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It was only recently that I started to discover the solo career of ex-Monkee Michael Nesmith. When MTV decided to resurrect the Monkees with a marathon of their TV show back in 1986, I was in my early teens and I quickly embraced their music. Unfortunately for me, at that time Nesmith's countrified rock sound didn't resonate with me too much. Fast forward to many years later, and I was rediscovering the Monkees on a nostalgia kick. Their vast catalog of unreleased work suddenly became readily available and I started to thinking to myself that all the best songs on the albums actually belonged to Big Mike. Further, there were all sorts of hidden gems on the Monkees' mostly-ignored later albums and their "Missing Links" albums contained all sorts of previously-unknown goodness.
So, it was at this point I needed to discover more of Nesmith's works. Not knowing where to start with his solo albums, this one caught my eye because it had some recognizable songs that Mike was tinkering with during his Monkees days and a couple of his solo hits that I knew about.
Now, rambling aside, what about this album?
I found it to be an excellent sampler of Nesmith's early solo career. His big hits (i.e. his solo songs of which I was previously aware) are here (Joanne, Silver Moon, and Different Drum), the latter written during his Monkee days for Linda Ronstadt, as are some songs that he was worked on with the Monkees (Listen to the Band, Propinquity Calico Girlfriend, Nine Times Blue), some standards, and lots of cuts from 1970-73. There's not a weak cut on this album which is amazing considering that these 25 tracks were all released over a span of four years! Until digging into this album and researching the original albums that spawned the individual tracks, I had no idea that he was so prolific.
The overall package is surprisingly fresh and non-dated and the playing (especially Red Rhodes' steel guitar) is impeccable. Standout songs that I didn't know existed before listening to this album include Bonaparte's Retreat (with a cool psychedelic introduction), Rainmaker (written by Harry Nilsson), and Grand Ennui (existentialism + country-rock!). Really the biggest fault with the album is that this version of Listen to the Band is in my opinion weaker than the version which appeared on The Monkees Present; I think the uptempo honky-tonk feel doesn't really mesh with the lyrics, but that's getting picky.
After listening to this album many times start to finish, now it's time to get cracking and start exploring more of his individual albums!
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Top reviews from other countries
nigel drury
all the tracks were good except for the last 3
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 22, 2017Verified Purchase
Earlene Dickson
VERY UNHAPPY!!!!
Reviewed in Canada on January 5, 2019Verified Purchase
グッズ大魔神
いけてるおま、まいくかっこええ
Reviewed in Japan on March 25, 2014Verified Purchase
Goog song
ケースの割れ
Reviewed in Japan on November 6, 2013Verified Purchase
