Customer Reviews

Pool It!

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

The Monkees earned their stripes on the 1986 comeback tour (I saw them twice when they swung through Florida) and i was absolutely spellbuond when I heard they had a brand new album coming out the following summer after all of their original albums charted the year before (in addition to a pretty decent showing on the charts for "That was Then, This Is Now"). The results, while not a totally 60s-sounding album, are not so bad for a band that had been apart the better part of twenty years. I was most impressed with "Heart & Soul" and felt they were totally robbed of a worthy hit single when MTV pulled a complete "sour grapes" move in retaliation for the Monkees not being able to make it to an MTV promotion in early 1987 and replaced "Heart & Soul" on their daily video countdown show (where it was getting extremely heavy voting) with "Honestly" by the Christian metal band Stryper. as a result, the single sank after charting somewhere around #80. "Heart & Soul" was easily as good as any single they'd recorded before and was actually similar to "Start Me up" by The Stones in style. there was no reason that song should have suffered the fate it was dealt. The rest of the album was a decent effort to bring their sound into the 80s, and while it wasn't always successful at doing so, it certainly wasn't anywhere near as unlistenable as some would have you believe. Take it for what it was, a chance to get some new material out there while the iron was hot, with a few pleasant surprises ("Midnight", "Gettin' In" and "Every Step of the Way" are definite high points) and the good sense to have Roger Bechirian produce the album. It might have been a different album with the participation of Mike Nesmith; but with him not in the picture save for one show of the '86 tour and not another appearcne from him until sometime in '89...not a bad effort. The live show was one not to be missed about this time either, with over three dozen songs in the set list and almost half of this album, a great mix of old and new...something for everyone. Judge for yourself and keep an open mind! My copy of the LP is autographed by all three of them from back then, so this holds an even greater memory for me!

The Monkees had a huge success with "Then & Now...The Best of the Monkees" and this follow-up project from Rhino Records has even more spirit and life.

What if MORE OF THE MONKEES had been made in 1987 instead of 1967--it would have been this album! Radio missed some awesome songs--including: "Heart and Soul", "Every Step of the Way", "Secret Heart", and "Don't Bring Me Down".

However, what makes it a great reunion album is that it is loaded with reunion songs, tunes that say "welcome back" to old Monkees fans, and introduce new listeners to this great group; examples: Davy's "Long Way Home" and "(I'll) Love You Forever" and Peter Tork's "Gettin' In".

If you are a fan of the Monkees, or just getting into them, I would recommend this as a must (moreso than some of their original albums like CHANGES).

Very good try from Mickey,Davy & Peter. This CD came out in 1987 after there 1986 reunion tour. Good songs,Plus good vocals. Mickey and Davy did not play on it. Peter did played on one song. So if you are looking to buy this one, you won't go wrong. Enjoy it. I own five of this copy.

I can joke about Pool It as much as the next person. It can be cheesy at times, and the ballads can be a bit sappy or drippy. But I like the album. It isn't brilliant, but I find it to be entertaining. It's fun, and isn't that what the Monkees are about?

Being a Monkees fan and an 80s music fan almost guaranteed that I would like this. Here we have the Monkees doing a pop/soft rock album with an 80s gloss to it. The songs are well-written. They are catchy and there is variety so that it doesn't all sound the same.

Highlights are definitely Heart and Soul, Gettin' In, Don't Bring Me Down, Midnight, and Every Step of the Way. Gettin' In was a good surprise from Peter. It has an off-beat, new wave-ish sound to it. It is an unexpected change in sound for the Monkees and I like it. The songs I don't care for much are She's Movin' In With Rico, Since You've Been Gone, and I'll Love You Forever. I like the story behind the latter, that Davy wrote it with the idea in mind of fans always signing fan mail with "I'll love you forever". But the music isn't very memorable. I'd Go the Whole Wide World is catchy. I like it. Secret Heart is another good one. It's a breezy summer-y song. Long Way Home and Counting On You are more Davy ballads but I like them better than ILYF.

I think this album kind of gets unfairly knocked down because of the time period and the circumstances surrounding it. Looking at the music only, it's good. 80s fans should like it unless they hate the Monkees, and vice versa.

Too bad they did not include the songs from the Then & Now album on this re-issue...they were also nice 80s pop that would have fit in perfectly as bonus tracks.

Let me start by saying I am a "first generation" Monkees fan. I'd probably rank this album only a step up from the "Changes" LP released in 1970, but only because three of the Monkees were involved and several of the songs are better here. Davy Jones is my least-favorite Monkee, but curiously I find that the two songs he sings here, "I'll Love You Forever" and "Counting On You" are the best songs on the album. Micky is OK on "Midnight" and Peter gives a unique performance on "Gettin' In," but all the rest is forgettable in a big way. The single release "Heart and Soul" is just average. I bought this album when it was released in 1987, played it some then, but come to think of it, don't think I played it at all for ALL of the 1990's! I can't say that about the other Monkees albums, which I listen to occasionally. The type of material on "Pool It" is just is not lasting music. The three Monkees were able to tour extensively in 1986-87 and should have been able to find time to put more effort into an album, such as actually performing on it. Each of these songs is sung by a Monkee, but there's no other musical involvement. A lot of fans don't even regard this as a Monkees album. It should go out of print along with "Changes" and stay permanently buried. Look to the 1996 "Justus" CD as a genuine Monkees album, and they sing and perform everything on that one.

i have every monkee album ever put out. this is only one of 4 that i still listen to on a regular basis. I sang the song 'I'll love you forever' to my wife at our wedding. If you expect Monkees music from the 60's you are in the wrong decade. this music is fun pop music by the timeless masters!!! i wasn't even around back in the 60s. my first CD was 'then and now' and then Pool it. It got me into the band. JUSTUS is very good too but more Rock.

This is the Monkees comeback album from 1987. Micky, Peter and Davy participated in it, but Mike did not. It's not a great album, but it's not as bad as some people make it out to be. Certainly, "Heart and Soul" is a great song that should have been a hit. I am also quite fond of both of Peter's songs, "Gettin' In" and "Since You Went Away". And there are some other good songs, like "Whole Wide World" and "Every Step of the Way". But then, Davy has to throw in a couple of unbearably drippy ballads ("Love You Forever" and "Counting on You"). And Micky's song "Midnight" is pretty bad, too. Other than that, it's a pretty good album, although it leans a bit too heavily on keyboards in an attempt to make it sound "modern", which 20 years later just makes it sound more dated.

The CD contains songs from the 80's with a great mix of beats: rock and ballads. The rock is not too heavy (no heavy metal or rap). It's also great to sing along with. Definitely a must for Monkees fans.

As a come back album, a little more time and effort could have been given to to it, but unfortunately, as happened in the 60's, someone was trying to make lots of money fast. It's unfortunate since the guys really do have talent. The best song on the album is definitely "Midnight". Micky does an awesome job with it. The rest is mainly bubblegum and showy. It doesn't display what they really can do.

I bought this reissue when it first came out in '95 (I've never had the vinyl version), and I have to say I'm mildly impressed, but not greatly. To my ears, there's not really much if anything about the album that is deserving of heaps of praise. It has a good "80s" sound (I'm a fan of '80s pop, some of it anyway [so sue me]), but to me that's not enough to really make it great. As with the majority of the group's earlier material, session musicians play most of the music on this album. (The extent of the Monkees' instrumantal contributions: Peter plays guitar on one song [ "Gettin' In," which he wrote]. That's it.) Three of the best songs on the album are sung by Micky: "Heart And Soul," "Don't Bring Me Down," and "Whole Wide World" (which is a "cover" version --- a rare thing from the Monkees). Davy sings two of the album's best songs: "Every Step Of The Way," which is another "cover" version, and "Long Way Home," which is a reflective, sort-of medium-tempo ballad. As usual, there are also a couple of slow, romantic Davy-sung ballads (one of which was written by Davy himself). Neither of these is particularly impressive. "Counting On You" (the one that wasn't written by Davy) is the better one, but that's not really saying much. Peter sings two songs on the album: a piece of corn called "Since You Went Away" and the above mentioned "Gettin' In," which is the better of the two and also one of the best songs on the album (even though it is kind of weird). Mike Nesmith is nowhere to be found on this album, so to me it doesn't really feel like a true "reunion" album. Still, it's a good, listen-worthy record.