Customer Reviews

Nevada Fighter / Tantamount to Treason

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(4)
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When I first got it, I didn't get it... I prefered the more straight ahead Loose Salute and Magnetic South. But the more I listened, the more this grew on me.

Nevada Fighter contains, along with the great tracks "Grand Ennui" and "I've Just Begun to Care" (along with a wealth of First National Band classics; what ever became of the rest of the band?!?) one of Nesmith's best songs: "Texas Morning". Unfortunately it is tied into an odd take of the classic "Tumbling Tumbleweeds."

Tantamount to Treason is a bit harder to take, but will grow on you, too. Opening with the HOT "Mama Rocker" (how would the Band sound doing this?), the album drifts a little. There is definately a sythesizer on "Lazy Lady"; "You Are My One" phases slowly from left to right and back again and drifts into a latin beat ala "Tengo Amore"; "Highway 99 With Melange" might be better suited to one of Leon Russell's albums. But through it all, Nesmith's easy voice is an anchor, and there are more than enough good musical moments to make up for the odd ones. "Wax Minute" is a good laid back Nesmith track, hinting at the Latin flavors to come later in the decade. And one of my favorites is "Bonaparte's Retreat." I had this tape in the car on my way to the airport for a weekend away, sang it under my breath all weekend, and popped it back in the instant I was homeward bound.

The bonus tracks ARE worth the price of the CD, especially "Smoke! Smoke! Smoke!"... but don't skip the rest of the CD when you get it.

Long-time Nesmith fans will want this import collection of the former Monkees' third and fourth albums if for no other reason than to get the three previously unreleased bonus tracks. The first is a Nesmith original, "Cantata & Fugue In C&W," a lovely instrumental from 1972 featuring musical partner Orville "Red" Rhodes on pedal steel and Nesmith on guitar. Next is the country standard "Smoke, Smoke, Smoke" which is given a terrific honky-tonk performance by a full band. The final bonus track is the toe-tapping instrumental "Rose City Chimes." The last two are both from 1970.

The second two of Nesmith's first four albums differ from the first two (Magnetic South and Loose Saltue, both from 1970) in two ways. Nevada Fighter (1971, tracks 1-10) feature a number of session musicians that were brought in during the breakup of the First National Band. And Tantamount to Treason (1972, tracks 11-19) was recorded with the Second National Band, of which Rhodes was the only carryover from the previous band. Perhaps more significant is that Nesmith began relying more on outside writers. On his first two albums, Nesmith wrote all but three songs. For the next two albums he wrote less than half.

Of the originals, Nevada Fighter is highlighted by the oft-covered ballad "Propinquity (I've Just Begun to Care)" and rockers like "Grand Enui" and the title track.

On Tantamount to Treason, Nesmith still rocks with songs like "Mama Rocker," but the other three originals--"Lazy Lady," "You Are My One" and "In the Afternoon"--are quiet reflective ballads. Overall, this is the least country-sounding Nesmith album to date--especially on tracks like "Highway 99 with Melange." Although the album closes with a heartfelt rendition of "She Thinks I Still Care." My personal favorite, however, is the cover of the gorgeous "Bonaparte's Retreat."

While casual fans may better be served by the import compilations Masters or Listen to the Band, this is a welcome addition to your collection. After thirty years, this music sounds as fresh today as when it was first released. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Nevada Fighter finds Mike Nesmith again recording some excellent country-rock. With the help of The First National Band songs like the amazing title track and the rolling "Grand Ennui" bounce along with a flair. Mr. Nesmith can also slows things down like on the pretty "I've Just Begun To Care" and "Here I Am". He takes us out on the range with cowboy rhythms of "Texas Morning" and "Tumbling Tumbleweeds". Harry Nilsson got his big writing break from The Monkees and Mr. Nesmith again takes on one of his songs, "The Rainmaker". For the recording of Tantamount To Treason two of the members of the group left. Luckily the irreplaceable Red Rhodes stayed and new band was christened The Second National Band. Treason contains some of tremendous songs like "Wax Minute", "Bonaparte's Retreat", "Talking To The Wall" and "In The Afternoon".

Michael Nesmith scored another homerun with his third solo album, Nevada Fighter, presented here with the weaker, less effective Tantamount To Treason.
Nevada Fighter is without doubt the best of the First National Band Trilogy. Strong country rockers like Grand Ennui and the title track alone make this one a good disc. But it only gets better with the bittersweet Here I Am, the gentle Texas Morning, Rainmaker, and a song Nez originally penned during his Monkees' days, Propinquity (I've just begun to care)(compare it to the version found on Missing Links, Volume 3). The only thing that takes away from the album is that he only penned 1/2 of the songs himself; I am personally a fan of his songwriting, especially his lyrics. Not that the covers are sub-par (well, maybe the hokey Tumbling Tumbleweeds), but having songs written by Nesmith always is a plus.
He followed up that album with a slightly artsy disc that found Nesmith a bit out of focus, musically. Mama Rocker is great, with its Jerry Lee Lewis piano, and his extended atmospheric soundscapes that fade in and out of Bonaparte's Retreat are interesting, but most of the disc falters. Lazy Lady and Talking To the Wall have flashes of greatness, but not enough to measure up to Nesmith's high potential. It sounds like he was trying to create a concept album, but with other people's songs mixed in with his own(he once again filled out an album with half cover versions and half originals). Maybe it was the introduction of the Moog synth that gave the album an odd edge to it. I don't know, but the songs don't touch me in the way his first three albums do.
Luckily, we also have bonus tracks here, and they are all interesting, especially Smoke Smoke Smoke and Cantata and Fugue in C&W. All in all, you have to get this disc simply for Nevada Fighter and the bonus songs. Papa Nez is still better than any other's of the same genre, even in his weaker moments.

Michael Nesmith's third and fourth post-Monkees LPs have finally been released and the wait has been worth it.

Mike wasn't Monkeeing around as he carried on in 1971 alongside Orville "Red" Rhodes, John London, and Johnny Ware for The First National Band's third LP, Nevada Fighter. Here, though, Mike got session help to flesh out his sound; some of the session hipsters used, such as James Burton and Al Casey, had also worked with Mike when he, Micky, Peter, and Davy were at their peak.

The additional help works well as Mike begins with his tale of living it large while running from The Grand Ennui - the bass drop as he completes the song's opening line is one of his finest musical moments - then shifts to two of his best soft numbers, Propinquity and Here I Am - on the latter track Mike once again brings out the feeling of dueting again with Micky, Peter, and Davy with his multitracking of vocals, an illusion that brings out the full quality of the song, particularly in the second and third verses. The Monkees redux vocal illusion then returns on Mike's strongest number, Nevada Fighter, a rollicking western rocker inspired by the Navajo Indian tribe. You'd swear Micky Dolenz was right there as Mike belts out the full power of this track. The song's lyrics are at times difficult to keep up with but they nonetheless hold the rip-roaring guitar-tamborine-bass-keyboard synergy in place.

More traditional country pops up in the next few tracks, most notably the excellent Harry Nilsson-Bill Martin collaboration The Rainmaker.

The making of Nevada Fighter the album proved stressful on Mike's relationship with John London and Johnny Ware - with roughly three-fourths of the album complete Mike and the band had a falling out in November 1970 following a tour date, and Mike had to finish the album with the above-mentioned session help. For Tantamount to Treason they were gone and Mike and Red Rhodes had a new backing band to work with. For this fourth LP Mike experiments rather extensively; the fuzztone-controlled opening number Mama Rocker is reminiscent of both his last days with The Monkees and also of late-period Dave Clark Five numbers such as Best Day's Work. Lazy Lady returns to traditional soft country but with some psychedelic pastiche, then experimentation returns with the psychedelic lounge number You Are My One and also the haunting In The Afternoon. A rock flavor arrives via the excellent Wax Minute while the country flavor returns at the end of the album with She Thinks I Still Care.

Three bonus tracks close out things here, starting with Cantata & Fugue in C&W, a delightful guitar-pedal steel instrumental Mike first demoed during the sessions for The Monkees' album Headquarters and which he and Red recorded during the Hits Keep On Coming sessions of early 1972. Smoke, Smoke, Smoke is a country-Vaudeville number that was recorded during Magnetic South's sessions in late February 1970, and it could be considered the prequal to his 1990s number Admiral Mike. Closing out the disc is the stellar Red Rhodes pedal steel clinic, Red's cover of Bobby Garrett's number Rose City Chimes, an instrumental that was flipside for The First National Band's first single but curiously left off the long player.

I remember driving to work one day when Da Nez's cover of Roy Rogers and the Sons of the Pioneers song "Tumbling Tumbleweeds" came on the underground radio station with its' superecho, distorted begining. It was so strange, so heavy, I had to pull the car over. When I finally realized what song he was playing I was in stitches. I listen to the whole thing (and got to work late).

"Well, I reached in my pocket and I pulled out the Omega
that was never one second behind.
I knew the horse that I was running at the Southern Talledaga
had won for the twentysecond time..." (He has an Omega, just like James Bond!)


Sure I knew his goofy face on the silly Monkees show and I knew Listen to the Band, but when I bought this LP, it caused a whole reappraisal of his stuff. Esp Nevada Fighter, there's not a bad cut on the album, well sung, esp tuneful, hearfelt lyrics. He's smart and he's clever, with a marvellous sense of humour. A Sartre French Existentialist idea like "Running from Le Grand Ennui" was NOT a topic in most country songs of the era - a tongue-in-cheek intellectual Nez joke in great song. He became a favorite I have listened to for decades. And while I like country rock, I have little tolerance for country, at least the country music around in 1971.

I have gone back and bought all of his stuff from the Monkees onward. In retrospect, I think I like his country rock work more than the better known Byrds - generally thought of as the first country rockers with Sweetheart of the Rodeo (no letters please!). And he really was there at the begining of country rock ('68) as a primary influence as much as Gram Parsons. He wrote "Different Drum" and "Some of Shelly Blues" for the then unknown Linda Ronstadt gee, maybe 68-69? And his pedal steel guy, the late Red Rhodes, sounded like he played that difficult instrument forward, backward, rightside up, upside down, and took stock country music licks and completely turned them on their ear.

Of all his records, I still listen to Nevada Fighter most. (The title of his song "Propinquity" comes from a character Zelda Gilroy in a late 50's TV show the "Many Loves Of Dobie Gilles", the dwarf Zelda felt Dobie would fall in love with her if she hung around all the time, but that's a different subject). Many of Nesmiths songs deal with love, but he really brings consistently fresh perspectives to this overdone subject.

"Tantamount" is loopier, trippier, more rock and generally less sucessful, but with more Red Rhodes. "Mama Rocker" starts out fast. "Highway 99 with Melange", has a silly atempo Nez digression in the middle of the tune!

Why this man, this great talent, is not better known, I have no idea.
Great duo.

Five stars to Michael Nesmith and five stars to Amazon. Both are amazing!! Excellent and enjoyable music, I love Michael Nesmith more and more every day and more and more when I listen to his music. This Cd shows how great he is. It is a really very good purchase!!!!!!!!!

New unreleased tracks by Michael Nesmith! Smoke smoke smoke is an excellent song with lots of personality. This set is a winner!

Track Listings
1. Grand ennui
2. Propinquity (I've just begun to care)
3. Here I am
4. Only Bound
5. Nevada fighter
6. Texas morning
7. Tumbling tumbleweeds
8. I looked away
9. Rainmaker
10. Rene
11. Mama rocker
12. Lazy lady
13. You are my one
14. In the afternoon
15. Highway 99 with Melange
16. Wax minute
17. Bonaparte's retreat
18. Talking to the wall
19. She thinks I still care
20. Cantana and fugue in C&W
21. Smoke smoke smoke
22. Rose city chimes