Nope. This is awful. At least the other songs from these sessions had kind of a low-key charm. This one's tuneless and obnoxious. And at one point I think Davy hits every note in the scale while going into the chorus. Only problem is that they're not in order. 1/5
Infinite Rider on the Big Dogma Dance Magic Tonite Flying Carioca Cruisin' Factions Light Horserace Capsule Walkin' in the Sand Rollin'
Today's song is Dance: Both vocally and musically this feels like an attempt to move his career into a new direction. Perhaps unfortunately, that new direction proved to be visual rather than musical... An energetic album opener with lyrics that feel slightly atypical for Nez. I find it hard to imagine him ever only wanting to dance and have a good time and if he were to write the song nowadays, "All I want to do is get high and spout gibberish on Facebook' would be more apposite. The previous studio album had seen him venturing away from the country genre, and I think Infinite Rider is a more successful and bolder attempt at exploring new pastures. 4/5.
Dance This album is one of those that simply just works for me. Dance is a great opener with Nez exploring new styles as @Turk Thrust says. This is a great piece of rock. It's catchy, danceable, well arranged and produced. And Nez's vocal is great. Quite often when an artist tries doing something in a new style, the result can be very generic (of that style.) Nez however doesn't fall into that trap, and this is a great piece of rock music with musical interest all round. Structure, arrangement, chord progression, melody. The lyrics entirely suit the track. People often say that some songs are very long but you don't notice it as the songs are so good. This song is 2:40 long, but I don't feel short-changed at all. It gets off to a good start, and delivers quite a bit during its short time. I see that the videos with pink stripes have taken us in a new direction! 4.2/5
Dance - Wow, what an album opener! When I first put the needle down on this record and this song came blasting through the speakers I was stunned. This is Michael Nesmith? He’s done rockers before, but I wasn’t prepared for this. It’s reminiscent of ‘Mama Rocker’. The whole album is amazing, and ‘Dance’ was the perfect opener for it. We’ve had Papa Nez. Now, here comes Rocker Nez! This song was the launch of a whole new direction for Nez. I’m glad I hung around for the ride! 5/5. Here’s the live version from one of his most recent tours.
Dance - 4/5 Awesome opening track. Can't go wrong with this one for sure. It's a pleasant change from the earlier country-sounding material.
At the time, Infinite Rider was the LP that was the most current as so far as Nez releases when I purchased it. Everything else was basically reaching back into his catalog. I got this shortly after release and was like many surprised and delighted with the sounds. This song is not in my top 5 on the LP but still gets the LP off to a great start and is a 4. This song is, like all on the LP, very well produced to my ears.
This might be the most 1979 song ever recorded. That said, I love it. It's pretty ridiculous but it moves and it's fun as hell. 4/5.
By the way, does anyone know roughly when Tahiti Condo was recorded? I guess it might be stated in the CD liner notes to The Newer Stuff which I don't have right now.
As I recalled, it was recorded around 1979-80, with a group of songs intended for the aborted ‘Neon Ruby and The Formosa Diner’ album, which included ‘I‘ll Remember You’, ‘Tanya’ and ‘Formosa Diner’.
Ah, the latter 3 tracks were recorded 80/81 according to Nez's LP liner notes so I wondered whether Tahiti Condo came at the same time. Thanks for the confirmation.
Just read the liner notes and that’s correct, ‘Tahiti Condo’ and ‘Dreamer’ were also part of ‘Neon Ruby’ which evolved into the ‘Video Ranch’ concept.
"Dance" is a so-so opening song, good rocker. My problem is the lyrics, did Michael 'The Poet' Nesmith really write them? Just a notch below what I've come to expect from Nez. 3/5
Today's song is Magic: While Mike had shown off his falsetto plenty of times before, this may be the boldest example of him singing in that style. It's a song that I enjoy trying to sing along to (I'll leave it to your own imaginations just how bad that sounds!), and is one of my favourites from this album. A fine video as well, and perhaps it merited a little more commercial success. 4.5/5.
Magic Like Photon Wing, I'm going to be saying the same thing all the way through this one. This album just works for me. There are a number of different styles, and the songs are great examples of each - even the song coming up that has dated. Brilliant melody here, going beyond the subtle melodies that Nez uses a lot elsewhere. Great 50s/60s pastiche, backed up with a great video. Perhaps it's a bit repetitive, but that's the style. I just like listening to this. 4.1/5
"Magic"-The song itself isn't bad, but Michael Nesmith's falsetto does nothing for me, and I may get booed outta the place, but it is best left unheard, at least as strong as it is in this song. For the song itself-4/5... because of Mike's falsetto vocals, it gets a 3/5, so all told, it gets a 3.5/5.
"Magic" -- 4/5 I'm not a huge fan of the falsetto in this tune either, but he does pull it off well. When he's singing at full voice, it's really, really strong -- one of his most greatest vocal performances gets somewhat overshadowed here. This is a very catchy and well-crafted song. Could've been a big hit in an alternate universe.