Customer Reviews

I'm a Believer & Other Hits

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This is an odd hits collection, made stranger by the fact that you probably won't find it in a record store, but in a cut-out bin at a supermarket or drugstore. Still, it's certainly worth the few bucks it costs, and just might get you interested enough to seek out some of The Monkees' other work.

Monkees staples like "I'm A Believer" and "(I'm Not Your) Stepping Stone" are to be found, but it lacks other well-known tracks such as "Theme From The Monkees", "Last Train To Clarksville", "Pleasant Valley Sunday" or "Daydream Believer".

However, it does include "Listen To The Band", one of the finest songs the Monkees ever recorded, as well as "Ceiling In My Room", which is still available only on this very cd to this day, unless I am mistaken. "Shades Of Gray" is another underappreciated gem included here, featuring some of Jones and Tork's greatest vocal work with the band. Also included is the Nesmith-penned and Dolenz-sung "The Girl I Knew Somewhere", which I have always liked.

I don't understand why "Heart And Soul" was included, though, from the Monkees 1986 "Pool It!" album, and I could have done without "Cuddly Toy", considering that "Pleasant Valley Sunday" would have been a much better inclusion from the original album "Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn and Jones, Ltd.". Overall, it's a good bargain disc if you manage to find it somewhere. I guess it's not such a big deal that the theme song wasn't included, but dropping some of the weaker entries for hits would have been nice. Of course, that probably would have elevated it beyond cut-out bin status and upped the price.

There are better definitive collections for the Monkees. The thing that is special about this release is that, after all the "Missing Links" CDs, new complications with bonus tracks, etc., "Ceiling In My Room" can only be found on this disc.

Well, even if that song isn't included, this is still a pretty good album. My favorites are Daydream Believer (of course!) and Ceiling in My Room. Who cares if they don't play their own instruments? They still make great music.

Yeah, for bargain bin surprises!

I found this a few years ago, and bought for the obvious "Ceiling in My Room", which I had not seen anywhere else and Someday Man, which I did not have at the time.

A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You sounded right to me, BUT it's the Stereo remix off of Colgems 1969 The Monkees Greatest Hits album (which I have owned for ages and LOVE). I didn't realize this version was different than most compilations have until I bought/upgraded a couple of others The Monkees - Greatest Hits(Rhino), The Monkees - Greatest Hits(Arista) recently, and it sounded strange.

Where were the "Oh, Girl..."s in the break?! And it has extra hand claps...

Nowhere in the notes does it say that it's this version!

The selection is decent:

I'm A Believer is a nice way to start, unlike most all compilations that start with the theme song. The cover version had just come out in Shrek when I bought this, and that sparked me to go find the original on CD. (I told you it was a few years ago! LOL)

Next is:

The Girl I Knew Somewhere, (Arista seems fond of this song, I think I had it on three compilation tapes) a nice song to take you down a bit for the next selection:

Shades Of Gray with Peter and Davy singing opposite each other.

Then to:

Cuddly Toy, a song that to me is happy tune that has very depressing lyrics.

Afterward:

A Little Bit Me, A little Bit You - a Neil Diamond penned, fun song.

And:

Heart and Soul?! in the middle of the disc kind of jerks you out of your reverie. Though this song is enjoyable, it doesn't mesh with the rest of the CD for me.

Thereafter:

Someday Man - Davy singing. It has that later, mellow, '70s pop sound. (Note: this is also on the Instant Replay reissue)

Subsequently:

Ceiling In My Room - a sad song, sung by Davy (this album seems very Davy heavy) about his imagination playing tricks on him, supposedly it's "a look at the adulation and resulting isolation the band members experienced in their roles as teenage idols". It's nice and mellow.

Listen to The Band - Album version, a Mike song, I was also unaware there was another version of this until I bought the The Monkees - Greatest Hits, which has the single version, so this also sounded "right" to me.

And lastly:

(I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone, total '60's garage sound song, one of my personal favorites. However this is the single version, so to me it sounds "cut off".

Hope this helps. Seems you can get this for a penny used (not including shipping). I feel jilted, I paid $5!

The CD,it only has a few good songs like "I'm a Believer","Heart and Soul","Listen To The Band",and "(I'm Not Your)Steppin Stone,besides that its all down hill.A couple of songs on it were made after Peter left."Ceiling In My Room" really brings it down.