The Mike and Mickey Show Live (2020 cd)

Instead of discussing this on the live concert thread, I'm hoping we can take it separately here.

…The triumphant third (but who’s counting?) act of The Monkees has been a treat for classic pop and rock fans. In 2016, the three surviving members of the beloved group – Mike Nesmith, Micky Dolenz and Peter Tork – came together for Good Times!, an improbably great record to mark their 50th anniversary. Part archival exercise (with songs based on outtakes penned by Harry Nilsson and Neil Diamond, with a vocal performance from the recently deceased Davy Jones to boot) and part sunshine pop celebration (featuring songs penned by Monkee fans like Rivers Cuomo of Weezer, XTC’s Andy Partridge, and co-producer Adam Schlessinger of Fountains of Wayne and Crazy Ex-Girlfriend fame), Good Times! was the group’s first Top 20 record since 1968, and prefaced the group’s first nomination for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. 2018 saw the aptly-titled The Monkees Present: The Mike & Micky Show tour (Tork focused on solo work that year, and sadly passed away earlier this year), as well as Christmas Party, another new/old album featuring Schlessinger, Cuomo and Partridge as well as more vocals from Jones and Tork. …Rhino’s releasing The Mike & Micky Show Live, a new album recorded on tour in March 2019 that features concert versions of hits across their entire catalogue, from hits like “Last Train To Clarksville” and “I’m a Believer” to deep cuts like “St. Matthew” and “Auntie’s Municipal Court,” both of which made their live debuts on this tour. Andrew Sandoval [YAY!], celebrated reissue guru/archivist and keeper of The Monkees’ flame, produced the album; Mike’s eldest son Christian Nesmith handles mixing.

It's fun to hear TTundra played like Rio--you lucky people who got that. We didn't.
Circle Sky is just a monster, what a killer performance.
I'm still waiting for my goosebumps t come down from The Door Into Summer.

As you'd expect, the occasional Mike weak vocals are fixed.

It's so great to have this during these hard times!

 

The excerpts I've heard are just terrific. Christian Nesmith really knows how to record & mix live albums. Nez's 1st National Band redux live lp also sounds great with excellent performances.

 

Two things:

Is the album out now?

And “prefaced the group’s first nomination for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame”?? They got nominated? I completely missed that.

 

no, they were never nominated.........

 

I listened to about 2/3 of it this AM on Google Play. It sounds very, very good. And the one quirk of the Live at the Troubadour mix that annoyed (the narrow center-channel mix of the audience... but why?) isn't repeated here, thankfully.

My CD copy is due to show up today or tomorrow, and I'm anxious to read the credits. (I'm sure there was tweaking, but do we think there were post-production vocal overdubs?)

I saw two of these shows in March 2019, so having this disc out is a delight. Plus, the shows I saw didn't include "As We Go Along" or "Tapioca Tundra" - extra bonus for me.

 

My review of the album:

Review: The Monkees Live – The Mike & Micky Show | The Monkees Home Page

 

I'd assume the Troubadour recordings probably had a center mic placement that picked up a lot of the audience. Less musicians, more intimate settings. I'm sure the Monkees release, everyone had a microphone on their instruments and less crowd noise overall so they could mix it better. Just a guess!

 

Yea, As We Go Along was an important song for the wife and I. You lucky people who heard it!

 

My copy is to arrive today.
Though I'm not sure if Amazon can manage that. So may Spotify my first listen. But was looking forward to listening loudly in the car with the booklet in my hand. Parked car I should emphasize.

 

I think I saw that they were able to do any tweaking with vocals from various shows. I don't think there was any studio work and the credits don't suggest it, either.

I will always wonder if anything was taken from the show I saw but there are worse problems to have.

 

I'm going to order this CD today. Rhino put up video of "The Door Into Summer" and it sounds great. I'm not the biggest fan of the dozen-backing-musicians format that the group has favored since the 1980s, but it is what it is and Michael and Micky couldn't really play all those instruments on their own, and there are limits to a Simon & Garfunkel-type presentation with just the two of them and acoustic guitars.

It's a damn shame that Schlesinger didn't live to see this release but there's already a whole thread about that. (I had been wondering how long it would be before this f#cking virus started using the names on my CD collection as a to-do list.)

 

Gave the album a listen on Apple Music this afternoon while working. Not ideal for listening, as my job requires to be on the phone off and on during the day, but what I took in sounded really good.

I like that the songs are not just re-creations of the records. The acoustic stuff sounded really good, and some songs (Like “Tapioca Tundra”) are reinvented into something new. Never thought I’d get to hear “St. Matthew” or “Aunties” live! Great to hear those Good Times songs too.

I still think “A Little Bit Me” was a wrong, unnecessary choice for this show/album but at least it sounded fine. Will definitely buy the CD (And hope they make the bonus tracks available soon!).

 

I’m glad that ALBMALBY was added to the Live album. Davy and Peter were such integral parts of the Monkees that it was only right to include the songs that are most associated with them, so that in essence, they’re still part of the show, in spirit if not in person.

As I noted in my review, with the backing vocals by Coco and Circe, you can almost hear Davy and Peter’s harmonies in the songs.

 

We can agree to disagree.

“Daydream Believer” is already there, and it’s the best Davy tribute (Peter too, since it’s his piano riff) there could be.

“Little Bit,” which only Davy appeared on and Nez understandably resented (I understand he left the stage for that song at the M&M shows), just doesn’t make much sense to me.

Really, I believe that song is just there to give the “We want the hits” crowd that song. Mostly, I just think a different actual “Mike” or “Micky” song left of the album should’ve been there instead. Probably “Good Clean Fun,” since it was the opening song of the show.

 

WHY do we have to wait until JUNE for the vinyl??? RHINO dropped the ball!

 

I don't have the CD, but I'm glad A Little Bit Me is on it.
Not only was it David's showcase, but after he passed away Tork picked up the flag and performed it live with Monkees and Shoe Suede Blues.

 

It takes longer to press a large quantity of vinyl records, plus there’s a limited amount of pressing plants with other artists waiting to have vinyl versions of their recordings pressed.

 

Oh like Davy leaving the stage in 1986/1987 during "That Was Then, This is Now " ?

 

Still waiting for mine to after seeing it in 2013.

 

Got my CD. Saw the show last March and loved it and I'm very happy to have this souvenir. (Still hoping for Porpoise Song bonus track to sprout up somewhere)

 

This is a wonderful live album. Enjoying it greatly right now.. a quality reminder of the night I saw them. Magical time.

 

did you get T Tundra too?

 

We did. And Sweet Young Thing.

 

grrrrr.
was it performed like on the cd or kinda acoustic like I saw on youtube?

 

Lordy I hope a video will come forth