people seem to think the reverse.

Yes, it does get better: Headquarters is maybe their best album.

 

The first album, perhaps surprisingly given its thrown-together nature, largely sounds like the work of one act. Even the Nesmith/Wrecking Crew numbers don't sound that strikingly dissimilar to the Boyce/Hart numbers, and as such, I think it's a really strong 1966 pop album. "MOTM" is a bit of a mess and it sounds like the work of several different bands. It's very inconsistent and though I'll argue that it hits some major highs (the Boyce/Hart numbers, Nesmith's tunes, "Sometime in the Morning"), it has the highest skip ratio of maybe any Monkees record for me. It's frustrating because so much good material was in the can, but favors were called in and quality and consistency were sacrificed.

But yeah, I do think that the next two albums are a huge leap forward and hopefully you'll find something to enjoy. The fifth could be a different story, as it's once again basically a compilation of three different artists (sorry, Peter) with not a whole lot in common.

 

They did more than the Mamas and Papas. And always played live.

 

Their career in a nutshell. Esp. 1969. Goodness gracious. But I actually think their 5th album sounds schizo unified. Except Daydream Believer and Valleri which probably belonged on their 4th and 2nd albums respectively.