Customer Reviews

Monkees

5 star:		(35)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The Monkees were created as an American made-for-TV answer to The Beatles. Despite not being formed as an actual band would, the group produced some of the best pop music of the 60's. Musical director Don Kirshner assembled a top notch staff of songwriters, producers and studio musicians that created the Monkees' sound. Although the band only sang on the songs (with the exception of Mike Nesmith who played on, produced and wrote two of his own songs), they added their own personal touches to the songs. Mickey Dolenz stepped to the front as the lead singer and he sings on the albums best songs including the trippy "Saturday's Child" & "Take A Giant Step", the soul-influenced "Let's Dance On" & the mega number one hit "Last Train To Clarksville". Mike Nesmith contributes two songs, the country-tinged "Papa Gene's Blues" and the superb "Sweet Young Thing" that contains screeching fiddles mixed with a buzz guitar for an unusual and unique sound. Davy Jones provides the ballads for the album, the maudlin "I Wanna Be Free" and the drippy "I'll Be True To You". "Gonna Buy Me A Dog" is a classic bit of Monkees farce with it's silly lyrics and goofy studio banter. Peter Tork (as would be the case with future releases) really only appears in name only on this album. The Monkees have taken their fare share of criticism for being an artificial band, but what difference does it make how you were formed or got your music deal, the end result is the music. The Monkees made great music and over 30 years later, their music still sounds great.

In 1966, the United States saw the first episode in a soon-to-be-classic series, the Monkees, which followed the wacky psychedelic adventures of a rock-and-roll band. The show became a phenomenon, fondly remembered by just about everyone who was alive then (or saw it in reruns). To accompany the show, this album was cut, with the Monkees providing the vocals and a completely different set of musicians providing the music. (That changed with later albums, but the band was still pretty new at this point.)

Released in 1966, this album contains a lot of great memories, with two versions of the Monkees theme, and Gonna Buy Me A Dog, which features Davy Jones and Micky Dolenz humorously bouncing off one another! The liner notes have a lot of great information on the band, plus a group of great pictures - a nice bonus! Oh, by the way, as apposed to the 1966 album, this CD has three bonus tracks: I Can't Get Her Off My Mind, I Don't Think You Know Me, and the early, unreleased Monkees theme. This is a great album, one I highly recommend!

Hey, forget about how they were directly molded after the Fab Four, because this album is FUN! By the time this album is finished, you'll wish YOU were a Monkee. Play it nice and loud and have some soothing lotion nearby to put on your hands, which will be sore from clapping along to the numerous high-energy tunes.

Rather than patching together an album of mindless pop tunes aimed at teenyboppers under a mindset of `They'll buy anything,' producers Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart (authors of several of the songs) made a concentrated effort to ensure that the first album by the band would be enjoyable from start to finish.

The party starts out on a high note with the theme song (and that's a song that EVERYBODY loves to sing) and continues through some well-written upbeat numbers like `Saturday's Child' and `Tomorrow's Gonna Be Another Day' and the classic `Last Train To Clarksville.' The mood lightens for Davy's beautiful `I Wanna Be Free' or his fine reading of The Hollies' `I'll Be True To You,' but they do not disrupt the flow. Mike Nesmith shines with two impressive originals, the country-rock `Sweet Young Thing' and the down-home `Papa Gene's Blues,' and the party ends with the hilarious `Gonna Buy Me a Dog.'

Well, that's how the original 1966 album ended, anyway. Rhino, however, brings the boys back for an encore with three previously unissued gems, including an earlier shelved attempt at the theme song. As they fade away singing `Hey hey we're the Monkees,' the listener is apt to feel a little sad that the party is over, but at the same time he'll be smiling, thinking `That was fun!'

The Monkees were Pop Music. The Monkees were more than Pop Music. This album is the remastering of the vinyl we wore out. I recall several of the young men in the area were Not fond of the Monkees and could not quite figure out what it was that they had. They were a group "created" for television and how on earth did they win our hearts? Anyone listening to the flow on this album where every song belongs, will reach a new understanding of what they had. What they had was us. And they still do. This album contains some of the less repeated but best loved songs. Just reading through the song listings creates a cacophony of memories and the excitement that still is The Monkees. What a great sound to celebrate the day with!

The Monkees debut album hits stores on October 10 1966 so by the time this hit record landed into music stores, there was already a buzz over them. Their shows had already had huge ratings, they had a hit single, and were climbing aboard their first hit concert tour. So it's no wonder this album sold millions!

Most of the music featured on the first Monkees album had little to do with the four boys. The best studio musicians and song writers were behind this LP. This would later upset the four boys but regardless of the fact that it has been documented to death that they did not play their own instruments (which they did) this proves to be one of their best albums.

Micky Dolenz makes a huge debut as a vocalist here with several awesome songs. He first sings lead on the unforgettable THEME FROM THE MONKEES. He also sings the #1 hit LAST TRAIN TO CLARKSVILLE. Two other songs that are my faves are TAKE A GIANT STEP and SATURDAY'S CHILD. Other noteworthy songs he sings are the catchy TOMORROWS GONNA BE ANOTHER DAY and the groovy LET'S DANCE ON. He closes the album with the silly I'M GONNA BUY ME A DOG.

Davy also makes a good name for himself here with the wonderful tunes I WANNA BE FREE and I'LL BE TRUE TO YOU. He also however sings the weakest song on this album THIS JUST DOESN'T SEEM TO BE MY DAY but it is not that bad.

Mike is the only Monkee here who gets to put two of his songs on the first album. PAPA GENE'S BLUES and SWEET YOUNG THING are both great songs but pale in comparison to his later stuff.

And poor Peter Tork gets no part in this album. Except for a guitar part on PAPA GENE'S BLUES. I can see what made him mad about the not playing instruments thing!

The bonus tracks are okay MIcky's version of I DON'T THINK
YOU KNOW ME is very good and Davy's I CAN'T GET HER OFF OF MY MIND is also exceptonal. Finally the album closes with a short THEMEFROM THE MONKEES.

Overall the album is great! There are no bad songs really and if you are fan of the show you will love this! It rather is a disappointment that Peter was not really part of this album. Although he is featured on the cover he did little in the recording sessions. The other bad thing is that the Monkees do not play their instruments on this album but none the less this is probably the third or fourth best Monkees album. Definetly worth getting!

The Monkees and The Moody Blues share an unlikely characteristic. Each group has been incredibly successful, and both have been maligned by the musical "establishment," especially by so-called musical critics. What do they know, because The Monkees created good music, with catchy tunes and lyrics. Occasionally throughout their musical career The Monkees achieved a musical excellence the reached a level of greatness.

On this debut CD we get to hear Tommy Boyce and Bobby lead a team of writers and musicians to back a group of guys to create good music; perhaps not great music, but certainly good. The concept that creation of a musical team could generate good music was taken to the ultimate conclusion by The Alan Parsons Project, where Alan Parsons selected singers and musicians for each of his compositions, and there is little doubt that some of Alan Parson's music is great. I think that because The Monkees were the first created group, and they were created for a comedy show targeted for a young audience, they caught a lot of undeserved heat. There was a lot of talent in this group, most especially that of Michael Nesmith, who has been called "the greatest musician you've never heard" because he has created excellent, non-commercial music for many years since The Monkees.

On this CD, we kick off with the theme from The Monkees' TV show; catchy and memorable, and actually pretty good for pop music of the mid-60s. The David Gates' penned "Saturday's Child" is pretty standard pop fare, and had a Beatles flavor to it. The guitars and drum styling is lifted right from The Beatle's playbook. "I Wanna Be Free" is a slower and more mellow song, uncharacteristic of the typical manic Monkees' song. Well matched to Davey Jones' voice, this mellow song was an indication of the musical range this group would eventually achieve. "Tomorrow's Gonna Be Another Day" jumps back into standard Monkees pop; a catchy beat, catchy lyrics and pretty solid bubblegum.

"Papa Gene's Blues" was penned and sang by Michael Nesmith. While the lyrics are catchy, there is an interesting combination of Latin instrumentation with a twist of country flavor that make this one of the standout songs on this CD. This song was used during one of The Monkees episodes, but clearly did not fit The Monkees' bubblegum image well enough to be released as a single.

The next song was one of those penned by a musical great, in this case Carole King and Gerry Goffin. This semi-psychedelic song features oboe, harpsichord, and glockenspiel in addition to standard rock instruments. The lyrics describe looking at the world from a different perspective, a topic that would be much for thoroughly explored in the following two years as psychedelic rock reached its height of popularity.

"The Last Train to Clarksville" is a catchy pop song that was one of The Monkees' earliest hits. The beat and lyrics appealed to its pop-rock audience and rocketed The Monkees to prominence, and critical disacclaim by those who wanted to see rock music treated as a legitimate form of music.

The next song, "This Just Doesn't Seem to Be My Day" is another routine pop song. The following song, "Let's Dance On," has an opening rock riff that just seems to be an immediate descendant of The Beatles. Even the lyrics are targeted to music and dance styles of the day. "I'll Be True to You" has Davey Jones singing in a heart throb mellow style targeted for the teen girl audience of 1966; not one of Davey's better vocal performances.

"Sweet Young Thing" offers another Michael Nesmith song, written with Carole King and Gerry Goffin. Michael's characteristic country flavor shows through strongly, and he offers another strong vocal performance. This song is another strong song from this CD, and an indication of the excellence of the song-writing team.

"Gonna Buy Me a Dog" is a comedy song with an informal style worthy of some of the leading artists of the time. The lack of polish improves the appeal of an otherwise gimmick song, and gives a touch of experimental edge to this pop album.

There are three bonus tracks on this release. The first is an echoed vocal version of "I Can't Get Her Off My Mind," with backing vocals that move the song into an easy listening category even softer than light pop. It's likely that the style of the song was too light to fit into what was considered to be The Monkees' musical genre. The next is "I Don't Think You Know Me." This version is a good interpretation of the Gerry Goffin and Carole King penned song. I am unsure of why this version was not used. The last song is a short version of the theme from The Monkees TV show, with more echo and including Bobby Hart and Tommy Boyce on vocals. This version may have been an early demonstration track.

The Monkees were an oddity in the music world. They were created, true. However, the songwriters and musicians that backed The Monkees, along with the talent of The Monkees themselves, caused the group to be musical success, and likely influenced a generation of young music listeners, myself included, and perhaps even many future musicians. As noted within this review, some of the songs were as good as or better than many of the pop songs of the day. Much of what they started singing was bubblegum, but they stood by each other and yearned to reach for artistic recognition.

Okay, so The Monkees didn't play on this album or their next. They weren't a band to begin with. BUT---they did become one later on, and they did start playing on their albums, starting with "Headquarters." But whatever the case, The Monkees are groovy and the essence of the '60's! This is a very good album. "Papa Gene's Blues" is one of my all-time favorite songs. Whenever I hear "Tomorrow's Gonna Be Another Day," I think of the hilarious desert romp in the Monkees in a Ghost Town eppie. And I could go on and on! I was really laughing with "Gonna Buy Me a Dog." Micky sounded he was gonna start laughing any minute! A very funny song. Anyway, if you are a Monkees fan and don't have this album, BUY IT! You will not regret it, I can promise you.

A lot of so called "critics" will tell you that this is a perfect example of manufactured corporate pop.It is true that the Monkees did not play on this album;but,who cares? Many chart toppers of the period did not play on their recordings;it was professional jealousy from the supposed "hip' music press that damned the Monkees."How dare a make believe group be so sucessful . . .blah,blah,blah". To my mind the Monkees debut album is a perfect evocation of the 1966 music scene."I Wanna Be Free" ranks up there with any Rolling Stones / Beatles ballads.my favourite track is the goof off,"I'm Gonna Buy Me A Dog".Each track has been played on the tv show and could have been released as a single.

This could be subtitled "Boyce & Hart's Monkees" as they wrote or produced the bulk of it. Apart from preferring the TV version of the Theme song (found at last on MISSING LINKS VOL.3) nearly every tune is a winner. "Last Train To Clarksville" with its undeniable country-style guitar is an unmitigated classic! There's also "Saturday's Child" (which sounds more "mature" than this band tended to) "I Wanna Be Free" (a beautiful love ballad that stands in defiance against the traditions of marriage!) "Tomorrow's Gonna Be Another Day" (are these guys more country than rock?) "Take A Giant Step" (a wonderful "message" to anyone with a broken heart to leave the past behind), "Let's Dance On" (a simple ROCKER-- possibly the most "dated" tune here-- but great simply for being just what it is!) and the loopy "Gonna Buy Me A Dog" (which probably captures the essence of the TV show more than any other recording they ever did). But hey-- apart from "Clarksville", MY 2 faves here are "Papa Gene's Blues" and "Sweet Young Thing". Hard to believe nobody told Boyce & Hart that MIKE NESMITH was off writing, producing & recording songs on his OWN! Harder still to believe neither was pulled as a single-- as they surely would have been in today's market.

Bonus track "I Can't Get Her Off My Mind" may have the edge on the HEADQUARTERS remake (which oddly lost the title within its rewritten lyrics) while Micky Dolenz' version of "I Don't Think You Know Me" is a close tie with Mike's version from the 1st MISSING LINKS. More than 30 years later, I STILL love this album!

This, of course, is the legendary first album by the Monkees. Most of the album was produced by Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart, with the exception of the two Michael Nesmith songs, which Nesmith produced himself. Most of the material is quite good. The weak parts of the album, to me, are the Davy Jones songs. Nothing against Davy, but he often got stuck with drippy ballads on the Monkees albums. A case in point would be "I'll Be True to You" (ugh) on this album. But, credit where credit is due, "I Wanna Be Free" is actually a pretty good ballad sung by Davy. Personally, my favorite song here is Mike's "Sweet Young Thing". The CD adds three bonus tracks that were taped at the same recording sessions as this album. They are all alternate versions of previously released songs. This CD is a must have for Monkees fans.