There's a movie script that was never produced because DJ nixed the deal. (Dwight Yoakum was going to play Elvis!) Nez toured the UK at least once.
2/5 for crippled lion and propinquity. Couldn't make it through to the end of either one. Don't hate the songs. Just not interested.
Mike also produced the album as far as I know. The ABC TV thing, that he wrote and directed, was something different. There was an offer that they would each be paid $250,000 for a movie. Davy wanted $1m so that was never going to happen. Micky admitted that he was disappointed in Nez, but he was more diplomatic than Davy or Peter. I think it must go down as one of Mike's lesser moments. I mean, the whole Justus album was his idea, he got to make his own TV special and he even got his son's band as the warm-up act on tour. Then (according to Davy) he refused to stay in the same hotels as the other guys and then walked out...
Ah... Thanks for the correction about Nez playing the UK. I think he stayed away awhile though, at least in part because of that UK Monkees tour. I seem to vaguely recall an interview where he made it clear just how much contempt he had for the UK press. Anyhow, while I’ve heard those UK shows were really rather good Nez apparently felt the need to leave.
Yeah.. No idea what was really going through his mind at that point. Maybe the press, and the lack of positive reception for Justus did him in. I love Nez, but I agree it was a low point. Didn’t realize Nez himself produced Justus. Never really thought about that. I guess I figured it was a group effort. But I think there’s only two Nez songs on it, and one of them is “Circle Sky”? And, I believe, that’s the only one he sang on. So, that’s what I meant by not contributing much. One new song, which he didn’t sing, and a pointless remake of a song that was (IMO) much better in its original 1968 form (Live or studio). Guitar. backing vocals, and apparently producing all count too of course. Could’ve used Chip Douglas again, IMO. Anyhow, we’ll save that discussion for later. I am probably due to give that album a second chance.
Mike played four gigs in the UK (Glasgow, Manchester & 2 in London) in 2011. I went to all four and got to speak to both Joe Chemay and Mike’s daughter, Jessica. Both said that he always enjoyed the UK and Joe added that he was pretty sure he would return. The 2014 tour was pulled and I am pretty sure that was due to poor ticket sales. I suspect that was due to the tour being given very little publicity, unlike the 2011 one. It was back in the late 70’s that Mike stated that the UK was singularly responsible for keeping his career alive. I remember at the time he got very good coverage in the music press and he was a definite critics favourite. Oddly enough I felt it was the success of Rio and his move towards video production that resulted in a loss of momentum. As for the Monkees UK tour, they were great on stage but they should never have been booked into arenas. I suspect that the problems were off stage. I have a couple of friends who still give me grief about how embarrassing they were on various tv interviews etc. Mike tended to be pretty quiet, Davy and Micky were their normal selves without too much mugging but Peter was totally hyper. I have some of the shows on tape and interviewers found it hard to get many straight answers. I love the Monkees but it was pretty disappointing. I wasn’t surprised at all when Michael withdrew. The press reviews that I saw was not bad at all. And as a foursome, they really did rock!
Nine Times Blue This is a very good song. I love the demo version. 4/5 Look Down I like this song a lot. To borrow someone else's phrase, I love the amped-up horns, and Davy's "dirty" voice on the chorus and bridge is my favorite Davy singing style. 4/5 Smile Doesn't blow me away in any way, but solid enough. I like the ending the best. 3/5 Propinquity Another solid song, but not among my Nez favorites. 3/5 Crippled Lion I've never been able to get into this one at all. It's just "meh" for me. 2/5
I remember reading DJ was upset that so much money was spent on rehearsal, at Mike's insistence. It came out of the four guy's pockets. (I remember reading 100k.) Can't blame Mike for wanting to be prepared before stepping out in an arena, I guess.
Good info, thanks! Don’t remember where I read about Nez going off on the UK press, but I did. If I can find it again, I’ll post it. I’m sure his anger was for the press, not the UK itself or the people/fans there. He did have a good following there in the early 70s, playing over there more than he did in the U.S. “Rio” was a sizable hit over too. They did draw pretty well on that Monkees tour in ‘97, didn’t they? I thought I read they sold out Wembley Arena, but I could be mistaking that for a different venue. I definitely remember the press tearing them apart, according to that VH-1 (Here in the States) “Behind the Music” episode on The Monkees. According to Peter “They were brutal,” and I remember him making a face/shaking his head as he said that. Perhaps I’m conflating that with Nez dropping out right after.
Yeah, they added an extra night at Wembley Arena and ticket sales weren't the problem. Mike did indeed call the British press the worst in the world and it is amusing to see just how miserable he looks in some of the clips from the tour. Especially when being subjected to Davy's rendition of Valleri while wearing an Elvis costume!
Well...yes and no. It was pretty new, but the single had been released over a month prior to the album. Doesn't sound like a long period of time now, but keep in mind that those were the days in which artists released at least two or three albums a year. "Good Clean Fun" was first a standalone single at the end of the summer, and then both sides were included on the next album, which wasn't unusual, of course. I still consider it (and the earlier "Listen To The Band") to be something a bit separate from the other two Nez recordings selected for the album. As Guy Smiley pointed out, it was written by Michael Martin Murphey. Not sure if it had been recorded/released in another version first (so "cover" may have been something of a misnomer on my part). A non-original composition, I guess I should have said. Fair enough. I do find it very weird that he recorded all those stunning songs -- "Nine Times Blue", "Propinquity", "Shelley's", "Crippled Lion", "Hollywood", etc. -- and yet he submitted "Never Tell A Woman Yes" for the LP. If he wasn't holding back, then he is guilty of having been an awful judgment of the quality of his work. Or someone's guilty of it. I think Brendan Cahill was still the one in the drivers seat at that point, no? Was it his call to sit on these?? Seeing that all of those songs made their way out on his solo albums in the coming 2-3 years, I would guess that Mike knew exactly how great those songs were. Come to think of it, I've never really been too clear exactly how much control the three of them had on song selection at that point. Again, I think it was Cahill who was overseeing it, but were the Monkees themselves vetoing songs and making suggestions? I guess I always assumed they were. Interesting comment from BadJack about Boyce & Hart -- I seem to recall reading the same somewhere, that they were brought back in some capacity that year, but I don't know for sure. Would make sense, when you consider how many B & H songs were resurrected.
And also Good Clean Fun kind of had to be a Monkees song as it was a dig at the songwriting publisher. It it hadn't been a single release, that would defeated the object to some extent.
The publisher told him that he had to write songs that were good clean fun in order to have success. So he wrote a song that had nothing to do with that at all and simply slapped the name Good Clean Fun onto it.
I have no doubt that Nesmith can be difficult but when I saw those images of Davy, I also looked miserable! What an awful idea. As a fan, 1997 was a huge bumout. I would have loved to have seen all four together but there was just this sourness in the air as things dissolved. It put me off the 2001-2002 shows and I was all ready to skip 2011 until I saw the early setlists and it was obvious that something was happily different.
The 1997 show I saw on the US tour that Nesmith cancelled out on was the first great Monkees show I saw, and I saw them a few times before that, including the full reunion show at the Greek in 89.
My last word on Davy vs Michael (and I can't believe I'm even having this discussion in 2019!). Michael had been writing songs for years before he signed on as Monkee. Davy hadn't. I know Davy had his Colpix album, but I think I'm right in supposing it would never have crossed Davy's mind to write his own pop songs had he not been cast in the Monkees. Do I tend to prefer Michael's work? Sure...but it's not a conspiracy. There was not great get together of Monkees fans who decreed 'We shall dis Davy and praise Michael to the skies on the internet'. It's just that these days a larger number of people of prefer Michael's work. Would I listen to a whole album of Michael? No. I've tried his solo stuff and on the whole it isn't really to my taste. I love Davy's Bell album though. I also dare say I wouldn't like, say Dream World, any more if Michael, Peter or Micky had sung it. One of the things I like about the Monkees is their eclecticism. That you can have Sweet Young Thing, Last Train To Clarksville and I Wanna Be Free all on the same album is great! I love it most when they work together - Davy and Micky's voices blend really well. If you want another spoiler I rate Do It In The Name Of Love / Lady Jane as better to anything I've heard from any other former members of the group in the 1970s. I'm here because I love the band, I don't love every track they laid down. However artificial their beginnings when they pull together as a band they made their best work (IMO) - Headquarters, Pisces... and Head (I shall draw a discreet veil over Justus however).
One thing that annoys me a bit about these Michael outtake songs is having to check the lyrics to remind myself which song is which - I really wish he hadn't done that whole oblique titling of songs thing! Propinquity 4/5 Crippled Lion - 3/5
Today's song is Some of Shelly's Blues: A great piece of songwriting from Nez, again I prefer later versions when I think he had developed into a better vocalist for this type of material. The big surprise for me with this one is that it took so long for him to release this during his solo career. Very strong lyrics and one of his signature songs. 4.5/5 for this version.
