Good Times
The Monkees Are BACK
Good Times is the twelfth studio album by the
Monkees. It was released on May 27th, 2016 to resounding critical
acclaim. It was an unexpected treat for baby boomers who love jangly rock &
roll and pop music with a hook. The disc was produced by Adam Schlesinger (of
Fountains of Wayne) with some additional bonus tracks by Andrew Sandoval to
commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the band. Rhino executives John
Hughes and Mark Pinkus initiated the project. The Monkees initially agreed to
use unreleased songs by the songwriters used during their initial run in the
sixties. They enlisted such stellar Brill Building songwriters as Carole King
& Gerry Goffin, Neil Diamond, Harry Nilsson, Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart
along with contemporary rock & roll songsmiths such as Rivers Cuomo, Andy
Partridge, Ben Gibbard, Noel Gallagher, and Paul Weller. The title track Good
Times was a demo written by Harry Nilsson in the late sixties and it was
resurrected as a duet with Micky Dolenz.
To this writer the resultant album is simply stunning. It is a tribute
to the heyday of rock & roll and it recaptured that sixties jangly guitar
sound and layered vocals with keen harmonies. The Monkees continue to astound
critics and music fans alike. It was like a baseball hit deep out to left field
and the wind blows it out of the park.
I was a fan
from the sixties onward and by the time I was married with children. I passed
on the gene for Monkeemania to my son Ryan. I gave him duplicates of all the
albums and he played them relentlessly. He sang along with those great songs
from 1966/67. He learned to read and write from copying the titles of all the
songs and the names of Mickey, Peter, Davy, and Michael. Ryan was at the head
of the curve. In 1986, I took Ryan and the rest of the family to Charlevoix to
see the Monkees perform. It was a thrill and the band was on top of their game.
I even bought a Live Monkees album at that performance and I display it
prominently in my collection. A few years later I saw the band perform at Pine
Knob. It was another triumphant evening! Years passed but I never forgot the
thrill of those incredible songs and the spirit of the Monkees self-effacing humor.
They gave us a nod and a wink and never wavered from their unique position in
the annals of rock & roll. The Beatles got it even if critics could not be
persuaded.
Time passed
but the Monkees never went away. They released Pool It in 1987 and Justus in
1996 to mixed results despite their best efforts to be current.
The Monkees
reunited for their 45th Anniversary Tour in 2011 with three of the
founding members including Davy Jones, Peter Tork and Micky Dolenz. They
performed 40 songs. I attended the show in Detroit with my son Ryan and it was
simply triumphant. The setlist went beyond the hits and reached into their
substantial back catalogue including several songs written by Michael Nesmith. Listen to the Band which ended the show.
The
status of the Monkees turned sour when Davy Jones died of a heart attack on February 29th, 2012. On
Sunday April 7th 2013 this writer witnessed Nesmith’s solo show @
the Magic Bag in Ferndale just outside of Detroit. He re-imagined his hits and
used spoken word and poetry to introduce his songs. The Monkees toured with
Michael Nesmith throughout the summer of 2014. It proved to be a fitting
tribute to Davy Jones, one of the most popular and beloved singer from the
sixties but it also signaled the incredible lure and charm of the Monkees.
They
already knew what the little girls understand. The Monkees knew how speak to
the baby boomers as well as millennials. They taught their children about truth
in harmony and good vibrations. Goodtimes is the musical equivalent of a holy
grail that doesn’t exist.
Listen….
Goodtimes hearkens back to the days when music
mattered and every hot blooded teenager would be listening to the latest songs
on a low-fi transistor radio. The music and lyrics spoke to us in that secret
language all teens share. It could be groovy or fab and it mattered. This song
is an outtake from a Harry Nilsson session that speaks to us boomers in so many
ways; it could be the jangly guitar, organ washes and sloppy drums. The late
great Nilsson’s singing is double tracked with a strong Mickey Dolenz vocal. A
great track! You Bring Summer brings
a minimalist vibe that gives the song room to breathe without the sludge of
heavier sixties ROCK, it’s more like an early sixties Brill Building classic
that swings and sways. Dolenz hasn’t lost a step and in the coda he sings
“Summer Baby, you bring the summer along.” The bass vocal gives the harmonies a
nice bottom. This is an Andy Partridge song (XTC) that pops.
Dolenz’s
vocals are prominent throughout the disc and he hits the high notes without any
problems. He takes the lead double tracked vocal on She Makes Me Laugh. The jingle jangle of the e-string gives it some flavor as well as a low-tech
tambourine that shakes it all up in a frothy malt flavor that gives it a Summer
Means Fun vibe as the boys chase the girls and laugh all the way to the beach. The chorus is awesome! Our Own World is another triumph with Dolenz leading the way with
his exquisite singing. He hasn’t lost a step. He is an expressive singer who
can ooh and ahh and punctuates the singing with other vocalisms. The bass
string lead-in is perfect. Gotta Give it
Time is like a walk in the sunshine. It’s another Dolenz nugget. The background
singers chant, “Give it time now baby, ahh give it time, your time.” This is a
cool low-tech minimalist construction with no double tracking or analog
layering. Mike Nesmith takes the lead vocal with Dolenz on Me & Magdalena. It is a
Ben Gibbard composition that resonates with the hope of love and recovery. It’s
apparent that the singers have a shared history. It is the siren call of old
friends who love each other despite the interlude of time. The lyrics share the
ideals of love and promise for the future. Here’s a sample…
What do you see in the depths of the
night
Do you see a long lost father
I know everything lost will be recovered
When you drift in the arms of the
undiscovered
Whatever’s
Right sounds like an outtake from a
1966 session at Colgems, in fact it is a song written by Tommy Boyce and Bobby
Hart. The instrumentation is sparse and allows the music breathe with a
tambourine, strummed guitars and a precise keyboards and organ fills that sound
like Peter Tork’s doing. Love to Love is
a mid-sixties song written by Neil Diamond. It was a sleeper from its very
inception, a bit cloying yet irresistible. It has been recorded by several different artists with a
pop sensibility. It was a Monkees outtake when Davy Jones recorded it for
Colgems. It was an unfinished nugget until it was resurrected for this album.
It shows Jones in good form. He was an expert for filling in gaps and crafting
cool mid-tempo rockers. The backing vocals are courtesy of Dolenz and Tork. The
sessions were recorded on January 21st, 1967; February 4th
and 5th, 1967; August 5th, 1968; February 2016.
Peter Tork’s Little Girls is a gem and shines the light on his compositional
skills.
The e-string solo sounds a bit like Dick
Dale’s surf guitar. His understated vocal is simply charming, low key like a
Ray Davies outtake on Sweet Lady Genevieve sessions. Dig the lyrics;
Cheer up, come with me
Leaving castles in the sand
Like the rising sun over the sea
Shining and soft like my song
Perhaps the best song on the disc is Birth of an Accidental Hipster. It was
written by Noel Gallagher(Oasis) and Paul Weller (XTC).. Nesmith takes on the
echoed lead vocal and gives it all he’s got. Dolenz adds a vocal counterpoint
like Lennon & McCartney on We Can Work it Out. Mike Viola’s rock guitar echoes the sentiment
as a piano trill segues to a sweet honky tonk groove. The e-string guitar
provides substance to the coda. Tork’s version of I Wasn’t Born to Follow is one of those Brill Building chestnuts.
It is a cool version though The Byrds version from Easy Rider still takes the
prize. I Know What I Know is quiet and
contemplative and stunning. It remninds me of Brian Wilson’s Til I Die . Nesmith’s lyrics are
incredible thoughtful, quiet. It’s about love
I know nothing without you
I know what I see
I see nothing without you
Alone I am with a waiting heart
Alone I am a world apart
I know what I have
I know nothing without you
I
Was There bops like a barrelhouse
piano played by McCartney. It’s a drinking song filled with spirits. It harkens
back to the sixties glory days when we were young and pushing our luck.
I was there
I was told I had a good time
I could swear you were there with me
Terrifying is a little too adolescent for a 70 year old rock star. Yet is still
works on this playing field as the artists are replaying simpler times with
primitive equipment and recordings heard through a transistor radio. For me it’s is the real deal as each
sound, vocal, bass guitar or drum gets a turn to shine. It is the perfect
ending to an incredible piece of music.
As one reviewer stated The Monkees
return is better than it needed to be, full of real heart and energy.
Yes!
