Customer Reviews

Rays

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Lo and behold, the new Nez album hath arrived! RAYS is a synth-drenched collection of grooves, rhythms, and metronomically precise soundscapes that feels at first like a primer on how to make music with machines. Nesmith is himself credited with synth parts and sampling on nearly every track. There's something else at work here, though - something playful, ironic, and actually quite poignant that demands repeated listenings.

Drawing on his well-known affinity for sports cars and the like, Nesmith turns this new album into one long drive down a spacious sonic highway. The car motif is inescapable, with songs like "Friedrider," "Carhop," and "Boomcar" piling on top of one another in the track listing. Much of the album is instrumental, making one yearn to hear that distinctive Nesmith voice more often than you do. When you do hear his singing voice, however, the effect is gorgeous.

The final track, "Follows the Heart," is filled with an end-of-the-road longing that reveals the very real and tender heart residing within this brand-new Nez machine. Ever clever to the end, Nesmith even finds a way here to loop a familiar slogan from an old car commercial jingle into his song's lyric - furthering the dance between what is sacred and what is profane along the speeding highway of commercially-released music here in the "land o' pies," as Nesmith might call it. It's nice to hear from him again . . .

Ten years have elapsed since Michael Nesmith's previous musical project, The Monkees' reunion LP Justus, and for his newest long player, Mike changes gears yet again to produce the stunning synth-jazz sleeper classic, Rays.

The old cliche about not judging books by the cover has always been confounded by Nesmith, but never in more effective manner than here, as Rays' cover jacket showing a striking and humorous cartoon illustration of Nesmith driving frantically looking for something to eat sets the mood of the LP right away. Not only is the disc a synth-jazz performance befitting use on long country drives with the top down, the cover illustration displays the disc's subtle autobiographical theme. From Monkee Mike's trek down the Hollywood Freeway into First National Band Nez's city trip in a jeep to Neighborhood Nuke Superiority Mike's encounter with some excessively happy barbecuers into Gihon Nez' frustration in the city into the nirvana of country Rays, the disc and cover illustration run a gamut that illustrates the road trip of life.

Of the album's twelve tracks, the most gripping is the opening instrumental Zip Ribbon. Cleverly inserting the opening lyric to "Cruisin'," the song is dominated by Chester Thompson's B3 Hammond; it's been perhaps since Jachym Young's riffing of Steve Miller's "Fly Like An Eagle" that an organ has so controlled the flow of a song, but Thompson gets ample reinforcement by some of Mike's best guitar work ever.

The title track gets to a deceptively simple start and is one of the comparatively few full vocal passes Mike commits to the album, and almost the only one where Mike double-tracks some vocals, and yet again the faux-Micky Dolenz-duet feel comes through and strengthens the performance.

Mike even inserts a humorous spoof of rap music in the intro to "Bells" before this track hits the synth-jazz flow that at times sounds a little like a late-90s Herb Alpert outtake, before hitting the Chester Thompson groove again in "Land O'Pies," which manages to somehow pull off the illusion of lead saxophone even though no sax is allowed on the album - Mike would probably say in response that adding sax to the album would warrant intervention from some record company's Standards & Practices over excessive sax and violins in modern music.

The disco-tempo "There It Is," highlighted by some inspired John Hobbs keyboards, precedes the closing track "Follows The Heart," a song that lives up to the title, a melancholy message of closure that seems a little out of character for Mike, but then the message's overall optimism reaches the listener, who remembers that the end sometimes is indeed but the beginning.

Mike defies convention yet again with Rays, and it is indeed what "Follows The Heart" makes clear - a feeling that follows the heart as it follows every ray of every night and day.

This is not Michael Nesmith, Father of Country Rock. This is Michael Nesmith, Multi-Genre Master. Nez's sound has been continually evolving throughout his whole career, and Rays is no exception. While I wouldn't call it a masterpiece, it *is* a good album. Though the focus seems more on the music than the lyrics and there are sounds present that have not appeared on any other Nesmith album to date, it still has a very Nez feel. The experimenting, the themes, the way everything is layered...it's all Nez.

The first thing that came into my head after looking over this CD and its packaging was "a self-indulgent search for solace". On first listen, I thought, "It's Infinite Rider on the Big Dogma meets The Garden". The first thought doesn't hold true after listening to the album all the way through, but the second certainly does.

The only song I'm not particularly fond of is "Dynaflow"; I'm not sure why, but the vocals creep me out a little. But everything else, from "Zip Ribbon" to "Follows the Heart", struck a good chord with me.

As a long-time Nesmith fan, I'm not sure how this album would sound to someone who was hearing Nez's work for the first time. It's definitely not Nez as he was in the late '60s and early '70s, but I would say it is typical. He has always tried something new, and that's not something I can blame any musician for doing.

33 years later Michael Nesmith has lost his mind again and the results are breathtaking. Why are you reading reviews for God's sake? It's Michael Nesmith! Everything we do should be governed by this giant amongst men.

Michael Nesmith's latest CD "Rays" seems to blend all of the best creative music attempts he has recorded since his first album in 1970.

He graced the music scene with country/pop tunes during his First/Second National Band albums with popular hits like "Joanne" and "Silver Moon" to less-known recordings like "I Looked Away" and "Rainmaker". His next two albums "And The Hits Just Keep On Coming" and "Pretty Much Your Standard Ranch Stash" were solid, country and western recordings. As usual, Nesmith took chances that few artists would attempt. Nesmith was joined by only one other artist on the album "And the Hits...", something that is almost duplicated on his new hit album "Rays". Nearly 35 years later, Nesmith is the only artist to play on some of the songs on "Rays".

There is also a little bit of "From A Radio Engine To The Photon Wing" on the new CD "Rays". Nesmith tinkered with a Brazilian sound that really worked on several songs from that 1976 album and he has brought a similar sound with him into the new century. There are even some remnants of "Infinite Rider On The Big Dogma" on the new CD "Rays", the purely rock-n-roll album that deserved much more airplay than it received.

As a former DJ who played Nesmith's music through the 1970's and 1980's, I felt that he always seemed ahead of his time. He was the first to record country/pop, the first to create the music video, and the first artist to release a country album one year and have no problem releasing a hard rock-n-roll album on the next release. He even took the step of releasing an edited version of the hit recording "Rio" to radio stations who were hesitant to play the entire seven minute cut from the album. That edited version should have been included as an extra on the CD release of "From A Radio Engine To The Photon Wing". To date, it is only available on used 45 rpm vinyl.

Michael Nesmith is very creative and very versatile. His latest work, "Rays", clearly reflects that. He even does something he hasn't done since "Magnetic South" in 1970, he allows one song to flow into another; very much like Paul McCartney's Red Rose Speedway finale on side two. The downside to Nesmith is his lack of acknowledgement to fans who truly appreciate his work. During the 1990's, he toured with The Monkees in Japan but refused to tour in the US. It would be appropriate for Nesmith to share his journey of accomplishment with the people who gave him encouragement through the years to venture into new creative areas.

Michael Nesmith does it again! I love every song on Rays. They're all so beautiful and inspiring, especially Friedrider. Play this song after a long, hard day, and it will totally relax you.

The other reviewers have expressed the wonder of this album well, I just want to add my yes vote. I miss Nesmith's vocals-they are few here-but what a listen!

At this point, I've played "Rays" five times in a row. It didn't take more than a few songs to convince me that this album is wonderful! Is it like anything else Mike has ever released? Nope, but that's what I'd expect from him. "From a Radio Engine to the Photon Wing," was nothing like his early albums. "Tropical Campfires" is quite unlike his work with the Monkees or The First National Band. Needless to say, if you're a fan of the NEZ, give this more than one listen before comparing it to anything else he's released. Thank you, Papa Nez! (By the way, this is an excellent album!)

Here's the info on Rays from Videoranch. (And I quote...)

GRAMMY AWARD WINNING ARTIST
MICHAEL NESMITH
'RAYS' LIMITED EDITION

USA - This April, 2006, Michael Nesmith releases his latest album Rays; a cinematic journey of sound with elements of swing, jazz and instrumental funk that come together to form what he calls "New Century Modern". Once again, Nesmith pioneers a new genre, contributing fresh, inventive and timeless dimensions to our current musical landscape.

"For a time I thought Rays had come together differently than any other project I had worked on, until it dawned on me all the various works I had been involved in had happened the same way and doing Rays was simply the first time I had seen it. Rays was my own personal Copernican Shift. For years Rays laid around in bits and pieces, and there were long periods when I would put them all away, like disparate parts of disparate building blocks. As if one was a recipe, another was a blueprint, another was a map. I couldn't see how they fit together. I kept going, as much for not having anything else to do as for the curiosity of how it would all turn out, but I did keep going, and I'm glad I did. It was when I was putting on the horn parts, dreaming of Memphis and Stax Volt that it all came together. It was as if I had come into the garage one evening, and was looking at the detritus of a failed effort laying all over the floor, when suddenly there was this array, a kind of order to it that I had never imagined. That was exciting. It felt new, and gave me the inspiration I needed to finish. This after four years of wandering in darkness --- which actually happened to be one of the lines from Rays. I had always imagined "emergence" as the gradual appearing of something that already exists but was just unseen. Rays was the first time I ever actually saw that happen. And now that I've seen it I am aware that all the past works have happened the same way."

- Michael Nesmith

Grammy Award-winning artist Michael Nesmith has had a successful, multifaceted career as a songwriter, musician, actor, filmmaker, novelist, businessman and philanthropist. Born in Texas, he moved to Los Angeles in the early '60s where he began writing and performing songs in local clubs. In 1966 he landed a lead roll in the The Monkees, now a pop legend. In the early '70s he signed a solo record deal with RCA Records, and recorded six landmark country-rock albums. In the mid-'70s he started his own record company, Pacific Arts, that released numerous albums through the '80s. In 1981 he won the first Grammy Award for Best Video of the Year for Elephant Parts, a ground-breaking long-form video. That same year he created the concept of MTV which he sold to Warner-Amex. He produced four films in the early '80s, including the punk classic Repo Man. In the early '90s he released "...tropical campfire..." and toured the US. In 1994 he was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best New Age Album of the Year, for The Garden. His critically acclaimed first novel, The Long Sandy Hair of Neftoon Zamora, was published by St. Martins Press in 1998. Over the years Nesmith has built a large catalog of songs that have appeared in movies and commercials, and been recorded by many artists including Linda Ronstadt, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Butterfield Blues Band, and Run DMC. He's based in Northern California where he continues to write and record music.

If a movie was made of C.M. Kornbluth's classic science fiction story, "The Marching Morons," this could be the soundtrack album.

The production is heavy on synthetic horns and strings, with deep, thumping bass lines. Everything is highly compressed. The overall effect manages to sound both exuberant and oppressive. Vocals are scarce, over-processed and often buried in the mix. Refreshingly organic B3 stylings by Chester Thompson only accentuate the opaque, plastic texture of the surrounding arrangements. There are hints of an overall structure -- the first six songs flow together seamlessly -- and glimpses of wry humor ("Dynaflow"). But meaning is elusive, and I hear nothing that moves me or makes me think.

The title song, "Rays," is a sort of companion to the song "Light" from Nesmith's INFINITE RIDER album, but without the soulful majesty of that wonderful track. "There It Is" sounds like early-80s power disco. The rest is nearly indistinguishable lounge-sludge, a computer-generated pastiche of Mancini. The coda, "Follows the Heart," sounds tacked-on and insincere.

I'm a huge fan of Nesmith, but this release leaves me puzzled. Multiple listenings have not made it click for me. Let's hope this isn't his last word on disc.

When I read Nesmith's teasing "maybe I'll record again, maybe I won't" liner notes to the "Live At The Britt Festival" CD (BUY it...it's excellent), I thought "You can't be SERIOUS, Mike...you're an ICON. You, the late Rick Nelson and the late John Hartford were responsible for the "country rock" movement that spawned The Eagles, Poco, Pure Prairie League, New Riders Of The Purple Sage," etc etc etc. Then "Rays" was released and I thought YES! Until I purchased it from iTunes, that is. "Rays" is trippy, genre-hopping Papa Nez stuff, but he forgot to write any tunes with the heart and soul that put him on the map. From the faux-Santana opening track "Zip Ribbon" to the sludgy trip-hop of "Dynaflow" to the "goes nowhere" stoner cut "Friedrider" to the "where is the SONG" ambience of "Carhop" to more fake Santana on "Boomcar" to the "Little Feat never finds its groove" track "Best Of It" to the vapid New Age stylings of "Ed's October Cafe" to the thick and empty title track to the next "so what" instrumental "Rays" to the "watered-down Booker T & The MGs" funk of "Bells" to the jungle drum / tribal chant boredom of "There It Is" to "starts off promising, kind of like the First National Band, then goes nowhere" closing track "Follows The Heart," I'm reminded of the sticker that came on RCA's initial vinyl pressing of Lou Reed's "Metal Machine Music"..."Recommended Tracks: NONE." Nesmith's Muse has left the building...at least as is evidenced by the tracks on "Rays," and I own (and treasure) every note the man's RECORDED.